diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index e3707ef4c3be22719d2a64f00e5703b86c8e446b..2b5b5a86d77e61de6ee1b2cf15b1fe1376b850c9 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -3,7 +3,7 @@ All notable changes to this project will be documented in this file.
 
 ## [Unreleased]
 ### Added
-- add --binary option for read and write files in binary format
+- add -b or --binary option for read and write files in binary format
 - add cross compile file for sparc
 - add tests for the compression entity
 - add test for cmp_rdcu_cfg.c
diff --git a/cmp_tool.c b/cmp_tool.c
index f30969929bed398958a45ad5339c87ea6181e83b..847100fc3e7e5955271d5d7891fd0ef4f7eb1118 100644
--- a/cmp_tool.c
+++ b/cmp_tool.c
@@ -73,7 +73,6 @@ enum {
 	NO_HEADER,
 	MODEL_ID,
 	MODEL_COUTER,
-	BINARY_IO,
 };
 
 static const struct option long_options[] = {
@@ -90,7 +89,7 @@ static const struct option long_options[] = {
 	{"no_header", no_argument, NULL, NO_HEADER},
 	{"model_id", required_argument, NULL, MODEL_ID},
 	{"model_counter", required_argument, NULL, MODEL_COUTER},
-	{"binary", no_argument, NULL, BINARY_IO},
+	{"binary", no_argument, NULL, 'b'},
 	{NULL, 0, NULL, 0}
 };
 
@@ -165,12 +164,15 @@ int main(int argc, char **argv)
 		exit(EXIT_FAILURE);
 	}
 
-	while ((opt = getopt_long(argc, argv, "ac:d:hi:m:no:vV", long_options,
+	while ((opt = getopt_long(argc, argv, "abc:d:hi:m:no:vV", long_options,
 				  NULL)) != -1) {
 		switch (opt) {
 		case 'a': /* --rdcu_par */
 			add_rdcu_pars = 1;
 			break;
+		case 'b':
+			io_flags |= CMP_IO_BINARY;
+			break;
 		case 'c':
 			cmp_operation = 1;
 			cfg_file_name = optarg;
@@ -233,9 +235,6 @@ int main(int argc, char **argv)
 		case MODEL_COUTER:
 			model_counter_str = optarg;
 			break;
-		case BINARY_IO:
-			io_flags |= CMP_IO_BINARY;
-			break;
 		default:
 			print_help(program_name);
 			exit(EXIT_FAILURE);
diff --git a/lib/cmp_io.c b/lib/cmp_io.c
index a730ea922fd88eb0e93c0b7bb1655715e2125bb1..b1ab76b7e29126fad1650ed9ac4a2f78b0df55d7 100644
--- a/lib/cmp_io.c
+++ b/lib/cmp_io.c
@@ -81,7 +81,7 @@ void print_help(const char *program_name)
 	printf("  -o <prefix>              Use the <prefix> for output files\n");
 	printf("  -n, --model_cfg          Print a default model configuration and exit\n");
 	printf("  --diff_cfg               Print a default 1d-differencing configuration and exit\n");
-	printf("  --binary                 Read and write files in binary format\n");
+	printf("  -b, --binary             Read and write files in binary format\n");
 	printf("  --no_header              Do not add a compression entity header in front of the compressed data\n");
 	printf("  -a, --rdcu_par           Add additional RDCU control parameters\n");
 	printf("  -V, --version            Print program version and exit\n");