diff --git a/config/config.go b/config/config.go
index ad8f43771..3c4676329 100644
--- a/config/config.go
+++ b/config/config.go
@@ -218,6 +218,15 @@ func (q *StreamQuality) GetFramerate() int {
 	return _default.VideoSettings.StreamQualities[0].Framerate
 }
 
+// GetEncoderPreset returns the preset or default
+func (q *StreamQuality) GetEncoderPreset() string {
+	if q.EncoderPreset != "" {
+		return q.EncoderPreset
+	}
+
+	return _default.VideoSettings.StreamQualities[0].EncoderPreset
+}
+
 //Load tries to load the configuration file
 func Load(filePath string, versionInfo string) error {
 	Config = new(config)
diff --git a/config/config_test.go b/config/config_test.go
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..64e76c88a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/config/config_test.go
@@ -0,0 +1,19 @@
+package config
+
+import "testing"
+
+func TestDefaults(t *testing.T) {
+	_default = getDefaults()
+
+	encoderPreset := "veryfast"
+	framerate := 24
+
+	quality := StreamQuality{}
+	if quality.GetEncoderPreset() != encoderPreset {
+		t.Errorf("default encoder preset does not match expected.  Got %s, want: %s", quality.GetEncoderPreset(), encoderPreset)
+	}
+
+	if quality.GetFramerate() != framerate {
+		t.Errorf("default framerate does not match expected.  Got %d, want: %d", quality.GetFramerate(), framerate)
+	}
+}
diff --git a/core/ffmpeg/transcoder.go b/core/ffmpeg/transcoder.go
index aebc8f07c..a36bb92a2 100644
--- a/core/ffmpeg/transcoder.go
+++ b/core/ffmpeg/transcoder.go
@@ -187,11 +187,7 @@ func getVariantFromConfigQuality(quality config.StreamQuality, index int) HLSVar
 	// Set a default, reasonable preset if one is not provided.
 	// "superfast" and "ultrafast" are generally not recommended since they look bad.
 	// https://trac.ffmpeg.org/wiki/Encode/H.264
-	if quality.EncoderPreset != "" {
-		variant.encoderPreset = quality.EncoderPreset
-	} else {
-		variant.encoderPreset = "veryfast"
-	}
+	variant.encoderPreset = quality.GetEncoderPreset()
 
 	variant.SetVideoBitrate(quality.VideoBitrate)
 	variant.SetAudioBitrate(strconv.Itoa(quality.AudioBitrate) + "k")