diff --git a/media/libstagefright/MediaCodecList.cpp b/media/libstagefright/MediaCodecList.cpp
index 8afb7e9..23d49f0 100644
--- a/media/libstagefright/MediaCodecList.cpp
+++ b/media/libstagefright/MediaCodecList.cpp
@@ -1173,7 +1173,7 @@
         }
     }
 
-    if (flags & kPreferSoftwareCodecs) {
+    if (flags & kPreferSoftwareCodecs || property_get_bool("debug.stagefright.swcodec", false)) {
         matches->sort(compareSoftwareCodecsFirst);
     }
 }