Abstract: Techniques for video encoding are described herein. A method for video encoding with smart chunking includes receiving, by a distributed video encoding system, a video input and a target bitrate, the video input having segments of a segment duration, determining an internal chunk length that is a multiple of the segment duration, encoding chunks having the internal chunk length, wherein the average bitrate across the chunk is equal to the target bitrate, and segmenting the encoded chunks into encoded segments of the segment duration. The distributed video encoding system may include various video encoders, or encoder instances, able to encode multiple chunks in parallel. The encoded segments may be output to a client, all of the encoded segments being of equal or similar quality.