diff --git a/pipeline/coordinator.go b/pipeline/coordinator.go
index 12bb9932..ffa0504b 100644
--- a/pipeline/coordinator.go
+++ b/pipeline/coordinator.go
@@ -40,6 +40,8 @@ const (
 	// Execute the FFMPEG pipeline first and fallback to the external transcoding
 	// provider on errors.
 	StrategyFallbackExternal Strategy = "fallback_external"
+	// Execute the external transcoder pipeline in foreground and FFMPEG / Livepeer in background.
+	StrategyBackgroundFFMpeg Strategy = "background_ffmpeg"
 	// Only mp4s of maxMP4OutDuration will have MP4s generated for each rendition
 	maxMP4OutDuration          = 2 * time.Minute
 	maxRecordingMP4Duration    = 12 * time.Hour
@@ -48,7 +50,7 @@ const (
 
 func (s Strategy) IsValid() bool {
 	switch s {
-	case StrategyExternalDominance, StrategyCatalystFfmpegDominance, StrategyFallbackExternal:
+	case StrategyExternalDominance, StrategyCatalystFfmpegDominance, StrategyFallbackExternal, StrategyBackgroundFFMpeg:
 		return true
 	default:
 		return false
@@ -417,17 +419,20 @@ func (c *Coordinator) startUploadJob(p *JobInfo) {
 
 	switch strategy {
 	case StrategyExternalDominance:
-		c.startOneUploadJob(p, c.pipeExternal, false)
+		c.startOneUploadJob(p, c.pipeExternal, true, false)
 	case StrategyCatalystFfmpegDominance:
-		c.startOneUploadJob(p, c.pipeFfmpeg, false)
+		c.startOneUploadJob(p, c.pipeFfmpeg, true, false)
+	case StrategyBackgroundFFMpeg:
+		c.startOneUploadJob(p, c.pipeExternal, true, false)
+		c.startOneUploadJob(p, c.pipeFfmpeg, false, false)
 	case StrategyFallbackExternal:
 		// nolint:errcheck
 		go recovered(func() (t bool, e error) {
-			success := <-c.startOneUploadJob(p, c.pipeFfmpeg, true)
+			success := <-c.startOneUploadJob(p, c.pipeFfmpeg, true, true)
 			if !success {
 				p.inFallbackMode = true
 				log.Log(p.RequestID, "Entering fallback pipeline")
-				c.startOneUploadJob(p, c.pipeExternal, false)
+				c.startOneUploadJob(p, c.pipeExternal, true, false)
 			}
 			return
 		})
@@ -445,9 +450,13 @@ func checkLivepeerCompatible(requestID string, strategy Strategy, iv video.Input
 	for _, track := range iv.Tracks {
 		// If the video codec is not compatible then override to external pipeline to avoid sending to Livepeer
 		// We always covert the audio to AAC before sending for transcoding, so don't need to check this
-		if track.Type == video.TrackTypeVideo && strings.ToLower(track.Codec) != "h264" {
-			log.Log(requestID, "codec not supported by Livepeer pipeline", "trackType", track.Type, "codec", track.Codec)
-			return livepeerNotSupported(strategy)
+		if track.Type == video.TrackTypeVideo {
+			if strings.ToLower(track.Codec) == "hevc" && strategy != StrategyCatalystFfmpegDominance {
+				strategy = StrategyBackgroundFFMpeg
+			} else if strings.ToLower(track.Codec) != "h264" {
+				log.Log(requestID, "codec not supported by Livepeer pipeline", "trackType", track.Type, "codec", track.Codec)
+				return livepeerNotSupported(strategy)
+			}
 		}
 		if track.Type == video.TrackTypeVideo && track.Rotation != 0 {
 			log.Log(requestID, "video rotation not supported by Livepeer pipeline", "rotation", track.Rotation)
@@ -507,7 +516,33 @@ func checkDisplayAspectRatio(track video.InputTrack, requestID string) bool {
 // The `hasFallback` argument means the caller has a special logic to handle
 // failures (today this means re-running the job in another pipeline). If it's
 // set to true, error callbacks from this job will not be sent.
-func (c *Coordinator) startOneUploadJob(si *JobInfo, handler Handler, hasFallback bool) <-chan bool {
+func (c *Coordinator) startOneUploadJob(si *JobInfo, handler Handler, foreground, hasFallback bool) <-chan bool {
+	if !foreground {
+		// TODO only do if output location is livepeer, i.e. don't do for transcode api jobs as we'd be writing unexpected files to customer storage
+
+		// replace si with a copy of itself to avoid interfering with the foreground job
+		requestID := fmt.Sprintf("bg_%s", si.RequestID)
+		si = &JobInfo{
+			UploadJobPayload: si.UploadJobPayload,
+			StreamName:       config.SegmentingStreamName(requestID),
+			statusClient:     c.statusClient,
+
+			numProfiles:           len(si.UploadJobPayload.Profiles),
+			targetSegmentSizeSecs: si.UploadJobPayload.TargetSegmentSizeSecs,
+			catalystRegion:        os.Getenv("MY_REGION"),
+
+			DownloadDone: time.Now(),
+		}
+		si.RequestID = requestID
+
+		if si.HlsTargetURL != nil {
+			si.HlsTargetURL = si.HlsTargetURL.JoinPath("..", handler.Name(), path.Base(si.HlsTargetURL.Path))
+		}
+		// TODO set other target URLs to nil for now
+
+		// this will prevent the callbacks for this job from actually being sent
+		si.CallbackURL = ""
+	}
 	log.AddContext(si.RequestID, "handler", handler.Name())
 
 	var pipeline = handler.Name()
diff --git a/pipeline/coordinator_test.go b/pipeline/coordinator_test.go
index afac5d11..7b7d79ca 100644
--- a/pipeline/coordinator_test.go
+++ b/pipeline/coordinator_test.go
@@ -678,8 +678,8 @@ func Test_checkMistCompatible(t *testing.T) {
 				strategy: StrategyFallbackExternal,
 				iv:       inCompatibleVideo,
 			},
-			want:          StrategyExternalDominance,
-			wantSupported: false,
+			want:          StrategyBackgroundFFMpeg,
+			wantSupported: true,
 		},
 		{
 			name: "compatible with ffmpeg (non AAC audio) - StrategyFallbackExternal",
diff --git a/pipeline/ffmpeg.go b/pipeline/ffmpeg.go
index 56952b0a..de965a2a 100644
--- a/pipeline/ffmpeg.go
+++ b/pipeline/ffmpeg.go
@@ -194,6 +194,7 @@ var sourcePlaybackBucketBlocklist = []string{"lp-us-catalyst-vod-pvt-monster", "
 const maxBitrateSourcePb = 6_000_000
 
 func (f *ffmpeg) sendSourcePlayback(job *JobInfo) {
+	// TODO no source playback for hevc / background livepeer pipeline
 	for _, track := range job.InputFileInfo.Tracks {
 		if track.Bitrate > maxBitrateSourcePb {
 			log.Log(job.RequestID, "source playback not available, bitrate too high", "bitrate", track.Bitrate)