diff --git a/xpra/server/proxy/proxy_instance.py b/xpra/server/proxy/proxy_instance.py
index 60a6c656b3..3ada68fbf3 100644
--- a/xpra/server/proxy/proxy_instance.py
+++ b/xpra/server/proxy/proxy_instance.py
@@ -33,7 +33,7 @@
 enclog = Logger("encoding")
 
 
-PROXY_QUEUE_SIZE = envint("XPRA_PROXY_QUEUE_SIZE", 10)
+PROXY_QUEUE_SIZE = envint("XPRA_PROXY_QUEUE_SIZE", 0)
 #for testing only: passthrough as RGB:
 PASSTHROUGH_RGB = envbool("XPRA_PROXY_PASSTHROUGH_RGB", False)
 VIDEO_TIMEOUT = 5                  #destroy video encoder after N seconds of idle state