diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 15a8cc03b..b6056f7d0 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -25,6 +25,7 @@ the public-API contract.
 
 ### Fixed
 
+- The software video decoder no longer runs more than 16 frame threads. It used one per core, and each frame thread holds back one decoded frame, so a 32-core Mac waited for 31 frames before showing the first one after a load or seek (about 3 s at 10 fps). FFmpeg also warns above 16 threads. Hosts with 16 or fewer cores keep their current thread count.
 - A paused video no longer starts playing by itself. When the player item died while paused (`failedToPlayToEndTime`), the recovery reload bypassed the pause guard and called `play()` on the fresh item. The reload now keeps a pause made before the item died, whether it came through the engine, AVKit, Control Center or PiP, and mounts the item paused at the same position.
 - A dead item's recovery no longer restarts the title from where the session was first opened. When AVPlayer refused the recovery item's master (`-11868`), the media fallback reloaded at the first mount's start position, so a title opened from its beginning restarted at 0:00. The fallback now reloads where the refused item was placed. Upstream #621.
 - The media fallback no longer starts a paused title. When the recovery item was refused, the fallback called `play()` unconditionally, so a title paused behind the tvOS screensaver started itself. It now plays only when the refused item was playing, or was told to play, and the viewer had not paused it. A Play or Pause from AVKit, Control Center or PiP counts as well as one through the engine.
diff --git a/Sources/AetherEngine/Decoder/SoftwareVideoDecoder.swift b/Sources/AetherEngine/Decoder/SoftwareVideoDecoder.swift
index 37c421432..9529fa8f7 100644
--- a/Sources/AetherEngine/Decoder/SoftwareVideoDecoder.swift
+++ b/Sources/AetherEngine/Decoder/SoftwareVideoDecoder.swift
@@ -82,6 +82,22 @@ final class SoftwareVideoDecoder: VideoDecodingPipeline, @unchecked Sendable {
     /// still extractor is the only caller, everything on a playback path wants the parallel default.
     var decodesSingleThreaded = false
 
+    /// Cores the playback thread budget is sized from. Set before `open`; tests pin it to check the
+    /// cap a many-core Mac gets.
+    var activeProcessorCount = ProcessInfo.processInfo.activeProcessorCount
+
+    /// The `thread_count` libavcodec opened with. Written once in `open`, like the other open-time
+    /// fields. Frame threading holds back `threadCount - 1` decoded frames until flush.
+    private(set) var threadCount = 0
+
+    /// Frame threads for a playback decode. Each frame thread delays output by one frame, so one
+    /// per core on a 32-core Mac held 31 frames back after every load and seek. 16 is FFmpeg's own
+    /// auto-thread ceiling (`MAX_AUTO_THREADS`); above it libavcodec warns the count is not
+    /// recommended. Apple TV, iPhone and iPad have fewer cores and are unaffected.
+    static func playbackThreadCount(activeProcessorCount: Int) -> Int {
+        return max(1, min(16, activeProcessorCount))
+    }
+
     /// AE#499: what the container declared about colour, captured at `open` before a single frame
     /// exists. A decoded frame carries the VUI alone, and a remux whose VUI is empty would otherwise
     /// reach `attachColorSpace` as an untagged picture, so an HDR10 file decoded in software lost its
@@ -163,7 +179,8 @@ final class SoftwareVideoDecoder: VideoDecodingPipeline, @unchecked Sendable {
             ctx.pointee.thread_count = 1
             ctx.pointee.thread_type = 0
         } else {
-            ctx.pointee.thread_count = Int32(ProcessInfo.processInfo.activeProcessorCount)
+            ctx.pointee.thread_count = Int32(Self.playbackThreadCount(
+                activeProcessorCount: activeProcessorCount))
             ctx.pointee.thread_type = FF_THREAD_FRAME | FF_THREAD_SLICE
         }
 
