diff --git a/src/compress.cpp b/src/compress.cpp
index 6155ad85..2918ea0a 100644
--- a/src/compress.cpp
+++ b/src/compress.cpp
@@ -109,7 +109,7 @@ int upx_compress           ( const upx_bytep src, unsigned  src_len,
                               cb, method, level, cconf, cresult);
 #endif
 #if (WITH_NRV)
-    else if (M_IS_NRV2B(method) || M_IS_NRV2D(method) || M_IS_NRV2E(method))
+    else if ((M_IS_NRV2B(method) || M_IS_NRV2D(method) || M_IS_NRV2E(method)) && !opt->prefer_ucl)
         r = upx_nrv_compress(src, src_len, dst, dst_len,
                              cb, method, level, cconf, cresult);
 #endif
@@ -154,7 +154,7 @@ int upx_decompress         ( const upx_bytep src, unsigned  src_len,
         r = upx_lzma_decompress(src, src_len, dst, dst_len, method, cresult);
 #endif
 #if (WITH_NRV)
-    else if (M_IS_NRV2B(method) || M_IS_NRV2D(method) || M_IS_NRV2E(method))
+    else if ((M_IS_NRV2B(method) || M_IS_NRV2D(method) || M_IS_NRV2E(method)) && !opt->prefer_ucl)
         r = upx_nrv_decompress(src, src_len, dst, dst_len, method, cresult);
 #endif
 #if (WITH_UCL)
@@ -201,7 +201,7 @@ int upx_test_overlap       ( const upx_bytep buf,
         r = upx_lzma_test_overlap(buf, tbuf, src_off, src_len, dst_len, method, cresult);
 #endif
 #if (WITH_NRV)
-    else if (M_IS_NRV2B(method) || M_IS_NRV2D(method) || M_IS_NRV2E(method))
+    else if ((M_IS_NRV2B(method) || M_IS_NRV2D(method) || M_IS_NRV2E(method)) && !opt->prefer_ucl)
         r = upx_nrv_test_overlap(buf, tbuf, src_off, src_len, dst_len, method, cresult);
 #endif
 #if (WITH_UCL)
diff --git a/src/main.cpp b/src/main.cpp
index 29aaf8cc..3b750ae1 100644
--- a/src/main.cpp
+++ b/src/main.cpp
@@ -332,14 +332,9 @@ static bool set_method(int m, int l)
     {
         if (!Packer::isValidCompressionMethod(m))
             return false;
-#if 1
         // something like "--brute --lzma" should not disable "--brute"
         if (!opt->all_methods)
-#endif
-        {
             opt->method = m;
-            opt->all_methods = false;
-        }
     }
     if (l > 0)
         opt->level = l;
@@ -587,6 +582,12 @@ static int do_option(int optc, const char *arg)
         if (M_IS_LZMA(opt->method))
             opt->method = -1;
         break;
+    case 723:
+        opt->prefer_ucl = false;
+        break;
+    case 724:
+        opt->prefer_ucl = true;
+        break;
 
     // compression level
     case '1':
@@ -983,7 +984,9 @@ static const struct mfx_option longopts[] =
     {"nrv2d",            0x10, 0, 704},     // --nrv2d
     {"nrv2e",            0x10, 0, 705},     // --nrv2e
     {"lzma",             0x10, 0, 721},     // --lzma
-    {"no-lzma",          0x10, 0, 722},     // (disable all_methods_use_lzma)
+    {"no-lzma",          0x10, 0, 722},     // disable all_methods_use_lzma
+    {"prefer-nrv",       0x10, 0, 723},
+    {"prefer-ucl",       0x10, 0, 724},
     // compression settings
     {"all-filters",      0x10, 0, 523},
     {"all-methods",      0x10, 0, 524},
@@ -1142,7 +1145,9 @@ static const struct mfx_option longopts[] =
     {"nrv2d",            0x10, 0, 704},     // --nrv2d
     {"nrv2e",            0x10, 0, 705},     // --nrv2e
     {"lzma",             0x10, 0, 721},     // --lzma
-    {"no-lzma",          0x10, 0, 722},     // (disable all_methods_use_lzma)
+    {"no-lzma",          0x10, 0, 722},     // disable all_methods_use_lzma
+    {"prefer-nrv",       0x10, 0, 723},
+    {"prefer-ucl",       0x10, 0, 724},
     // compression settings
     // compression runtime parameters
 
diff --git a/src/options.h b/src/options.h
index 7e1aad57..e75f69d8 100644
--- a/src/options.h
+++ b/src/options.h
@@ -63,6 +63,7 @@ struct options_t {
     bool all_methods_use_lzma;
     bool all_filters;       // try all available filters ?
     bool no_filter;         // force no filter
+    bool prefer_ucl;        // prefer UCL
     bool exact;             // user requires byte-identical decompression
 
     // other options