diff --git a/doc/ffplay.texi b/doc/ffplay.texi
index a487c0de8d..f3761bb12e 100644
--- a/doc/ffplay.texi
+++ b/doc/ffplay.texi
@@ -133,8 +133,9 @@ This option has been deprecated in favor of private options, try -pixel_format.
 @item -stats
 Print several playback statistics, in particular show the stream
 duration, the codec parameters, the current position in the stream and
-the audio/video synchronisation drift. It is on by default, to
-explicitly disable it you need to specify @code{-nostats}.
+the audio/video synchronisation drift. It is shown by default, unless the
+log level is lower than @code{info}. Its display can be forced by manually
+specifying this option. To disable it, you need to specify @code{-nostats}.
 
 @item -fast
 Non-spec-compliant optimizations.
diff --git a/fftools/ffplay.c b/fftools/ffplay.c
index 2ed4b22d3e..416ebbf7df 100644
--- a/fftools/ffplay.c
+++ b/fftools/ffplay.c
@@ -40,6 +40,7 @@
 #include "libavutil/samplefmt.h"
 #include "libavutil/avassert.h"
 #include "libavutil/time.h"
+#include "libavutil/bprint.h"
 #include "libavformat/avformat.h"
 #include "libavdevice/avdevice.h"
 #include "libswscale/swscale.h"
@@ -326,7 +327,7 @@ static int display_disable;
 static int borderless;
 static int alwaysontop;
 static int startup_volume = 100;
-static int show_status = 1;
+static int show_status = -1;
 static int av_sync_type = AV_SYNC_AUDIO_MASTER;
 static int64_t start_time = AV_NOPTS_VALUE;
 static int64_t duration = AV_NOPTS_VALUE;
@@ -1692,6 +1693,7 @@ display:
     }
     is->force_refresh = 0;
     if (show_status) {
+        AVBPrint buf;
         static int64_t last_time;
         int64_t cur_time;
         int aqsize, vqsize, sqsize;
@@ -1715,18 +1717,28 @@ display:
                 av_diff = get_master_clock(is) - get_clock(&is->vidclk);
             else if (is->audio_st)
                 av_diff = get_master_clock(is) - get_clock(&is->audclk);
-            av_log(NULL, AV_LOG_INFO,
-                   "%7.2f %s:%7.3f fd=%4d aq=%5dKB vq=%5dKB sq=%5dB f=%"PRId64"/%"PRId64"   \r",
-                   get_master_clock(is),
-                   (is->audio_st && is->video_st) ? "A-V" : (is->video_st ? "M-V" : (is->audio_st ? "M-A" : "   ")),
-                   av_diff,
-                   is->frame_drops_early + is->frame_drops_late,
-                   aqsize / 1024,
-                   vqsize / 1024,
-                   sqsize,
-                   is->video_st ? is->viddec.avctx->pts_correction_num_faulty_dts : 0,
-                   is->video_st ? is->viddec.avctx->pts_correction_num_faulty_pts : 0);
+
+            av_bprint_init(&buf, 0, AV_BPRINT_SIZE_AUTOMATIC);
+            av_bprintf(&buf,
+                      "%7.2f %s:%7.3f fd=%4d aq=%5dKB vq=%5dKB sq=%5dB f=%"PRId64"/%"PRId64"   \r",
+                      get_master_clock(is),
+                      (is->audio_st && is->video_st) ? "A-V" : (is->video_st ? "M-V" : (is->audio_st ? "M-A" : "   ")),
+                      av_diff,
+                      is->frame_drops_early + is->frame_drops_late,
+                      aqsize / 1024,
+                      vqsize / 1024,
+                      sqsize,
+                      is->video_st ? is->viddec.avctx->pts_correction_num_faulty_dts : 0,
+                      is->video_st ? is->viddec.avctx->pts_correction_num_faulty_pts : 0);
+
+            if (show_status == 1 && AV_LOG_INFO > av_log_get_level())
+                fprintf(stderr, "%s", buf.str);
+            else
+                av_log(NULL, AV_LOG_INFO, "%s", buf.str);
+
             fflush(stdout);
+            av_bprint_finalize(&buf, NULL);
+
             last_time = cur_time;
         }
     }