diff --git a/CHANGELOG.rst b/CHANGELOG.rst
index 274fa159b..56676162d 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.rst
+++ b/CHANGELOG.rst
@@ -37,6 +37,7 @@ Major:
 - Remove the undocumented ``CodecContext.hwaccel`` attribute. It held the ``HWAccel`` settings object passed in, not the live device context; use ``CodecContext.is_hwaccel`` to check whether hardware acceleration is in use.
 - Rational attributes (``time_base``, ``average_rate``, ``base_rate``, ``guessed_rate``, ``framerate``, ``rate``, ``sample_aspect_ratio``, and ``display_aspect_ratio``) now return :class:`av.AVRational` rather than ``fractions.Fraction``, and are never ``None``: an unset value is the falsy ``AVRational(0, 1)``. Test them with ``if not stream.time_base:`` instead of ``is None``. Setters still accept a ``fractions.Fraction``.
 - Remove ``Capabilities.hwaccel``, ``Capabilities.hwaccel_vdpau``, and ``Capabilities.neg_linesizes``, none of which FFmpeg defines any more.
+- Remove the ``stream_options`` argument to :func:`av.open` and the matching attribute. They only ever reached ``avformat_find_stream_info()``, and only for formats that expose their streams before it runs, so they raised for MPEG and friends; output containers rejected them outright. Pass ``options`` for every stream, set ``stream.codec_context.options`` for one, and ``Container.add_stream(..., options={})`` when writing.
 
 Features:
 
diff --git a/av/container/core.pxd b/av/container/core.pxd
index cdf4d5dc7..c6f0a910d 100644
--- a/av/container/core.pxd
+++ b/av/container/core.pxd
@@ -16,34 +16,27 @@ ctypedef struct timeout_info:
 
 cdef class Container:
     cdef lib.AVFormatContext *ptr
-    cdef readonly object name
+    cdef readonly str name
     cdef readonly str metadata_encoding
     cdef readonly str metadata_errors
-
     cdef readonly PyIOFile file
     cdef int buffer_size
     cdef readonly object io_open
     cdef readonly object open_files
-
     cdef readonly ContainerFormat format
-
     cdef readonly dict options
     cdef readonly dict container_options
-    cdef readonly list stream_options
+    cdef dict _metadata
+    cdef readonly StreamContainer streams
+    cdef readonly object open_timeout
+    cdef readonly object read_timeout
 
     cdef HWAccel hwaccel
 
-    cdef readonly StreamContainer streams
-    cdef dict _metadata
-
-    # Private API.
+    cdef timeout_info interrupt_callback_info
     cdef uint8_t _myflag  # enum: writeable, input_was_opened, started, done, extradata_planned
-    cdef void _assert_open(self)
-    cdef int err_check(self, int value) except -1
 
-    # Timeouts
-    cdef readonly object open_timeout
-    cdef readonly object read_timeout
-    cdef timeout_info interrupt_callback_info
+    cdef void _assert_open(self)
     cdef void set_timeout(self, object)
     cdef void start_timeout(self)
+    cdef int err_check(self, int value) except -1
diff --git a/av/container/core.py b/av/container/core.py
index d07b7167b..6b630802d 100755
--- a/av/container/core.py
+++ b/av/container/core.py
@@ -234,7 +234,6 @@ def __cinit__(
         format_name,
         options,
         container_options,
-        stream_options,
         hwaccel,
         metadata_encoding,
         metadata_errors,
@@ -257,16 +256,11 @@ def __cinit__(
 
         self.options = dict(options or ())
         self.container_options = dict(container_options or ())
-        self.stream_options = [dict(x) for x in stream_options or ()]
-
         self.hwaccel = hwaccel
-
         self.metadata_encoding = metadata_encoding
         self.metadata_errors = metadata_errors
-
         self.open_timeout = open_timeout
         self.read_timeout = read_timeout
-
         self.buffer_size = buffer_size
         self.io_open = io_open
 
@@ -497,7 +491,6 @@ def open(
     format=None,
     options=None,
     container_options=None,
-    stream_options=None,
     metadata_encoding="utf-8",
     metadata_errors="strict",
     buffer_size=32768,
@@ -514,7 +507,6 @@ def open(
     :param str format: Specific format to use. Defaults to autodect.
     :param dict options: Options to pass to the container and all streams.
     :param dict container_options: Options to pass to the container.
-    :param list stream_options: Options to pass to each stream.
     :param str metadata_encoding: Encoding to use when reading or writing file metadata.
         Defaults to ``"utf-8"``.
     :param str metadata_errors: Specifies how to handle encoding errors; behaves like
@@ -581,7 +573,6 @@ def open(
             format,
             options,
             container_options,
-            stream_options,
             hwaccel,
             metadata_encoding,
             metadata_errors,
@@ -591,17 +582,12 @@ def open(
             io_open,
         )
 
