diff --git a/code/processes/converting-process/src/main/java/nu/marginalia/converting/ConverterMain.java b/code/processes/converting-process/src/main/java/nu/marginalia/converting/ConverterMain.java
index f9f108f2..5e87f688 100644
--- a/code/processes/converting-process/src/main/java/nu/marginalia/converting/ConverterMain.java
+++ b/code/processes/converting-process/src/main/java/nu/marginalia/converting/ConverterMain.java
@@ -120,10 +120,11 @@ public class ConverterMain extends ProcessMainClass {
 
     public void convert(CrawlPlan plan) throws Exception {
 
-        final int maxPoolSize =
-                Integer.getInteger("converter.poolSize",
-                        Math.clamp(Runtime.getRuntime().availableProcessors() - 2, 1, 32)
-                );
+        final int defaultPoolSize = Boolean.getBoolean("system.conserveMemory")
+                ? Math.clamp(Runtime.getRuntime().availableProcessors() / 2, 1, 4)   // <-- conserve memory
+                : Math.clamp(Runtime.getRuntime().availableProcessors() - 2, 1, 32); // <-- a more liberal pool size
+
+        final int maxPoolSize = Integer.getInteger("converter.poolSize", defaultPoolSize);
 
         try (BatchingWorkLog batchingWorkLog = new BatchingWorkLogImpl(plan.process.getLogFile());
              ConverterWriter converterWriter = new ConverterWriter(batchingWorkLog, plan.process.getDir()))