diff --git a/man/feh.pre b/man/feh.pre
index c27077a84b87715e5d2d0db13f1c148de32eb832..8be5a6fc6e3b9ed4ff1dcd5da270ef6fda66dea0 100644
--- a/man/feh.pre
+++ b/man/feh.pre
@@ -988,11 +988,11 @@ zoom the image like the
 .Cm --bg-fill
 mode.
 .
-.It Cm --zoom-rate Ar ratio
+.It Cm --zoom-step Ar percent
 .
 Zoom images in and out by
-.Ar ratio
-.Pq default: 1.25
+.Ar percent
+.Pq default: 25
 when using the zoom keys and buttons.
 .
 .El
diff --git a/src/options.c b/src/options.c
index 1a89d5b18d692207fc10f15415c0900ec224361e..a77c1632779536d3a9e296af63004e36b41fdef8 100644
--- a/src/options.c
+++ b/src/options.c
@@ -395,7 +395,7 @@ static void feh_parse_option_array(int argc, char **argv, int finalrun)
 		{"bg-center"     , 0, 0, OPTION_bg_center},
 		{"bg-scale"      , 0, 0, OPTION_bg_scale},
 		{"zoom"          , 1, 0, OPTION_zoom},
-		{"zoom-rate"     , 1, 0, OPTION_zoom_rate},
+		{"zoom-step"     , 1, 0, OPTION_zoom_step},
 		{"no-screen-clip", 0, 0, OPTION_no_screen_clip},
 		{"index-info"    , 1, 0, OPTION_index_info},
 		{"magick-timeout", 1, 0, OPTION_magick_timeout},
@@ -840,13 +840,13 @@ static void feh_parse_option_array(int argc, char **argv, int finalrun)
 		case OPTION_window_id:
 			opt.x11_windowid = atol(optarg);
 			break;
-		case OPTION_zoom_rate:
+		case OPTION_zoom_step:
 			opt.zoom_rate = atof(optarg);
-			if ((opt.zoom_rate <= 0.0) || (opt.zoom_rate == 1.0)) {
-				weprintf("Zooming disabled due to --zoom-rate=%f", opt.zoom_rate);
+			if ((opt.zoom_rate <= 0)) {
+				weprintf("Zooming disabled due to --zoom-step=%f", opt.zoom_rate);
 				opt.zoom_rate = 1.0;
-			} else if (opt.zoom_rate < 1.0) {
-				opt.zoom_rate = 1.0 / opt.zoom_rate;
+			} else {
+				opt.zoom_rate = 1 + ((float)opt.zoom_rate / 100);
 			}
 			break;
 		default:
diff --git a/src/options.h b/src/options.h
index ea76b24dc087d80d4c451198d309379a5eea0a0a..6441e8bcd48ae42aa14ab69dcd2977e9324fc174 100644
--- a/src/options.h
+++ b/src/options.h
@@ -216,7 +216,7 @@ OPTION_bg_scale,
 OPTION_bg_fill,
 OPTION_bg_max,
 OPTION_zoom,
-OPTION_zoom_rate,
+OPTION_zoom_step,
 OPTION_zoom_in_rate,
 OPTION_zoom_out_rate,
 OPTION_keep_zoom_vp,