diff --git a/application/F3DOptionsParser.cxx b/application/F3DOptionsParser.cxx
index b3d46a8fda..db4f6edcfb 100644
--- a/application/F3DOptionsParser.cxx
+++ b/application/F3DOptionsParser.cxx
@@ -322,6 +322,7 @@ void ConfigurationOptions::GetOptions(F3DAppOptions& appOptions, f3d::options& o
     this->DeclareOption(grp1, "camera-index", "", "Select the camera to use", options.getAsIntRef("scene.camera.index"), HasDefault::YES, MayHaveConfig::YES, "<index>");
     this->DeclareOption(grp1, "trackball", "k", "Enable trackball interaction", options.getAsBoolRef("interactor.trackball"), HasDefault::YES, MayHaveConfig::YES);
     this->DeclareOption(grp1, "invert-zoom", "", "Invert zoom direction with right mouse click", options.getAsBoolRef("interactor.invert-zoom"), HasDefault::YES, MayHaveConfig::YES);
+    this->DeclareOption(grp1, "animation-autoplay", "", "Automatically start animation", options.getAsBoolRef("scene.animation.autoplay"), HasDefault::YES, MayHaveConfig::YES);
     this->DeclareOption(grp1, "animation-index", "", "Select animation to show", options.getAsIntRef("scene.animation.index"), HasDefault::YES, MayHaveConfig::YES, "<index>");
     this->DeclareOption(grp1, "animation-speed-factor", "", "Set animation speed factor", options.getAsDoubleRef("scene.animation.speed-factor"), HasDefault::YES, MayHaveConfig::YES, "<factor>");
     this->DeclareOption(grp1, "animation-time", "", "Set animation time to load", options.getAsDoubleRef("scene.animation.time"), HasDefault::YES, MayHaveConfig::YES, "<time>");
diff --git a/application/testing/CMakeLists.txt b/application/testing/CMakeLists.txt
index 0d98765ead..4f51aa392e 100644
--- a/application/testing/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/application/testing/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -178,6 +178,7 @@ f3d_test(NAME TestLightIntensityDarkerFullScene DATA WaterBottle.glb ARGS --ligh
 f3d_test(NAME TestUTF8 DATA "(ノಠ益ಠ )ノ.vtp" DEFAULT_LIGHTS)
 f3d_test(NAME TestFont DATA suzanne.ply ARGS -n --font-file=${F3D_SOURCE_DIR}/testing/data/Crosterian.ttf DEFAULT_LIGHTS)
 f3d_test(NAME TestAnimationIndex DATA InterpolationTest.glb ARGS --animation-index=7 --animation-time=0.5 DEFAULT_LIGHTS)
+f3d_test(NAME TestAnimationAutoplay DATA InterpolationTest.glb ARGS --animation-autoplay DEFAULT_LIGHTS)
 f3d_test(NAME TestMaxSizeBelow DATA suzanne.stl ARGS --max-size=1 DEFAULT_LIGHTS)
 f3d_test(NAME TestMaxSizeAbove DATA WaterBottle.glb ARGS --max-size=0.2 REGEXP "No file loaded, file is bigger than max size" NO_BASELINE)
 f3d_test(NAME TestNonExistentFile DATA nonExistentFile.vtp ARGS --filename WILL_FAIL)
diff --git a/doc/CHANGELOG.md b/doc/CHANGELOG.md
index 9c2583855c..eb862821a6 100644
--- a/doc/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/doc/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -1,6 +1,11 @@
 # Changelog
 
 ## Ongoing development
+For F3D users:
+ - Added `--animation-autoplay` option (libf3d: `scene.animation.autoplay`) to automatically start animation on file load.
+
+For libf3d users:
+ - Added `scene.animation.autoplay` option.
 
 ## v2.2.1
 
diff --git a/doc/libf3d/OPTIONS.md b/doc/libf3d/OPTIONS.md
index c8907eabf3..34e2b30226 100644
--- a/doc/libf3d/OPTIONS.md
+++ b/doc/libf3d/OPTIONS.md
@@ -17,6 +17,7 @@ See the exhaustive list below, but note that this may change in the future.
 
 Option|Type<br>Default<br>Trigger|Description|F3D option
 :---:|:---:|:---|:---:
+scene.animation.autoplay|bool<br>false<br>load|Automatically start animation.|\-\-animation-autoplay
 scene.animation.index|int<br>0<br>load|Select the animation to load.<br>Any negative value means all animations (glTF only).<br>The default scene always has at most one animation.|\-\-animation-index
 scene.animation.speed-factor|double<br>1<br>render|Set the animation speed factor to slow, speed up or even invert animation.|\-\-animation-speed-factor
 scene.animation.frame-rate|double<br>60<br>render|Set the animation frame rate used to play the animation interactively.|\-\-animation-frame-rate
diff --git a/doc/user/OPTIONS.md b/doc/user/OPTIONS.md
index 9b118be18e..ee418abfe8 100644
--- a/doc/user/OPTIONS.md
+++ b/doc/user/OPTIONS.md
@@ -35,6 +35,7 @@ Options|Default|Description
 -e, \-\-edges||Show the *cell edges*.
 \-\-camera-index=\<idx\>|-1|Select the scene camera to use when available in the file.<br>Any negative value means automatic camera.<br>The default scene always uses automatic camera.
 -k, \-\-trackball||Enable trackball interaction.
+\-\-animation-autoplay||Automatically start animation.
 \-\-animation-index=\<idx\>|0|Select the animation to show.<br>Any negative value means all animations (glTF only).<br>The default scene always has at most one animation.
 \-\-animation-speed-factor=\<factor\>|1|Set the animation speed factor to slow, speed up or even invert animation time.
 \-\-animation-frame-rate=\<factor\>|60|Set the animation frame rate used when playing animation interactively.
diff --git a/library/src/animationManager.cxx b/library/src/animationManager.cxx
index c46efcadcc..3f7762c89f 100644
--- a/library/src/animationManager.cxx
+++ b/library/src/animationManager.cxx
@@ -141,6 +141,12 @@ void animationManager::Initialize(
   {
     log::debug("Animation(s) time range is: [", this->TimeRange[0], ", ", this->TimeRange[1], "].");
   }
+
+  bool autoplay = options->getAsBool("scene.animation.autoplay");
+  if (autoplay)
+  {
+    this->StartAnimation();
+  }
 }
 
 //----------------------------------------------------------------------------
diff --git a/library/src/options.cxx b/library/src/options.cxx
index b3ff25da7c..b5e6a4d7e4 100644
--- a/library/src/options.cxx
+++ b/library/src/options.cxx
@@ -134,6 +134,7 @@ options::options()
   detail::init::initialize();
 
   // Scene
+  this->Internals->init("scene.animation.autoplay", false);
   this->Internals->init("scene.animation.index", 0);
   this->Internals->init("scene.animation.speed-factor", 1.0);
   this->Internals->init("scene.animation.time", 0.0);
diff --git a/testing/baselines/TestAnimationAutoplay.png b/testing/baselines/TestAnimationAutoplay.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..ff560f1851
--- /dev/null
+++ b/testing/baselines/TestAnimationAutoplay.png
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+version https://git-lfs.github.com/spec/v1
+oid sha256:7115fd4ddb34c7399ab41117a29b7f2700acf083edae709a64255f933a1b7225
+size 4987