-    if stream_options:
-        raise ValueError(
-            "Provide stream options via Container.add_stream(..., options={})."
-        )
     return OutputContainer(
         _cinit_sentinel,
         file,
         format,
         options,
         container_options,
-        stream_options,
         None,
         metadata_encoding,
         metadata_errors,
diff --git a/av/container/core.pyi b/av/container/core.pyi
index 9350aa4b4..a99ff7b4a 100644
--- a/av/container/core.pyi
+++ b/av/container/core.pyi
@@ -87,7 +87,6 @@ class Container:
     format: ContainerFormat
     options: dict[str, str]
     container_options: dict[str, str]
-    stream_options: list[dict[str, str]]
     streams: StreamContainer
     metadata: dict[str, str]
     open_timeout: Real | None
@@ -114,7 +113,6 @@ def open(
     format: str | None = None,
     options: dict[str, str] | None = None,
     container_options: dict[str, str] | None = None,
-    stream_options: list[str] | None = None,
     metadata_encoding: str = "utf-8",
     metadata_errors: str = "strict",
     buffer_size: int = 32768,
@@ -129,7 +127,6 @@ def open(
     format: str | None = None,
     options: dict[str, str] | None = None,
     container_options: dict[str, str] | None = None,
-    stream_options: list[str] | None = None,
     metadata_encoding: str = "utf-8",
     metadata_errors: str = "strict",
     buffer_size: int = 32768,
@@ -144,7 +141,6 @@ def open(
     format: str | None = None,
     options: dict[str, str] | None = None,
     container_options: dict[str, str] | None = None,
-    stream_options: list[str] | None = None,
     metadata_encoding: str = "utf-8",
     metadata_errors: str = "strict",
     buffer_size: int = 32768,
@@ -159,7 +155,6 @@ def open(
     format: str | None = None,
     options: dict[str, str] | None = None,
     container_options: dict[str, str] | None = None,
-    stream_options: list[str] | None = None,
     metadata_encoding: str = "utf-8",
     metadata_errors: str = "strict",
     buffer_size: int = 32768,
diff --git a/av/container/input.py b/av/container/input.py
index d18a3aaaf..09a18e074 100644
--- a/av/container/input.py
+++ b/av/container/input.py
@@ -30,20 +30,13 @@ def __cinit__(self, *args, **kwargs):
         codec: cython.pointer[cython.const[lib.AVCodec]]
         codec_context: cython.pointer[lib.AVCodecContext]
 
-        # If we have either the global `options`, or a `stream_options`, prepare
-        # a mashup of those options for each stream.
+        # Hand `options` to every stream that is already known. Only allocate
+        # c_options when they are: some formats (e.g. MPEG) do not expose their
+        # streams until avformat_find_stream_info has run.
         c_options: cython.pointer[cython.pointer[lib.AVDictionary]] = cython.NULL
         base_dict: Dictionary
-        stream_dict: Dictionary
         nb_streams_before: cython.uint = self.ptr.nb_streams
-        if self.stream_options and nb_streams_before == 0:
-            raise ValueError(
-                "stream_options were provided, but this format does not expose "
-                "its streams before avformat_find_stream_info (e.g. MPEG). "
-                "Per-stream options cannot be applied."
-            )
-        # Only allocate c_options when streams are already known.
-        if (self.options or self.stream_options) and nb_streams_before > 0:
+        if self.options and nb_streams_before > 0:
             base_dict = Dictionary(self.options)
             c_options = cython.cast(
                 cython.pointer[cython.pointer[lib.AVDictionary]],
@@ -51,12 +44,7 @@ def __cinit__(self, *args, **kwargs):
             )
             for i in range(nb_streams_before):
                 c_options[i] = cython.NULL
-                if i < len(self.stream_options) and self.stream_options:
-                    stream_dict = base_dict.copy()
-                    stream_dict.update(self.stream_options[i])
-                    lib.av_dict_copy(cython.address(c_options[i]), stream_dict.ptr, 0)
-                else:
-                    lib.av_dict_copy(cython.address(c_options[i]), base_dict.ptr, 0)
+                lib.av_dict_copy(cython.address(c_options[i]), base_dict.ptr, 0)
 
         self.set_timeout(self.open_timeout)
         self.start_timeout()
diff --git a/av/container/output.pxd b/av/container/output.pxd
index ea164abf5..fc98c8828 100644
--- a/av/container/output.pxd
+++ b/av/container/output.pxd
@@ -9,7 +9,7 @@ cdef class OutputContainer(Container):
     cdef lib.AVPacket *packet_ptr
     cdef dict _extradata_bsfs
     cdef list[Packet] _buffered_packets
-    cdef void _mux_one(self, Packet packet)
     cdef _buffer_for_extradata(self, Packet packet)
+    cdef void _mux_one(self, Packet packet)
     cdef void _try_extract_extradata(self, Packet packet)
     cpdef start_encoding(self)
diff --git a/docs/api/container.rst b/docs/api/container.rst
index 71739fe3f..4c82ecdd0 100644
--- a/docs/api/container.rst
+++ b/docs/api/container.rst
@@ -14,7 +14,6 @@ Generic
 
     .. attribute:: options
     .. attribute:: container_options
-    .. attribute:: stream_options
     .. attribute:: metadata_encoding
     .. attribute:: metadata_errors
     .. attribute:: open_timeout