diff --git a/vp9/encoder/vp9_encodeframe.c b/vp9/encoder/vp9_encodeframe.c
index 3c6ece3e0db25288eeb1e60826396ba638e092c0..70c64eedae2ed567833c9c0c86c238966c4bd360 100644
--- a/vp9/encoder/vp9_encodeframe.c
+++ b/vp9/encoder/vp9_encodeframe.c
@@ -1674,6 +1674,7 @@ static void rd_pick_partition(VP9_COMP *cpi, TOKENEXTRA **tp, int mi_row,
             RDCOST(x->rdmult, x->rddiv, srate, sdist)) {
           srate = r4;
           sdist = d4;
+          larger_is_better = 0;
           *(get_sb_partitioning(x, bsize)) = subsize;
           best_rd = MIN(best_rd, RDCOST(x->rdmult, x->rddiv, r4, d4));
         }