Methods and systems for non-destructive, stabilization-based encoder optimization. A video item to be provided to one or more users of a platform is identified. An indication of a motion is identified between an initial video frame of a video sequence associated with the video item and a subsequent video frame of the video sequence. One or more motion stabilization transformations are applied to the video item to modify the motion between at least the initial frame and the subsequent frame. Upon applying the one or more motion stabilization transformations to the video item, the video item is encoded. The encoded video item and one or more instructions to cause the client device to reverse the one or more motion stabilization transformations applied to the video item after decoding the encoded video item are transmitted to a client device connected to the platform.