diff --git a/packages/cli/src/background-removal/inference.test.ts b/packages/cli/src/background-removal/inference.test.ts
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..ffc62cc0b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/packages/cli/src/background-removal/inference.test.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,18 @@
+import { describe, expect, it } from "vitest";
+import { MEAN, STD } from "./inference.js";
+
+// Regression: the u2net_human_seg model was trained with ImageNet
+// normalization. Drifting away from these exact values changes the input
+// tensor at every pixel and shifts the predicted alpha mask noticeably
+// (Miguel reproduced 8,317 pixel changes with delta up to 78/255 when std
+// was set to (1, 1, 1)). Reference:
+// https://github.com/danielgatis/rembg/blob/main/rembg/sessions/u2net_human_seg.py#L33
+describe("background-removal/inference — rembg u2net_human_seg parity", () => {
+  it("MEAN matches U2netHumanSegSession reference", () => {
+    expect(MEAN).toEqual([0.485, 0.456, 0.406]);
+  });
+
+  it("STD matches U2netHumanSegSession reference (ImageNet, not the base u2net's (1,1,1))", () => {
+    expect(STD).toEqual([0.229, 0.224, 0.225]);
+  });
+});
diff --git a/packages/cli/src/background-removal/inference.ts b/packages/cli/src/background-removal/inference.ts
index 3c47c1d31..ced409846 100644
--- a/packages/cli/src/background-removal/inference.ts
+++ b/packages/cli/src/background-removal/inference.ts
@@ -11,8 +11,12 @@ import { ensureModel, selectProviders, type Device, type ModelId } from "./manag
 
 const INPUT_SIZE = 320;
 const INPUT_PLANE = INPUT_SIZE * INPUT_SIZE;
-const MEAN = [0.485, 0.456, 0.406] as const;
-const STD = [1.0, 1.0, 1.0] as const;
+
+// Must match rembg's U2netHumanSegSession.predict — ImageNet mean/std, NOT the
+// (1.0, 1.0, 1.0) std used by the general-purpose u2net session.
+// https://github.com/danielgatis/rembg/blob/main/rembg/sessions/u2net_human_seg.py#L33
+export const MEAN = [0.485, 0.456, 0.406] as const;
+export const STD = [0.229, 0.224, 0.225] as const;
 
 type Sharp = typeof sharpType;
 interface OrtModule {
diff --git a/packages/cli/src/background-removal/pipeline.test.ts b/packages/cli/src/background-removal/pipeline.test.ts
index 1294e9074..93a870c55 100644
--- a/packages/cli/src/background-removal/pipeline.test.ts
+++ b/packages/cli/src/background-removal/pipeline.test.ts
@@ -1,5 +1,7 @@
 import { describe, expect, it } from "vitest";
-import { inferOutputFormat, inferInputKind, buildEncoderArgs } from "./pipeline.js";
+import { EventEmitter } from "node:events";
+import type { spawn } from "node:child_process";
+import { inferOutputFormat, inferInputKind, buildEncoderArgs, waitForExit } from "./pipeline.js";
 
 describe("background-removal/pipeline — inferOutputFormat", () => {
   it("maps .webm → webm", () => {
@@ -65,3 +67,42 @@ describe("background-removal/pipeline — buildEncoderArgs", () => {
     expect(args[rIdx + 1]).toBe("24");
   });
 });
+
+// Regression: a previous version of waitForExit treated `code === null` as
+// success. Per Node's child_process docs, that's the signal-killed case —
+// reporting it as success means a SIGTERM/SIGKILL'd ffmpeg encoder produces
+// a "successful" render with a missing or truncated output file.
+describe("background-removal/pipeline — waitForExit signal handling", () => {
+  function fakeProc(): ReturnType<typeof spawn> {
+    return new EventEmitter() as unknown as ReturnType<typeof spawn>;
+  }
+
+  it("resolves on a clean exit (code=0, signal=null)", async () => {
+    const proc = fakeProc();
+    const promise = waitForExit(proc, "ffmpeg encoder", () => "");
+    proc.emit("exit", 0, null);
+    await expect(promise).resolves.toBeUndefined();
+  });
+
+  it("rejects when killed by signal (code=null, signal='SIGTERM')", async () => {
+    const proc = fakeProc();
+    const promise = waitForExit(proc, "ffmpeg encoder", () => "tail of stderr");
+    proc.emit("exit", null, "SIGTERM");
+    await expect(promise).rejects.toThrow(/killed by SIGTERM/);
+    await expect(promise).rejects.toThrow(/tail of stderr/);
+  });
+
+  it("rejects on non-zero exit code", async () => {
+    const proc = fakeProc();
+    const promise = waitForExit(proc, "ffmpeg encoder", () => "");
+    proc.emit("exit", 1, null);
+    await expect(promise).rejects.toThrow(/exited with code 1/);
+  });
+
+  it("rejects on SIGKILL", async () => {
+    const proc = fakeProc();
+    const promise = waitForExit(proc, "ffmpeg encoder", () => "");
+    proc.emit("exit", null, "SIGKILL");
+    await expect(promise).rejects.toThrow(/killed by SIGKILL/);
+  });
+});
diff --git a/packages/cli/src/background-removal/pipeline.ts b/packages/cli/src/background-removal/pipeline.ts
index 0bed3e844..c5a7e774e 100644
--- a/packages/cli/src/background-removal/pipeline.ts
+++ b/packages/cli/src/background-removal/pipeline.ts
@@ -309,16 +309,25 @@ async function runPipeline(
   return processed;
 }
 
-function waitForExit(
+export function waitForExit(
   proc: ReturnType<typeof spawn>,
   label: string,
   getStderr: () => string,
 ): Promise<void> {
   return new Promise<void>((resolve, reject) => {
     proc.on("error", reject);
-    proc.on("exit", (code) => {
-      if (code === 0 || code === null) resolve();
-      else reject(new Error(`${label} exited with code ${code}: ${getStderr().slice(-400)}`));
+    // Per Node docs the exit callback is (code, signal): on a normal exit
+    // `code` is the numeric exit status and `signal` is null; on a
+    // signal-killed exit `code` is null and `signal` is the signal name.
+    // Treating null-code as success would silently report SIGTERM/SIGKILL
+    // as a successful render.
+    proc.on("exit", (code, signal) => {
+      if (code === 0 && !signal) {
+        resolve();
+        return;
+      }
+      const cause = signal ? `killed by ${signal}` : `exited with code ${code}`;
+      reject(new Error(`${label} ${cause}: ${getStderr().slice(-400)}`));
     });
   });
 }