diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 7c5fffe..f74904a 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -78,6 +78,20 @@ music-mirror --source /music --mirror /music-mp3 --subdir "Artist/Album"
 `--subdir` never prunes: a partial pass cannot tell an orphan from a file
 outside its own scope.
 
+### Concurrency
+
+LAME is single-threaded — ffmpeg reports `Threading capabilities: none` for
+`libmp3lame` — so throughput comes entirely from running several encoders at
+once, one process per file. `--jobs` defaults to the CPUs the process may
+actually use, which inside a container means the `cpus:` allowance rather than
+the host's core count. Each pass logs the number it settled on.
+
+As a rough guide, a Zen 3 core encodes about 40–60× realtime at V0 depending on
+clock, so six cores clear roughly 250 hours of audio per hour of wall clock.
+The first full pass is the expensive one; after that only new and changed files
+are touched. Lower `MUSIC_MIRROR_JOBS` if you would rather the NAS stayed
+responsive than finished sooner.
+
 Requires `ffmpeg` and `ffprobe` on `PATH`. The container image provides both.
 
 ## Running it on TrueNAS Scale
diff --git a/music_mirror.py b/music_mirror.py
index 97a57dd..4756609 100644
--- a/music_mirror.py
+++ b/music_mirror.py
@@ -16,6 +16,7 @@ makes runs idempotent without a database to keep in step.
 import argparse
 import concurrent.futures
 import fcntl
+import functools
 import logging
 import os
 import re
@@ -123,8 +124,13 @@ def is_current(source, mirror):
     return abs(source.stat().st_mtime - mirror.stat().st_mtime) <= MTIME_TOLERANCE_SECONDS
 
 
+@functools.lru_cache(maxsize=4096)
 def find_cover(directory):
-    """Return an external cover image for a directory, if one is present."""
+    """Return an external cover image for a directory, if one is present.
+
+    Cached because an album's tracks all ask the same question, and the answer
+    costs one stat per candidate name.
+    """
     for name in COVER_NAMES:
         candidate = directory / name
         if candidate.is_file():
@@ -201,7 +207,12 @@ def encode(source, mirror, quality_args, dry_run):
         return Result("encoded", mirror)
 
     mirror.parent.mkdir(parents=True, exist_ok=True)
-    cover = None if has_embedded_picture(source) else find_cover(source.parent)
+    # Probing costs an ffprobe process per file, so only ask when the answer
+    # can change the command. With no cover file beside the track, `-map
+    # 0:v:0?` carries embedded art if there is any and shrugs if there is not.
+    cover = find_cover(source.parent)
+    if cover is not None and has_embedded_picture(source):
+        cover = None
 
     # Read the source's mtime before encoding, not after. If the file is still
     # being written -- a Lidarr import landing mid-pass -- stamping the mirror
@@ -331,6 +342,7 @@ def run_once(scan_root, source_root, mirror_root, quality_args, jobs, dry_run, d
     computed against; they differ only for a partial pass over one directory.
     """
     started = time.monotonic()
+    logger.info("pass starting with %d concurrent encoders", jobs)
     counts = {"encoded": 0, "copied": 0, "skipped": 0, "failed": 0}
     failures = []
 
@@ -376,6 +388,25 @@ def acquire_lock(mirror_root):
     return handle
 
 
+def default_jobs():
+    """Return the number of CPUs this process may actually use.
+
+    os.cpu_count() reports the host's total, which in a container with a `cpus:`
+    limit means starting several times more encoders than there is CPU to run
+    them. libmp3lame is single-threaded, so one process per available CPU is the
+    whole of the concurrency story.
+    """
+    try:
+        quota, period = Path("/sys/fs/cgroup/cpu.max").read_text().split()
+        if quota != "max":
+            return max(1, round(int(quota) / int(period)))
+    except (OSError, ValueError):
+        pass
+    if hasattr(os, "process_cpu_count"):  # 3.13+, respects CPU affinity
+        return os.process_cpu_count() or 4
+    return os.cpu_count() or 4
+
+
 def build_parser():
     """Return the argument parser. Every option also reads an env var, so the
     container can be configured without a command line."""
@@ -401,8 +432,8 @@ def build_parser():
     parser.add_argument(
         "--jobs",
         type=int,
-        default=int(os.getenv("MUSIC_MIRROR_JOBS", "0")) or (os.cpu_count() or 4),
-        help="concurrent encodes (env MUSIC_MIRROR_JOBS; default: CPU count)",
+        default=int(os.getenv("MUSIC_MIRROR_JOBS", "0")) or default_jobs(),
+        help="concurrent encodes (env MUSIC_MIRROR_JOBS; default: available CPUs)",
     )
     parser.add_argument(
         "--interval",