diff --git a/docs/packages/cli.mdx b/docs/packages/cli.mdx
index e65317aa..07575b3e 100644
--- a/docs/packages/cli.mdx
+++ b/docs/packages/cli.mdx
@@ -496,13 +496,15 @@ This is suppressed in CI environments, non-TTY shells, and when `HYPERFRAMES_NO_
     | `--format` | mp4, webm, mov | mp4 | Output format (WebM/MOV render with transparency) |
     | `--fps` | 24, 30, 60 | 30 | Frames per second |
     | `--quality` | draft, standard, high | standard | Encoding quality preset (drives CRF/bitrate) |
+    | `--crf` | 0-51 | — | Override encoder CRF (lower = higher quality). Mutually exclusive with `--video-bitrate` |
+    | `--video-bitrate` | e.g. `10M`, `5000k` | — | Target video bitrate. Mutually exclusive with `--crf` |
     | `--hdr` | — | off | Detect HDR sources and output HDR10 (H.265 10-bit, BT.2020 PQ/HLG). MP4 only. SDR-only compositions are unaffected. See [HDR Rendering](/guides/hdr) |
     | `--workers` | 1-8 | 4 | Parallel render workers |
     | `--gpu` | — | off | GPU encoding (NVENC, VideoToolbox, VAAPI) |
     | `--docker` | — | off | Use Docker for [deterministic rendering](/concepts/determinism) |
     | `--quiet` | — | off | Suppress verbose output |
 
-    CRF and target bitrate are now driven by `--quality`. For programmatic renders, `RenderConfig.crf` and `RenderConfig.videoBitrate` still accept overrides.
+    CRF and target bitrate default to the `--quality` preset. Use `--crf` or `--video-bitrate` for fine-grained overrides; `RenderConfig.crf` and `RenderConfig.videoBitrate` accept the same overrides programmatically.
 
     #### WebM with Transparency
 
diff --git a/packages/producer/src/services/renderOrchestrator.ts b/packages/producer/src/services/renderOrchestrator.ts
index 79bed8a2..c372539a 100644
--- a/packages/producer/src/services/renderOrchestrator.ts
+++ b/packages/producer/src/services/renderOrchestrator.ts
@@ -1186,6 +1186,26 @@ export async function executeRenderJob(
     const encoderHdr = hasHdrContent ? effectiveHdr : undefined;
     const preset = getEncoderPreset(job.config.quality, outputFormat, encoderHdr);
 
+    // CLI overrides (--crf, --video-bitrate) flow through job.config and must
+    // win over the preset-derived defaults. The CLI enforces mutual exclusivity
+    // upstream, but we still resolve them defensively. Without this, the flags
+    // are silently ignored at the encoder spawn sites below — see PR #268 which
+    // dropped the prior baseEncoderOpts wiring.
+    //
+    // Programmatic callers can construct RenderConfig directly and bypass the
+    // CLI's mutual-exclusivity guard. If both are set we honor crf (matches the
+    // CLI semantics where --crf is the explicit override) and warn loudly so
+    // the caller doesn't get a quietly-different bitrate than they passed in.
+    if (job.config.crf != null && job.config.videoBitrate) {
+      log.warn(
+        `[Render] Both crf=${job.config.crf} and videoBitrate=${job.config.videoBitrate} were set. ` +
+          `These are mutually exclusive; honoring crf and ignoring videoBitrate. ` +
+          `Set only one to silence this warning.`,
+      );
+    }
+    const effectiveQuality = job.config.crf ?? preset.quality;
+    const effectiveBitrate = job.config.crf != null ? undefined : job.config.videoBitrate;
+
     job.framesRendered = 0;
 
     // ── HDR z-ordered multi-layer compositing ──────────────────────────────
@@ -1316,7 +1336,8 @@ export async function executeRenderJob(
             height,
             codec: preset.codec,
             preset: preset.preset,
-            quality: preset.quality,
+            quality: effectiveQuality,
+            bitrate: effectiveBitrate,
             pixelFormat: preset.pixelFormat,
             hdr: preset.hdr,
             rawInputFormat: "rgb48le",
@@ -2033,7 +2054,8 @@ export async function executeRenderJob(
             height,
             codec: preset.codec,
             preset: preset.preset,
-            quality: preset.quality,
+            quality: effectiveQuality,
+            bitrate: effectiveBitrate,
             pixelFormat: preset.pixelFormat,
             useGpu: job.config.useGpu,
             imageFormat: captureOptions.format || "jpeg",
@@ -2259,7 +2281,8 @@ export async function executeRenderJob(
             height,
             codec: preset.codec,
             preset: preset.preset,
-            quality: preset.quality,
+            quality: effectiveQuality,
+            bitrate: effectiveBitrate,
             pixelFormat: preset.pixelFormat,
             useGpu: job.config.useGpu,
             hdr: preset.hdr,