diff --git a/doc/muxers.texi b/doc/muxers.texi
index 521d99140c..48f3896146 100644
--- a/doc/muxers.texi
+++ b/doc/muxers.texi
@@ -1341,6 +1341,25 @@ the end. A safe size for most use cases should be about 50kB per hour of video.
 
 Note that cues are only written if the output is seekable and this option will
 have no effect if it is not.
+@item default_mode
+This option controls how the FlagDefault of the output tracks will be set.
+It influences which tracks players should play by default. The default mode
+is @samp{infer}.
+@table @samp
+@item infer
+In this mode, for each type of track (audio, video or subtitle), if there is
+a track with disposition default of this type, then the first such track
+(i.e. the one with the lowest index) will be marked as default; if no such
+track exists, the first track of this type will be marked as default instead
+(if existing). This ensures that the default flag is set in a sensible way even
+if the input originated from containers that lack the concept of default tracks.
+@item infer_no_subs
+This mode is the same as infer except that if no subtitle track with
+disposition default exists, no subtitle track will be marked as default.
+@item passthrough
+In this mode the FlagDefault is set if and only if the AV_DISPOSITION_DEFAULT
+flag is set in the disposition of the corresponding stream.
+@end table
 @end table
 
 @anchor{md5}
diff --git a/libavformat/matroskaenc.c b/libavformat/matroskaenc.c
index 2331e21ff8..5065b2adbd 100644
--- a/libavformat/matroskaenc.c
+++ b/libavformat/matroskaenc.c
@@ -61,6 +61,12 @@
  * Info, Tracks, Chapters, Attachments, Tags and Cues */
 #define MAX_SEEKHEAD_ENTRIES 6
 
+enum {
+    DEFAULT_MODE_INFER,
+    DEFAULT_MODE_INFER_NO_SUBS,
+    DEFAULT_MODE_PASSTHROUGH,
+};
+
 typedef struct ebml_master {
     int64_t         pos;                ///< absolute offset in the containing AVIOContext where the master's elements start
     int             sizebytes;          ///< how many bytes were reserved for the size
@@ -160,6 +166,7 @@ typedef struct MatroskaMuxContext {
     int wrote_chapters;
 
     int allow_raw_vfw;
+    int default_mode;
 } MatroskaMuxContext;
 
 /** 2 bytes * 7 for EBML IDs, 7 1-byte EBML lengths, 6 1-byte uint,
@@ -1085,7 +1092,7 @@ static int mkv_write_stereo_mode(AVFormatContext *s, AVIOContext *pb,
 }
 
 static int mkv_write_track(AVFormatContext *s, MatroskaMuxContext *mkv,
-                           int i, AVIOContext *pb, int default_stream_exists)
+                           int i, AVIOContext *pb, int is_default)
 {
     AVStream *st = s->streams[i];
     AVCodecParameters *par = st->codecpar;
@@ -1127,8 +1134,8 @@ static int mkv_write_track(AVFormatContext *s, MatroskaMuxContext *mkv,
 
     // The default value for TRACKFLAGDEFAULT is 1, so add element
     // if we need to clear it.
-    if (default_stream_exists && !(st->disposition & AV_DISPOSITION_DEFAULT))
-        put_ebml_uint(pb, MATROSKA_ID_TRACKFLAGDEFAULT, !!(st->disposition & AV_DISPOSITION_DEFAULT));
+    if (!is_default)
+        put_ebml_uint(pb, MATROSKA_ID_TRACKFLAGDEFAULT, 0);
 
     if (st->disposition & AV_DISPOSITION_FORCED)
         put_ebml_uint(pb, MATROSKA_ID_TRACKFLAGFORCED, 1);
@@ -1358,7 +1365,7 @@ static int mkv_write_tracks(AVFormatContext *s)
 {
     MatroskaMuxContext *mkv = s->priv_data;
     AVIOContext *pb = s->pb;
-    int i, ret, default_stream_exists = 0;
+    int i, ret, video_default_idx, audio_default_idx, subtitle_default_idx;
 
     mkv_add_seekhead_entry(mkv, MATROSKA_ID_TRACKS, avio_tell(pb));
 
