diff --git a/docs/guides/options.md b/docs/guides/options.md
index 36430748d..1a5832d7a 100644
--- a/docs/guides/options.md
+++ b/docs/guides/options.md
@@ -31,6 +31,7 @@
   * [liveTracker.trackingThreshold](#livetrackertrackingthreshold)
   * [liveTracker.liveTolerance](#livetrackerlivetolerance)
   * [nativeControlsForTouch](#nativecontrolsfortouch)
+  * [normalizeAutoplay](#normalizeautoplay)
   * [notSupportedMessage](#notsupportedmessage)
   * [noUITitleAttributes](#nouititleattributes)
   * [fullscreen](#fullscreen)
@@ -294,6 +295,12 @@ An option for the liveTracker component of the player that controls how far from
 
 Explicitly set a default value for [the associated tech option](#nativecontrolsfortouch).
 
+### `normalizeAutoplay`
+
+> Type: `boolean`
+
+Specify whether setting `autoplay: true` and `<video autoplay>` should be treated the same as `autoplay: 'play'`, i.e. the `autoplay` attribute should be removed from (or not added to) the video element and `play()` be initiated manually by Video.js rather than the browser.
+
 ### `notSupportedMessage`
 
 > Type: `string`
diff --git a/src/js/player.js b/src/js/player.js
index 2524d07a2..0376e99d3 100644
--- a/src/js/player.js
+++ b/src/js/player.js
@@ -1127,9 +1127,13 @@ class Player extends Component {
     // Turn off API access because we're loading a new tech that might load asynchronously
     this.isReady_ = false;
 
-    // if autoplay is a string we pass false to the tech
+    let autoplay = this.autoplay();
+
+    // if autoplay is a string (or `true` with normalizeAutoplay: true) we pass false to the tech
     // because the player is going to handle autoplay on `loadstart`
-    const autoplay = typeof this.autoplay() === 'string' ? false : this.autoplay();
+    if (typeof this.autoplay() === 'string' || this.autoplay() === true && this.options_.normalizeAutoplay) {
+      autoplay = false;
+    }
 
     // Grab tech-specific options from player options and add source and parent element to use.
     const techOptions = {
@@ -1412,7 +1416,7 @@ class Player extends Component {
 
     // autoplay happens after loadstart for the browser,
     // so we mimic that behavior
-    this.manualAutoplay_(this.autoplay());
+    this.manualAutoplay_(this.autoplay() === true && this.options_.normalizeAutoplay ? 'play' : this.autoplay());
   }
 
   /**
@@ -3678,10 +3682,10 @@ class Player extends Component {
 
     let techAutoplay;
 
-    // if the value is a valid string set it to that
-    if (typeof value === 'string' && (/(any|play|muted)/).test(value)) {
+    // if the value is a valid string set it to that, or normalize `true` to 'play', if need be
+    if (typeof value === 'string' && (/(any|play|muted)/).test(value) || value === true && this.options_.normalizeAutoplay) {
       this.options_.autoplay = value;
-      this.manualAutoplay_(value);
+      this.manualAutoplay_(typeof value === 'string' ? value : 'play');
       techAutoplay = false;
 
     // any falsy value sets autoplay to false in the browser,
@@ -5041,6 +5045,8 @@ Player.prototype.options_ = {
   // Default message to show when a video cannot be played.
   notSupportedMessage: 'No compatible source was found for this media.',
 
+  normalizeAutoplay: false,
+
   fullscreen: {
     options: {
       navigationUI: 'hide'
diff --git a/test/unit/autoplay.test.js b/test/unit/autoplay.test.js
index d75851e8f..b5b0d9b58 100644
--- a/test/unit/autoplay.test.js
+++ b/test/unit/autoplay.test.js
@@ -189,6 +189,28 @@ QUnit.test('option = "play" play, no muted', function(assert) {
   assert.equal(this.counts.failure, 0, 'failure count');
 });
 
+QUnit.test('option = true w/ normalizeAutoplay = true play, no muted', function(assert) {
+  this.createPlayer({
+    autoplay: true,
+    normalizeAutoplay: true
+  }, {}, this.resolvePromise);
+
+  assert.equal(this.player.autoplay(), true, 'player.autoplay getter');
+  assert.equal(this.player.tech_.autoplay(), false, 'tech.autoplay getter');
+
+  this.player.tech_.trigger('loadstart');
+  assert.equal(this.counts.play, 1, 'play count');
+  assert.equal(this.counts.muted, 0, 'muted count');
+  assert.equal(this.counts.success, 1, 'success count');
+  assert.equal(this.counts.failure, 0, 'failure count');
+
+  this.player.tech_.trigger('loadstart');
+  assert.equal(this.counts.play, 2, 'play count');
+  assert.equal(this.counts.muted, 0, 'muted count');
+  assert.equal(this.counts.success, 2, 'success count');
+  assert.equal(this.counts.failure, 0, 'failure count');
+});
+
 QUnit.test('option = "any" play, no muted', function(assert) {
   this.createPlayer({autoplay: 'any'}, {}, this.resolvePromise);
 
diff --git a/test/unit/player.test.js b/test/unit/player.test.js
index 3c53b4a37..1173af82b 100644
--- a/test/unit/player.test.js
+++ b/test/unit/player.test.js
@@ -322,6 +322,27 @@ QUnit.test('should get current sources from src set', function(assert) {
   player.dispose();
 });
 
+QUnit.test('should remove autoplay attribute when normalizeAutoplay: true', function(assert) {
+  const fixture = document.getElementById('qunit-fixture');
+
+  let html = '<video id="example_1" class="video-js" autoplay preload="none">';
+
+  html += '<source src="http://google.com" type="video/mp4">';
+  html += '<source src="http://google.com" type="video/webm">';
+  html += '<track kind="captions" attrtest>';
+  html += '</video>';
+
+  fixture.innerHTML += html;
+
+  const tag = document.getElementById('example_1');
+  const player = TestHelpers.makePlayer({normalizeAutoplay: true}, tag);
+
+  player.loadTech_('Html5');
+
+  assert.equal(player.autoplay(), true, 'autoplay option is set to true');
+  assert.equal(tag.getAttribute('autoplay'), null, 'autoplay attribute removed');
+});
+
 QUnit.test('should asynchronously fire error events during source selection', function(assert) {
   assert.expect(2);