diff --git a/src/video/actors.rs b/src/video/actors.rs
index 009aa4a..7a22a5a 100644
--- a/src/video/actors.rs
+++ b/src/video/actors.rs
@@ -668,6 +668,12 @@ impl Handler<GeneratePlaylistMessage> for PlaylistGenerator {
                 // segment starts on a keyframe — accurate seeking without
                 // players having to decode from a prior segment.
                 cmd.arg("-force_key_frames").arg("expr:gte(t,n_forced*3)");
+                // Keep source frame timestamps. Variable-frame-rate phone
+                // clips and screen recordings report r_frame_rate as their
+                // timebase (90000/1); the mpegts muxer's default CFR mode
+                // then duplicates frames to fill it — a 2.6 s clip came out
+                // as 233k frames / 221 MB. vfr leaves timing untouched.
+                cmd.arg("-fps_mode").arg("vfr");
             }
 
             // -f hls is required because the playlist is written to a .tmp