diff --git a/libavcodec/nvenc.c b/libavcodec/nvenc.c
index 880454c960..e269c716a4 100644
--- a/libavcodec/nvenc.c
+++ b/libavcodec/nvenc.c
@@ -956,9 +956,9 @@ static av_cold void nvenc_setup_rate_control(AVCodecContext *avctx)
 
         av_log(avctx, AV_LOG_VERBOSE, "CQ(%d) mode enabled.\n", tmp_quality);
 
-        //CQ mode shall discard max & avg bitrate;
-        avctx->bit_rate    = ctx->encode_config.rcParams.averageBitRate = 0;
-        avctx->rc_max_rate = ctx->encode_config.rcParams.maxBitRate     = 0;
+        //CQ mode shall discard avg bitrate & honor max bitrate;
+        ctx->encode_config.rcParams.averageBitRate = avctx->bit_rate = 0;
+        ctx->encode_config.rcParams.maxBitRate = avctx->rc_max_rate;
     }
 }