diff --git a/functions/av1crf.fish b/functions/av1crf.fish
index 30615b8..d1103cd 100644
--- a/functions/av1crf.fish
+++ b/functions/av1crf.fish
@@ -5,8 +5,8 @@ function av1crf
     end
 
     set input "$argv[1]"
-    set preset (or $argv[2] 6)
-    set min_vmaf (or $argv[3] 95)
+    set preset (varDefault $argv[2] 6)
+    set min_vmaf (varDefault $argv[3] 95)
 
     echo "Running ab-av1 crf-search..."
     echo "Input:     $input"
diff --git a/functions/av1encode.fish b/functions/av1encode.fish
index 3278764..7d940c0 100644
--- a/functions/av1encode.fish
+++ b/functions/av1encode.fish
@@ -5,8 +5,8 @@ function av1encode
     end
 
     set input $argv[1]
-    set crf (or $argv[2] 28)
-    set preset (or $argv[3] 6)
+    set crf (varDefault $argv[2] 28)
+    set preset (varDefault $argv[3] 6)
 
     set base (basename $input)
     set name (string replace -r '\.[^.]+$' '' $base)
diff --git a/functions/varDefault.fish b/functions/varDefault.fish
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..733893d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/functions/varDefault.fish
@@ -0,0 +1,7 @@
+function varDefault
+    if test -n $argv[1]
+        echo $argv[1]
+    else
+        echo $argv[2]
+    end
+end