diff --git a/target/product/virtual_ab_ota/vabc_features.mk b/target/product/virtual_ab_ota/vabc_features.mk
index 3f484e4f3e..1219763b0d 100644
--- a/target/product/virtual_ab_ota/vabc_features.mk
+++ b/target/product/virtual_ab_ota/vabc_features.mk
@@ -34,6 +34,21 @@ PRODUCT_VENDOR_PROPERTIES += ro.virtual_ab.userspace.snapshots.enabled=true
 PRODUCT_VENDOR_PROPERTIES += ro.virtual_ab.io_uring.enabled=true
 PRODUCT_VENDOR_PROPERTIES += ro.virtual_ab.compression.xor.enabled=true
 PRODUCT_VENDOR_PROPERTIES += ro.virtual_ab.batch_writes=true
+# Low memory device configurations. If memory usage and cpu utilization is
+# a bottleneck during OTA, the below configurations can be added to a
+# device's .mk file improve performance for low mem devices. Disabling
+# ro.virtual_ab.compression.xor.enabled and ro.virtual_ab.io_uring.enabled
+# is also recommended
+#
+# PRODUCT_VENDOR_PROPERTIES += ro.virtual_ab.o_direct.enabled=true
+# PRODUCT_VENDOR_PROPERTIES += ro.virtual_ab.merge_thread_priority=19
+# PRODUCT_VENDOR_PROPERTIES += ro.virtual_ab.worker_thread_priority=0
+# PRODUCT_VENDOR_PROPERTIES += ro.virtual_ab.num_worker_threads=3
+# PRODUCT_VENDOR_PROPERTIES += ro.virtual_ab.num_merge_threads=1
+# PRODUCT_VENDOR_PROPERTIES += ro.virtual_ab.num_verify_threads=1
+# PRODUCT_VENDOR_PROPERTIES += ro.virtual_ab.cow_op_merge_size=16
+# PRODUCT_VENDOR_PROPERTIES += ro.virtual_ab.verify_threshold_size=1073741824
+# PRODUCT_VENDOR_PROPERTIES += ro.virtual_ab.verify_block_size=1048576
 
 # Enabling this property, will improve OTA install time
 # but will use an additional CPU core
diff --git a/tools/releasetools/ota_from_target_files.py b/tools/releasetools/ota_from_target_files.py
index 432ea199bb..5a024cec54 100755
--- a/tools/releasetools/ota_from_target_files.py
+++ b/tools/releasetools/ota_from_target_files.py
@@ -914,12 +914,13 @@ def GenerateAbOtaPackage(target_file, output_file, source_file=None):
     # and install time performance. All OTA's with
     # both the source build and target build with VIRTUAL_AB_COW_VERSION = 3
     # can support the new format. Otherwise, fallback on older versions
-    if not source_info.vabc_cow_version or not target_info.vabc_cow_version:
-      logger.info("Source or Target doesn't have VABC_COW_VERSION specified, default to version 2")
-      OPTIONS.vabc_cow_version = 2
-    elif source_info.vabc_cow_version != target_info.vabc_cow_version:
-      logger.info("Source and Target have different cow VABC_COW_VERSION specified, default to minimum version")
-      OPTIONS.vabc_cow_version = min(source_info.vabc_cow_version, target_info.vabc_cow_version)
+    if not OPTIONS.vabc_cow_version:
+      if not source_info.vabc_cow_version or not target_info.vabc_cow_version:
+        logger.info("Source or Target doesn't have VABC_COW_VERSION specified, default to version 2")
+        OPTIONS.vabc_cow_version = 2
+      elif source_info.vabc_cow_version != target_info.vabc_cow_version:
+        logger.info("Source and Target have different cow VABC_COW_VERSION specified, default to minimum version")
+        OPTIONS.vabc_cow_version = min(source_info.vabc_cow_version, target_info.vabc_cow_version)
 
     # Virtual AB Compression was introduced in Androd S.
     # Later, we backported VABC to Android R. But verity support was not
@@ -933,19 +934,20 @@ def GenerateAbOtaPackage(target_file, output_file, source_file=None):
     assert "ab_partitions" in OPTIONS.info_dict, \
         "META/ab_partitions.txt is required for ab_update."
     source_info = None
-    if not target_info.vabc_cow_version:
+    if not OPTIONS.vabc_cow_version:
+      if not target_info.vabc_cow_version:
+          OPTIONS.vabc_cow_version = 2
+      elif target_info.vabc_cow_version >= "3" and target_info.vendor_api_level < 35:
+        logger.warning(
+              "This full OTA is configured to use VABC cow version"
+              " 3 which is supported since"
+              " Android API level 35, but device is "
+              "launched with {} . If this full OTA is"
+              " served to a device running old build, OTA might fail due to "
+              "unsupported vabc cow version. For safety, version 2 is used because "
+              "it's supported since day 1.".format(
+                  target_info.vendor_api_level))
         OPTIONS.vabc_cow_version = 2
-    elif target_info.vabc_cow_version >= "3" and target_info.vendor_api_level < 35:
-      logger.warning(
-            "This full OTA is configured to use VABC cow version"
-            " 3 which is supported since"
-            " Android API level 35, but device is "
-            "launched with {} . If this full OTA is"
-            " served to a device running old build, OTA might fail due to "
-            "unsupported vabc cow version. For safety, version 2 is used because "
-            "it's supported since day 1.".format(
-                target_info.vendor_api_level))
-      OPTIONS.vabc_cow_version = 2
     if OPTIONS.vabc_compression_param is None and vabc_compression_param:
       minimum_api_level_required = VABC_COMPRESSION_PARAM_SUPPORT[
           vabc_compression_param]