diff --git a/Core/RenderManager.cs b/Core/RenderManager.cs
index 0a96c1e..743c266 100644
--- a/Core/RenderManager.cs
+++ b/Core/RenderManager.cs
@@ -764,12 +764,15 @@ internal class RenderManager : MonoBehaviour
     /// <summary>
     /// Takes frames from ImageQueue in passCount order and sends each one to the encoder, followed by the audio
     /// samples of that frame. Waits on FrameAvailableEvent (50ms) while no frame is ready.
-    /// Returns when the render is aborted or all requested frames have been sent after endRequested.
+    /// Returns when the render is aborted (checked before every frame, frames left in ImageQueue are released
+    /// by the cleanup after the thread ends) or all requested frames have been sent after endRequested.
     /// </summary>
     private void EncodeQueuedFrames(FFmpegNativeEncoder videoFFmpeg)
     {
         while (true)
         {
+            if (IsRenderAborted) return;
+
             if (TryDequeueNextFrame(out var frame))
             {
                 SendVideoFrame(videoFFmpeg, frame);
@@ -914,7 +917,7 @@ internal class RenderManager : MonoBehaviour
             var reason = IsRenderFailed ? $"FAILED ({_failureReason})" : "CANCELLED";
             Melon<RenderMod>.Logger.Error($"Rendering {reason}. Safely cleaning up state and resources.");
 
-            // 1. Wait for render background thread to finish processing remaining queued frames and terminate
+            // 1. Wait (up to 2s) for the render background thread to see the abort flag and terminate
             if (RenderThread is { IsAlive: true })
             {
                 RenderThread.Join(2000);