diff --git a/BREAKING-CHANGES.md b/BREAKING-CHANGES.md
index e6122761..e39b9d9a 100644
--- a/BREAKING-CHANGES.md
+++ b/BREAKING-CHANGES.md
@@ -29,9 +29,9 @@ You can specify the `--format` flag to output breaking changes in other formats:
 An additional format `singleline` displays each breaking change on a single line, this can be useful to prepare [ignore files](#ignoring-specific-breaking-changes)
 
 ### Color
-When outputting breaking changes to a Unix terminal, oasdiff automatically adds colors with ANSI color codes.  
+When outputting breaking changes to a Unix terminal, oasdiff automatically adds colors with ANSI color escape sequences.  
 If output is piped into another process or redirected to a file, oasdiff disables color.  
-To control color manually, use the `color` flag with `always` or `never`.
+To control color manually, use the `--color` flag with `always` or `never`.
 
 ### API Stability Levels
 When a new API is introduced, you may want to allow developers to change its behavior without triggering a breaking change error.  
diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index ad6934b8..c0b8bf8a 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -23,12 +23,12 @@ oasdiff checks
 ### Output Formats
 By default, changes are displayed as human-readable text with [color](#color).  
 You can specify the `--format` flag to output changes in other formats: `json`, `yaml`, `html`, `githubactions` or `junit`.  
-An additional format `singleline` displays each change on a single line, this can be useful to prepare [ignore files](#ignoring-specific-breaking-changes)
+An additional format `singleline` displays each change on a single line, this can be useful to prepare [ignore files](BREAKING-CHANGES.md#ignoring-specific-breaking-changes)
 
 ### Color
-When outputting changes to a Unix terminal, oasdiff automatically adds colors with ANSI color codes.  
+When outputting changes to a Unix terminal, oasdiff automatically adds colors with ANSI color escape sequences.  
 If output is piped into another process or redirected to a file, oasdiff disables color.  
-To control color manually, use the `color` flag with `always` or `never`.
+To control color manually, use the `--color` flag with `always` or `never`.
 
 ### Customizing the Changelog
 If you encounter a change that isn't logged by oasdiff you may add a [custom check](CUSTOMIZING-CHECKS.md).
diff --git a/internal/breaking_changes.go b/internal/breaking_changes.go
index 78134849..d3f791fe 100644
--- a/internal/breaking_changes.go
+++ b/internal/breaking_changes.go
@@ -42,7 +42,7 @@ func getBreakingChangesCmd() *cobra.Command {
 	cmd.PersistentFlags().VarP(newEnumSliceValue(checker.GetOptionalChecks(), nil, &flags.includeChecks), "include-checks", "i", "comma-separated list of optional checks (run 'oasdiff checks --required false' to see options)")
 	cmd.PersistentFlags().IntVarP(&flags.deprecationDaysBeta, "deprecation-days-beta", "", checker.BetaDeprecationDays, "min days required between deprecating a beta resource and removing it")
 	cmd.PersistentFlags().IntVarP(&flags.deprecationDaysStable, "deprecation-days-stable", "", checker.StableDeprecationDays, "min days required between deprecating a stable resource and removing it")
-	enumWithOptions(&cmd, newEnumValue([]string{"auto", "always", "never"}, "auto", &flags.color), "color", "", "when to output colored escape sequences")
+	enumWithOptions(&cmd, newEnumValue([]string{"auto", "always", "never"}, "auto", &flags.color), "color", "", "when to colorize textual output")
 
 	return &cmd
 }
diff --git a/internal/changelog.go b/internal/changelog.go
index c7443775..b625c96e 100644
--- a/internal/changelog.go
+++ b/internal/changelog.go
@@ -43,7 +43,7 @@ func getChangelogCmd() *cobra.Command {
 	cmd.PersistentFlags().VarP(newEnumSliceValue(checker.GetOptionalChecks(), nil, &flags.includeChecks), "include-checks", "i", "comma-separated list of optional checks (run 'oasdiff checks --required false' to see options)")
 	cmd.PersistentFlags().IntVarP(&flags.deprecationDaysBeta, "deprecation-days-beta", "", checker.BetaDeprecationDays, "min days required between deprecating a beta resource and removing it")
 	cmd.PersistentFlags().IntVarP(&flags.deprecationDaysStable, "deprecation-days-stable", "", checker.StableDeprecationDays, "min days required between deprecating a stable resource and removing it")
-	enumWithOptions(&cmd, newEnumValue([]string{"auto", "always", "never"}, "auto", &flags.color), "color", "", "when to output colored escape sequences")
+	enumWithOptions(&cmd, newEnumValue([]string{"auto", "always", "never"}, "auto", &flags.color), "color", "", "when to colorize textual output")
 
 	return &cmd
 }
diff --git a/internal/handlers.go b/internal/handlers.go
index d67d3eec..2297193d 100644
--- a/internal/handlers.go
+++ b/internal/handlers.go
@@ -25,6 +25,9 @@ func getParseArgs(flags Flags) cobra.PositionalArgs {
 				return errors.New("can't read from stdin in composed mode")
 			}
 		}
+		if err := checkColor(cmd); err != nil {
+			return err
+		}
 
 		return nil
 	}
@@ -54,3 +57,16 @@ func getRun(flags Flags, runner runner) cobra.PositionalArgs {
 		return nil
 	}
 }
+
+func checkColor(cmd *cobra.Command) error {
+
+	if colorPassed := cmd.Flags().Changed("color"); !colorPassed {
+		return nil
+	}
+
+	if format, _ := cmd.Flags().GetString("format"); format == "text" || format == "singleline" {
+		return nil
+	}
+
+	return errors.New(`--color flag is only relevant with 'text' or 'singleline' formats`)
+}
diff --git a/internal/run_test.go b/internal/run_test.go
index bba4c91c..c093eca0 100644
--- a/internal/run_test.go
+++ b/internal/run_test.go
@@ -278,3 +278,13 @@ func Test_FlattenInvalid(t *testing.T) {
 func Test_Checks(t *testing.T) {
 	require.Zero(t, internal.Run(cmdToArgs("oasdiff checks -l ru"), io.Discard, io.Discard))
 }
+
+func Test_Color(t *testing.T) {
+	require.Zero(t, internal.Run(cmdToArgs("oasdiff breaking ../data/allof/simple.yaml ../data/allof/revision.yaml --color always"), io.Discard, io.Discard))
+}
+
+func Test_ColorWithNonTextFormat(t *testing.T) {
+	var stderr bytes.Buffer
+	require.Equal(t, 100, internal.Run(cmdToArgs("oasdiff changelog ../data/allof/simple.yaml ../data/allof/revision.yaml -f yaml --color always"), io.Discard, &stderr))
+	require.Equal(t, "Error: --color flag is only relevant with 'text' or 'singleline' formats\n", stderr.String())
+}