diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index a98c4f1..9067978 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -152,7 +152,7 @@ change the default without having to pass flags every time.
 | Key | Default | Description |
 |---|---|---|
 | `TAZ_DEFAULT_FORMAT` | `tar.gz` | Archive format for `taz` (`tar.gz`, `tar.bz2`, `tar.xz`, `zip`, …) |
-| `TAZ_DEFAULT_THREADS` | `0` | Compression threads (0 = auto-detect) |
+| `TAZ_DEFAULT_THREADS` | `auto` | Compression threads (`auto` = runtime CPU count, or explicit positive integer) |
 | `TAZ_DEFAULT_LEVEL` | `6` | Compression level (1–9) |
 | `UTAZ_DEFAULT_DELETE` | `0` | Set to `1` to delete the source archive after extraction |
 | `UTAZ_DEFAULT_DIR_MODE` | `0` | Set to `1` to always extract into a subdirectory |
diff --git a/doc/profile.conf.example b/doc/profile.conf.example
index 7ec9742..9b4303f 100755
--- a/doc/profile.conf.example
+++ b/doc/profile.conf.example
@@ -30,8 +30,10 @@ TERM=xterm-256color
 # Supported: lz (default), xz, bz2, gz, lzo, tar, zip, zst
 #TAZ_DEFAULT_FORMAT=lz
 
-# taz: Number of compression threads (0 = auto-detect CPU count).
-#TAZ_DEFAULT_THREADS=0
+# taz: Number of compression threads.
+#   auto — detect CPU count at runtime (default)
+#   N    — explicit positive integer
+#TAZ_DEFAULT_THREADS=auto
 
 # taz: Compression level 1 (fast/large) … 9 (slow/small).
 #TAZ_DEFAULT_LEVEL=6