diff --git a/package/tvheadend/Config.in b/package/tvheadend/Config.in
index c033b29819..99a24ec011 100644
--- a/package/tvheadend/Config.in
+++ b/package/tvheadend/Config.in
@@ -66,7 +66,8 @@ config BR2_PACKAGE_TVHEADEND_TRANSCODING
 	select BR2_PACKAGE_FFMPEG_AVRESAMPLE
 	select BR2_PACKAGE_FFMPEG_GPL # needed for x264 support
 	select BR2_PACKAGE_FFMPEG_SWSCALE
-	select BR2_PACKAGE_LIBVPX
+	# vp8 encoder needs c++
+	select BR2_PACKAGE_LIBVPX if BR2_INSTALL_LIBSTDCPP
 	select BR2_PACKAGE_X264
 	help
 	  Enable transcoding support.
diff --git a/package/tvheadend/tvheadend.mk b/package/tvheadend/tvheadend.mk
index 1d1a714505..8ceb7493c8 100644
--- a/package/tvheadend/tvheadend.mk
+++ b/package/tvheadend/tvheadend.mk
@@ -47,6 +47,12 @@ TVHEADEND_DEPENDENCIES += rpi-userland
 else
 TVHEADEND_CONF_OPTS += --disable-omx
 endif
+ifeq ($(BR2_PACKAGE_LIBVPX)$(BR2_INSTALL_LIBSTDCPP),yy)
+TVHEADEND_CONF_OPTS += --enable-libvpx
+TVHEADEND_DEPENDENCIES += libvpx
+else
+TVHEADEND_CONF_OPTS += --disable-libvpx
+endif
 ifeq ($(BR2_PACKAGE_X265),y)
 TVHEADEND_CONF_OPTS += --enable-libx265
 TVHEADEND_DEPENDENCIES += x265
@@ -59,6 +65,7 @@ TVHEADEND_CONF_OPTS += \
 	--disable-libopus \
 	--disable-omx \
 	--disable-vaapi \
+	--disable-libvpx \
 	--disable-libx264 \
 	--disable-libx265
 endif