diff --git a/src/converters/ffmpeg.ts b/src/converters/ffmpeg.ts
index a33acc0..e2142b7 100644
--- a/src/converters/ffmpeg.ts
+++ b/src/converters/ffmpeg.ts
@@ -867,14 +867,14 @@ export async function convert(
         extraArgs.push("-c:v", "libaom-av1");
         break;
       case "h264":
-        if (preferHardware) {
+        if (preferHardware && gpuAvailable) {
           extraArgs.push("-c:v", "h264_nvenc");
         } else {
           extraArgs.push("-c:v", "libx264");
         }
         break;
       case "h265":
-        if (preferHardware) {
+        if (preferHardware && gpuAvailable) {
           extraArgs.push("-c:v", "hevc_nvenc");
         } else {
           extraArgs.push("-c:v", "libx265");
@@ -893,7 +893,7 @@ export async function convert(
   // This only applies if FFMPEG_ARGS doesn't already specify a hardware accelerator
   const hasHardwareAccel = ffmpegArgs.includes("-hwaccel");
 
-  if (preferHardware && !hasHardwareAccel) {
+  if (preferHardware && gpuAvailable && !hasHardwareAccel) {
     const supportsCuda = await isCudaSupportedCodec(filePath, fileType, execFile);
     if (supportsCuda) {
       ffmpegArgs.push("-hwaccel", "cuda");
diff --git a/tests/converters/ffmpeg.test.ts b/tests/converters/ffmpeg.test.ts
index f4aac26..5a03564 100644
--- a/tests/converters/ffmpeg.test.ts
+++ b/tests/converters/ffmpeg.test.ts
@@ -253,7 +253,8 @@ test("does not add CUDA hwaccel for image input when hardware preferred", async
 
   console.log = originalConsoleLog;
 
-  expect(calls[0]).not.toEqual(expect.arrayContaining(["-hwaccel", "cuda"]));
+  // calls[0] is nvidia-smi, calls[1] is ffprobe, calls[2] is ffmpeg
+  expect(calls[2]).not.toEqual(expect.arrayContaining(["-hwaccel", "cuda"]));
   expect(loggedMessage).toBe("stdout: Fake stdout");
 
   delete process.env.FFMPEG_PREFER_HARDWARE;