@@ -1366,12 +1373,41 @@ static int mkv_write_tracks(AVFormatContext *s)
     if (ret < 0)
         return ret;
 
-    for (i = 0; i < s->nb_streams; i++) {
-        AVStream *st = s->streams[i];
-        default_stream_exists |= st->disposition & AV_DISPOSITION_DEFAULT;
+    if (mkv->default_mode != DEFAULT_MODE_PASSTHROUGH) {
+        int video_idx, audio_idx, subtitle_idx;
+
+        video_idx    = video_default_idx    =
+        audio_idx    = audio_default_idx    =
+        subtitle_idx = subtitle_default_idx = -1;
+
+        for (i = s->nb_streams - 1; i >= 0; i--) {
+            AVStream *st = s->streams[i];
+
+            switch (st->codecpar->codec_type) {
+#define CASE(type, variable)                                  \
+            case AVMEDIA_TYPE_ ## type:                       \
+                variable ## _idx = i;                         \
+                if (st->disposition & AV_DISPOSITION_DEFAULT) \
+                    variable ## _default_idx = i;             \
+                break;
+            CASE(VIDEO,    video)
+            CASE(AUDIO,    audio)
+            CASE(SUBTITLE, subtitle)
+#undef CASE
+            }
+        }
+
+        video_default_idx = FFMAX(video_default_idx, video_idx);
+        audio_default_idx = FFMAX(audio_default_idx, audio_idx);
+        if (mkv->default_mode != DEFAULT_MODE_INFER_NO_SUBS)
+            subtitle_default_idx = FFMAX(subtitle_default_idx, subtitle_idx);
     }
     for (i = 0; i < s->nb_streams; i++) {
-        ret = mkv_write_track(s, mkv, i, mkv->tracks_bc, default_stream_exists);
+        int is_default = mkv->default_mode == DEFAULT_MODE_PASSTHROUGH       ?
+                         s->streams[i]->disposition & AV_DISPOSITION_DEFAULT :
+                         i == video_default_idx || i == audio_default_idx ||
+                         i == subtitle_default_idx;
+        ret = mkv_write_track(s, mkv, i, mkv->tracks_bc, is_default);
         if (ret < 0)
             return ret;
     }
@@ -2696,6 +2732,10 @@ static const AVOption options[] = {
     { "live", "Write files assuming it is a live stream.", OFFSET(is_live), AV_OPT_TYPE_BOOL, { .i64 = 0 }, 0, 1, FLAGS },
     { "allow_raw_vfw", "allow RAW VFW mode", OFFSET(allow_raw_vfw), AV_OPT_TYPE_BOOL, { .i64 = 0 }, 0, 1, FLAGS },
     { "write_crc32", "write a CRC32 element inside every Level 1 element", OFFSET(write_crc), AV_OPT_TYPE_BOOL, { .i64 = 1 }, 0, 1, FLAGS },
+    { "default_mode", "Controls how a track's FlagDefault is inferred", OFFSET(default_mode), AV_OPT_TYPE_INT, { .i64 = DEFAULT_MODE_INFER }, DEFAULT_MODE_INFER, DEFAULT_MODE_PASSTHROUGH, FLAGS, "default_mode" },
+    { "infer", "For each track type, mark the first track of disposition default as default; if none exists, mark the first track as default.", 0, AV_OPT_TYPE_CONST, { .i64 = DEFAULT_MODE_INFER }, 0, 0, FLAGS, "default_mode" },
+    { "infer_no_subs", "For each track type, mark the first track of disposition default as default; for audio and video: if none exists, mark the first track as default.", 0, AV_OPT_TYPE_CONST, { .i64 = DEFAULT_MODE_INFER_NO_SUBS }, 0, 0, FLAGS, "default_mode" },
+    { "passthrough", "Use the disposition flag as-is", 0, AV_OPT_TYPE_CONST, { .i64 = DEFAULT_MODE_PASSTHROUGH }, 0, 0, FLAGS, "default_mode" },
     { NULL },
 };
 