@@ -176,6 +193,7 @@ final class SoftwareVideoDecoder: VideoDecodingPipeline, @unchecked Sendable {
             throw VideoDecoderError.sessionCreationFailed(status: -2)
         }
         av_dict_free(&opts)
+        threadCount = Int(ctx.pointee.thread_count)
 
         containerColor = ColorDescription(codecpar: codecpar)
         let bitsPerSample = codecpar.pointee.bits_per_raw_sample
diff --git a/Tests/AetherEngineTests/FrameDecodeThreadBudgetTests.swift b/Tests/AetherEngineTests/FrameDecodeThreadBudgetTests.swift
index 35396eac3..422e06b93 100644
--- a/Tests/AetherEngineTests/FrameDecodeThreadBudgetTests.swift
+++ b/Tests/AetherEngineTests/FrameDecodeThreadBudgetTests.swift
@@ -20,4 +20,14 @@ struct FrameDecodeThreadBudgetTests {
         #expect(FrameDecodeContext.stillExtractionThreadCount(activeProcessorCount: 1) >= 1)
         #expect(FrameDecodeContext.stillExtractionThreadCount(activeProcessorCount: 0) >= 1)
     }
+
+    /// Each frame thread delays software playback output by one frame, so one thread per core
+    /// held 31 frames back after every load and seek on a 32-core Mac.
+    @Test("software playback thread count stops at FFmpeg's 16-thread ceiling")
+    func playbackCapsAtSixteen() {
+        #expect(SoftwareVideoDecoder.playbackThreadCount(activeProcessorCount: 32) == 16)
+        #expect(SoftwareVideoDecoder.playbackThreadCount(activeProcessorCount: 16) == 16)
+        #expect(SoftwareVideoDecoder.playbackThreadCount(activeProcessorCount: 6) == 6)
+        #expect(SoftwareVideoDecoder.playbackThreadCount(activeProcessorCount: 0) == 1)
+    }
 }
diff --git a/Tests/AetherEngineTests/Issue220SoftwareDecoderDrainTests.swift b/Tests/AetherEngineTests/Issue220SoftwareDecoderDrainTests.swift
index cccd6c2f7..0fbb1d279 100644
--- a/Tests/AetherEngineTests/Issue220SoftwareDecoderDrainTests.swift
+++ b/Tests/AetherEngineTests/Issue220SoftwareDecoderDrainTests.swift
@@ -39,8 +39,11 @@ struct Issue220SoftwareDecoderDrainTests {
     // MARK: - Real decode
 
     /// Regression guard for the send/drain split: 40 IDR+P packets, no B-frames, so the decoder
-    /// owes a frame per packet minus whatever its own thread pipeline still holds at the end.
-    @Test("every packet of a progressive fixture still reaches the frame handler")
+    /// owes a frame per packet minus the `threadCount - 1` that frame threading holds until flush.
+    /// A drain that stops early or falls further behind leaves the count short. This synchronous
+    /// feed never makes `avcodec_send_packet` return EAGAIN, so the retry itself is pinned only by
+    /// the disposition checks above.
+    @Test("a progressive fixture reaches the frame handler, short only the thread pipeline")
     func decodesFixtureFrames() throws {
         let data = try #require(Data(base64Encoded: Self.fixtureBase64,
                                      options: .ignoreUnknownCharacters))
@@ -52,24 +55,26 @@ struct Issue220SoftwareDecoderDrainTests {
         let stream = try #require(demuxer.stream(at: videoIndex))
         let counter = FrameCounter()
         let decoder = SoftwareVideoDecoder()
+        // A 32-core Mac's budget: the cap must reach `open`, and every host then runs the same
+        // 16-deep frame pipeline.
+        decoder.activeProcessorCount = 32
         try decoder.open(stream: stream) { _, _, _ in counter.increment() }
         defer { decoder.close() }
+        #expect(decoder.threadCount == 16)
 
         var packets = 0
-        while let pkt = try? demuxer.readPacket() {
+        while let pkt = try demuxer.readPacket() {
+            var ownedPacket: UnsafeMutablePointer<AVPacket>? = pkt
+            defer { trackedPacketFree(&ownedPacket) }
             if pkt.pointee.stream_index == videoIndex {
                 packets += 1
                 decoder.decode(packet: pkt)
             }
-            var p: UnsafeMutablePointer<AVPacket>? = pkt
-            trackedPacketFree(&p)
         }
 
-        #expect(packets == 40)
-        // Frame threading holds a bounded number of frames back until flush; the guard is that
-        // the drain runs at all and keeps up, not the exact pipeline depth.
-        #expect(counter.value > 0)
-        #expect(counter.value >= packets - 16)
+        try #require(packets == 40)
+        #expect(counter.value >= packets - (decoder.threadCount - 1),
+                "the drain must keep up with every packet the thread pipeline has released")
     }
 
     private final class FrameCounter: @unchecked Sendable {