From be05c86932be215ec70621dc568af96415555fa0 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: =?UTF-8?q?Miguel=20=C3=81ngel?= <miguel.sierra@heygen.com>
Date: Thu, 29 Oct 2026 06:40:21 +0000
Subject: [PATCH] perf(engine): encode high quality with the x264 fast preset
 (#6640)

* perf(engine): encode high quality with the x264 fast preset

* test(engine): name the NVENC p5 case by its preset, not the high tier
---
 packages/engine/src/services/chunkEncoder.test.ts           | 6 +++---
 packages/engine/src/services/chunkEncoder.ts                | 2 +-
 packages/producer/src/services/distributed/assemble.test.ts | 2 +-
 3 files changed, 5 insertions(+), 5 deletions(-)

diff --git a/packages/engine/src/services/chunkEncoder.test.ts b/packages/engine/src/services/chunkEncoder.test.ts
index f6ae92b7ab..cdf04fd263 100644
--- a/packages/engine/src/services/chunkEncoder.test.ts
+++ b/packages/engine/src/services/chunkEncoder.test.ts
@@ -130,8 +130,8 @@ describe("ENCODER_PRESETS", () => {
     expect(ENCODER_PRESETS.draft.codec).toBe("h264");
   });
 
-  it("high uses slow preset with low CRF for better quality", () => {
-    expect(ENCODER_PRESETS.high.preset).toBe("slow");
+  it("high uses the fast preset with low CRF for better quality", () => {
+    expect(ENCODER_PRESETS.high.preset).toBe("fast");
     expect(ENCODER_PRESETS.high.quality).toBeLessThan(ENCODER_PRESETS.standard.quality);
     expect(ENCODER_PRESETS.high.codec).toBe("h264");
   });
@@ -1071,7 +1071,7 @@ describe("buildEncoderArgs GPU preset mapping", () => {
     expect(presetArg(args)).toBe("p4");
   });
 
-  it("translates the high slow preset to NVENC p5", () => {
+  it("translates the slow preset to NVENC p5", () => {
     const args = buildEncoderArgs(
       { ...baseOptions, codec: "h264", preset: "slow", quality: 15, useGpu: true },
       inputArgs,
diff --git a/packages/engine/src/services/chunkEncoder.ts b/packages/engine/src/services/chunkEncoder.ts
index 77c762aaf7..f3a598a73f 100644
--- a/packages/engine/src/services/chunkEncoder.ts
+++ b/packages/engine/src/services/chunkEncoder.ts
@@ -55,7 +55,7 @@ export type { EncoderOptions, EncodeResult, MuxResult } from "./chunkEncoder.typ
 export const ENCODER_PRESETS = {
   draft: { preset: "ultrafast", quality: 28, codec: "h264" as const },
   standard: { preset: "medium", quality: 18, codec: "h264" as const },
-  high: { preset: "slow", quality: 15, codec: "h264" as const },
+  high: { preset: "fast", quality: 15, codec: "h264" as const },
 };
 
 export interface EncoderPreset {
diff --git a/packages/producer/src/services/distributed/assemble.test.ts b/packages/producer/src/services/distributed/assemble.test.ts
index eee102dc5d..4f654757f1 100644
--- a/packages/producer/src/services/distributed/assemble.test.ts
+++ b/packages/producer/src/services/distributed/assemble.test.ts
@@ -684,7 +684,7 @@ describe("assemble()", () => {
 
   it("cfr re-encode keeps the chunks' rate control", () => {
     expect(cfrRateControlArgs({})).toEqual(["-preset", "medium", "-crf", "18"]);
-    expect(cfrRateControlArgs({ quality: "high" })).toEqual(["-preset", "slow", "-crf", "15"]);
+    expect(cfrRateControlArgs({ quality: "high" })).toEqual(["-preset", "fast", "-crf", "15"]);
     expect(cfrRateControlArgs({ quality: "standard", crf: 12 })).toEqual([
       "-preset",
       "medium",