diff --git a/mopidy/core.py b/mopidy/core.py
index d0f2a668..e510b698 100644
--- a/mopidy/core.py
+++ b/mopidy/core.py
@@ -1,7 +1,19 @@
 import logging
 import optparse
+import sys
 import time
 
+# Extract any non-GStreamer arguments, and leave the GStreamer arguments for
+# processing by GStreamer. This needs to be done before GStreamer is imported,
+# so that GStreamer doesn't hijack e.g. ``--help``.
+# NOTE This naive fix does not support values like ``bar`` in
+# ``--gst-foo bar``. Use equals to pass values, like ``--gst-foo=bar``.
+def is_gst_arg(arg):
+    return arg.startswith('--gst') or arg == '--help-gst'
+gstreamer_args = [arg for arg in sys.argv[1:] if is_gst_arg(arg)]
+mopidy_args = [arg for arg in sys.argv[1:] if not is_gst_arg(arg)]
+sys.argv[1:] = gstreamer_args
+
 from pykka.registry import ActorRegistry
 
 from mopidy import get_version, settings, OptionalDependencyError
@@ -33,6 +45,9 @@ def main():
 
 def parse_options():
     parser = optparse.OptionParser(version=u'Mopidy %s' % get_version())
+    parser.add_option('--help-gst',
+        action='store_true', dest='help_gst',
+        help='show GStreamer help options')
     parser.add_option('-q', '--quiet',
         action='store_const', const=0, dest='verbosity_level',
         help='less output (warning level)')
@@ -45,7 +60,7 @@ def parse_options():
     parser.add_option('--list-settings',
         action='callback', callback=list_settings_optparse_callback,
         help='list current settings')
-    return parser.parse_args()[0]
+    return parser.parse_args(args=mopidy_args)[0]
 
 def setup_settings():
     get_or_create_folder('~/.mopidy/')
diff --git a/tests/help_test.py b/tests/help_test.py
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..dccccc9c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/help_test.py
@@ -0,0 +1,27 @@
+import os
+import subprocess
+import sys
+import unittest
+
+import mopidy
+
+class HelpTest(unittest.TestCase):
+    def test_help_has_mopidy_options(self):
+        mopidy_dir = os.path.dirname(mopidy.__file__)
+        args = [sys.executable, mopidy_dir, '--help']
+        process = subprocess.Popen(args, stdout=subprocess.PIPE)
+        output = process.communicate()[0]
+        self.assert_('--version' in output)
+        self.assert_('--help' in output)
+        self.assert_('--help-gst' in output)
+        self.assert_('--quiet' in output)
+        self.assert_('--verbose' in output)
+        self.assert_('--save-debug-log' in output)
+        self.assert_('--list-settings' in output)
+
+    def test_help_gst_has_gstreamer_options(self):
+        mopidy_dir = os.path.dirname(mopidy.__file__)
+        args = [sys.executable, mopidy_dir, '--help-gst']
+        process = subprocess.Popen(args, stdout=subprocess.PIPE)
+        output = process.communicate()[0]
+        self.assert_('--gst-version' in output)