diff --git a/packages/producer/src/services/distributed/assemble.test.ts b/packages/producer/src/services/distributed/assemble.test.ts
index 72af446b8e..58c6d96104 100644
--- a/packages/producer/src/services/distributed/assemble.test.ts
+++ b/packages/producer/src/services/distributed/assemble.test.ts
@@ -35,7 +35,7 @@ import {
   renderProvenanceArgs,
 } from "@hyperframes/engine";
 import type { ChunkSliceJson } from "../render/stages/freezePlan.js";
-import { assemble } from "./assemble.js";
+import { assemble, cfrRateControlArgs } from "./assemble.js";
 import type { DistributedFormat } from "./shared.js";
 
 let runRoot: string;
@@ -550,6 +550,50 @@ describe("assemble()", () => {
     TIMEOUT_MS,
   );
 
+  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: "standard", crf: 12 })).toEqual([
+      "-preset",
+      "medium",
+      "-crf",
+      "12",
+    ]);
+    expect(cfrRateControlArgs({ bitrate: "10M" })).toEqual(["-preset", "medium", "-b:v", "10M"]);
+    expect(cfrRateControlArgs({ crf: 12, bitrate: "10M" })).toEqual([
+      "-preset",
+      "medium",
+      "-crf",
+      "12",
+    ]);
+  });
+
+  it(
+    "cfr:true output size follows the locked crf",
+    async () => {
+      if (!hasFfmpeg) {
+        console.warn("[assemble.test] skipping cfr crf test — ffmpeg not available on this host");
+        return;
+      }
+      const sizeAt = async (crf: number) => {
+        const chunks: ChunkSliceJson[] = [{ index: 0, startFrame: 0, endFrame: 10 }];
+        const planDir = buildPlanDir("mp4", chunks, 10, false);
+        writeFileSync(
+          join(planDir, "meta", "encoder.json"),
+          JSON.stringify({ encoder: "libx264-software", quality: "standard", crf }),
+          "utf-8",
+        );
+        const chunkPath = join(planDir, "chunk-0.mp4");
+        makeMp4Chunk(chunkPath, 10);
+        const outputPath = join(planDir, `output-crf${crf}.mp4`);
+        await assemble(planDir, [chunkPath], null, outputPath, { cfr: true });
+        return statSync(outputPath).size;
+      };
+      expect(await sizeAt(10)).toBeGreaterThan(await sizeAt(40));
+    },
+    TIMEOUT_MS,
+  );
+
   it(
     "cfr:true rejects non-mp4 formats with a clear error",
     async () => {
diff --git a/packages/producer/src/services/distributed/assemble.ts b/packages/producer/src/services/distributed/assemble.ts
index 81f2fb65a9..4780915436 100644
--- a/packages/producer/src/services/distributed/assemble.ts
+++ b/packages/producer/src/services/distributed/assemble.ts
@@ -39,6 +39,7 @@ import {
   appendRenderProvenanceArgs,
   applyFaststart,
   describeFfmpegFailure,
+  getEncoderPreset,
   MIXED_AUDIO_FILENAME,
   muxVideoWithAudio,
   resolveConfig,
@@ -49,7 +50,7 @@ import { defaultLogger, type ProducerLogger } from "../../logger.js";
 import { formatExportFrameName } from "../../utils/paths.js";
 import { padOrTrimAudioToVideoFrameCount } from "../render/audioPadTrim.js";
 import { encoderFailureError } from "../render/encoderInterruption.js";
-import type { ChunkSliceJson } from "../render/stages/freezePlan.js";
+import type { ChunkSliceJson, LockedRenderConfig } from "../render/stages/freezePlan.js";
 import { DISTRIBUTED_RENDER_CAPABILITIES, readPlanProtocolV1 } from "./planProtocol.js";
 import { validatePlanV2MaterializedTarget } from "./planV2.js";
 import type { DistributedFormat } from "./shared.js";
@@ -81,6 +82,16 @@ interface PlanJsonForAssemble {
   };
 }
 
+type CfrRateControlSource = Partial<Pick<LockedRenderConfig, "quality" | "crf" | "bitrate">>;
+
+export function cfrRateControlArgs(locked: CfrRateControlSource): string[] {
+  const preset = getEncoderPreset(locked.quality ?? "standard", "mp4");
+  if (locked.crf == null && locked.bitrate) {
+    return ["-preset", preset.preset, "-b:v", locked.bitrate];
+  }
+  return ["-preset", preset.preset, "-crf", String(locked.crf ?? preset.quality)];
+}
+
 /**
  * Assemble the chunk outputs into a single deliverable.
  *
@@ -112,7 +123,7 @@ export async function assemble(
      * duration lands on the requested `frameCount / fps` to ms
      * precision, with no PTS-derived drift). Trade-off: ~2-5x the
      * stitch time for a 60s 1080p clip plus second-generation H.264
-     * quality loss (negligible at `-crf 18` but non-zero). Default
+     * quality loss (at the chunks' own CRF or bitrate, non-zero). Default
      * `false` preserves the existing `-c copy` behavior. mp4 only
      * (libx264); webm / mov pass through unchanged because their
      * stream-copy paths don't exhibit the same avg-frame-rate drift.
@@ -266,9 +277,9 @@ export async function assemble(
       if (!existsSync(encoderJsonPath)) {
         throw new Error(`[assemble] planDir missing meta/encoder.json: ${encoderJsonPath}`);
       }
-      const encoderJson = JSON.parse(readFileSync(encoderJsonPath, "utf-8")) as {
-        encoder?: string;
-      };
+      const encoderJson = JSON.parse(
+        readFileSync(encoderJsonPath, "utf-8"),
+      ) as CfrRateControlSource & { encoder?: string };
       if (encoderJson.encoder === "libx265-software") {
         throw new Error(
           `[assemble] cfr=true is not yet supported with codec: "h265". The ` +
@@ -282,10 +293,7 @@ export async function assemble(
         concatOutputPath,
         "-c:v",
         "libx264",
-        "-preset",
-        "medium",
-        "-crf",
-        "18",
+        ...cfrRateControlArgs(encoderJson),
         "-pix_fmt",
         "yuv420p",
         "-fps_mode",