diff --git a/ffmpeg.c b/ffmpeg.c
index c2fceb81ef..03e223ed84 100644
--- a/ffmpeg.c
+++ b/ffmpeg.c
@@ -134,7 +134,6 @@ static int strict = 0;
 static int top_field_first = -1;
 static int me_threshold = 0;
 static int intra_dc_precision = 8;
-static int me_penalty_compensation= 256;
 static int loop_input = 0;
 static int loop_output = AVFMT_NOOUTPUTLOOP;
 static int qp_hist = 0;
@@ -2933,7 +2932,6 @@ static void new_video_stream(AVFormatContext *oc)
         video_enc->intra_dc_precision= intra_dc_precision - 8;
         video_enc->strict_std_compliance = strict;
         video_enc->error_rate = error_rate;
-        video_enc->me_penalty_compensation= me_penalty_compensation;
 
         if(packet_size){
             video_enc->rtp_mode= 1;
@@ -3850,7 +3848,6 @@ const OptionDef options[] = {
     { "inter_matrix", HAS_ARG | OPT_EXPERT | OPT_VIDEO, {(void*)opt_inter_matrix}, "specify inter matrix coeffs", "matrix" },
     { "top", HAS_ARG | OPT_EXPERT | OPT_VIDEO, {(void*)opt_top_field_first}, "top=1/bottom=0/auto=-1 field first", "" },
     { "dc", OPT_INT | HAS_ARG | OPT_EXPERT | OPT_VIDEO, {(void*)&intra_dc_precision}, "intra_dc_precision", "precision" },
-    { "mepc", OPT_INT | HAS_ARG | OPT_EXPERT | OPT_VIDEO, {(void*)&me_penalty_compensation}, "motion estimation bitrate penalty compensation", "factor (1.0 = 256)" },
     { "vtag", HAS_ARG | OPT_EXPERT | OPT_VIDEO, {(void*)opt_video_tag}, "force video tag/fourcc", "fourcc/tag" },
     { "newvideo", OPT_VIDEO, {(void*)opt_new_video_stream}, "add a new video stream to the current output stream" },
     { "qphist", OPT_BOOL | OPT_EXPERT | OPT_VIDEO, { (void *)&qp_hist }, "show QP histogram" },
diff --git a/libavcodec/utils.c b/libavcodec/utils.c
index 0aeb4df54a..aecad47bdf 100644
--- a/libavcodec/utils.c
+++ b/libavcodec/utils.c
@@ -712,7 +712,7 @@ static const AVOption options[]={
 {"border_mask", NULL, OFFSET(border_masking), FF_OPT_TYPE_FLOAT, DEFAULT, -FLT_MAX, FLT_MAX, V|E},
 {"mblmin", "min macroblock quantiser scale (VBR)", OFFSET(mb_lmin), FF_OPT_TYPE_INT, FF_QP2LAMBDA * 2, INT_MIN, INT_MAX, V|E},
 {"mblmax", "max macroblock quantiser scale (VBR)", OFFSET(mb_lmax), FF_OPT_TYPE_INT, FF_QP2LAMBDA * 31, INT_MIN, INT_MAX, V|E},
-{"mepc", "motion estimation bitrate penalty compensation", OFFSET(me_penalty_compensation), FF_OPT_TYPE_INT, 256, INT_MIN, INT_MAX, V|E},
+{"mepc", "motion estimation bitrate penalty compensation (1.0 = 256)", OFFSET(me_penalty_compensation), FF_OPT_TYPE_INT, 256, INT_MIN, INT_MAX, V|E},
 {"bidir_refine", NULL, OFFSET(bidir_refine), FF_OPT_TYPE_INT, DEFAULT, 0, 4, V|E},
 {"brd_scale", NULL, OFFSET(brd_scale), FF_OPT_TYPE_INT, DEFAULT, 0, 10, V|E},
 {"crf", NULL, OFFSET(crf), FF_OPT_TYPE_INT, DEFAULT, INT_MIN, INT_MAX, V|E},