diff --git a/userspace/falco/app/actions/init_inspectors.cpp b/userspace/falco/app/actions/init_inspectors.cpp
index 39a4b689fa9..c1aeb752d3d 100644
--- a/userspace/falco/app/actions/init_inspectors.cpp
+++ b/userspace/falco/app/actions/init_inspectors.cpp
@@ -27,7 +27,13 @@ using namespace falco::app::actions;
 
 static void init_syscall_inspector(falco::app::state& s, std::shared_ptr<sinsp> inspector) {
 	sinsp_evt::param_fmt event_buffer_format = sinsp_evt::PF_NORMAL;
-	if(s.options.print_base64 || s.config->m_buffer_format_base64) {
+	if(s.options.print_base64) {
+		falco_logger::log(falco_logger::level::WARNING,
+		                  "The -b/--print-base64 option is deprecated and will be removed. Use -o "
+		                  "buffer_format_base64=true instead.");
+		event_buffer_format = sinsp_evt::PF_BASE64;
+	}
+	if(s.config->m_buffer_format_base64) {
 		event_buffer_format = sinsp_evt::PF_BASE64;
 	}
 
diff --git a/userspace/falco/app/options.cpp b/userspace/falco/app/options.cpp
index 2839b77cbe5..db91d8ad7c4 100644
--- a/userspace/falco/app/options.cpp
+++ b/userspace/falco/app/options.cpp
@@ -105,7 +105,7 @@ void options::define(cxxopts::Options& opts)
 		("config-schema",            "Print the config json schema and exit.", cxxopts::value(print_config_schema)->default_value("false"))
 		("rule-schema",              "Print the rule json schema and exit.", cxxopts::value(print_rule_schema)->default_value("false"))
 		("A",                        "DEPRECATED: use -o base_syscalls.all=true instead. Monitor all events supported by Falco and defined in rules and configs. Some events are ignored by default when -A is not specified (the -i option lists these events ignored). Using -A can impact performance. This option has no effect when reproducing events from a capture file.", cxxopts::value(all_events)->default_value("false"))
-		("b,print-base64",           "Print data buffers in base64. This is useful for encoding binary data that needs to be used over media designed to consume this format.")
+		("b,print-base64",           "DEPRECATED: use -o buffer_format_base64=true. Print data buffers in base64. This is useful for encoding binary data that needs to be used over media designed to consume this format.")
 		("disable-source",           "Turn off a specific <event_source>. By default, all loaded sources get enabled. Available sources are 'syscall' plus all sources defined by loaded plugins supporting the event sourcing capability. This option can be passed multiple times, but turning off all event sources simultaneously is not permitted. This option can not be mixed with --enable-source. This option has no effect when reproducing events from a capture file.", cxxopts::value(disable_sources), "<event_source>")
 		("dry-run",                  "Run Falco without processing events. It can help check that the configuration and rules do not have any errors.", cxxopts::value(dry_run)->default_value("false"))
 		("enable-source",            "Enable a specific <event_source>. By default, all loaded sources get enabled. Available sources are 'syscall' plus all sources defined by loaded plugins supporting the event sourcing capability. This option can be passed multiple times. When using this option, only the event sources specified by it will be enabled. This option can not be mixed with --disable-source. This option has no effect when reproducing events from a capture file.", cxxopts::value(enable_sources), "<event_source>")