diff --git a/lerobot/common/datasets/v21/convert_dataset_v20_to_v21.py b/lerobot/common/datasets/v21/convert_dataset_v20_to_v21.py
index 176d16d0..53cacbef 100644
--- a/lerobot/common/datasets/v21/convert_dataset_v20_to_v21.py
+++ b/lerobot/common/datasets/v21/convert_dataset_v20_to_v21.py
@@ -38,7 +38,10 @@ from huggingface_hub import HfApi
 
 from lerobot.common.datasets.lerobot_dataset import CODEBASE_VERSION, LeRobotDataset
 from lerobot.common.datasets.utils import EPISODES_STATS_PATH, STATS_PATH, load_stats, write_info
-from lerobot.common.datasets.v21.convert_stats import check_aggregate_stats, convert_stats
+from lerobot.common.datasets.v21.convert_stats import (
+    check_aggregate_stats,
+    convert_stats_parallel,
+)
 
 V20 = "v2.0"
 V21 = "v2.1"
@@ -57,14 +60,15 @@ def convert_dataset(
     repo_id: str,
     branch: str | None = None,
     num_workers: int = 4,
+    video_backend: str = "pyav",
 ):
     with SuppressWarnings():
-        dataset = LeRobotDataset(repo_id, revision=V20, force_cache_sync=True)
+        dataset = LeRobotDataset(repo_id, revision=V20, force_cache_sync=True, video_backend=video_backend)
 
     if (dataset.root / EPISODES_STATS_PATH).is_file():
         (dataset.root / EPISODES_STATS_PATH).unlink()
 
-    convert_stats(dataset, num_workers=num_workers)
+    convert_stats_parallel(dataset, num_workers=num_workers)
     ref_stats = load_stats(dataset.root)
     check_aggregate_stats(dataset, ref_stats)
 
diff --git a/lerobot/common/datasets/v21/convert_stats.py b/lerobot/common/datasets/v21/convert_stats.py
index 4a20b427..cbce5f89 100644
--- a/lerobot/common/datasets/v21/convert_stats.py
+++ b/lerobot/common/datasets/v21/convert_stats.py
@@ -13,6 +13,7 @@
 # limitations under the License.
 
 from concurrent.futures import ThreadPoolExecutor, as_completed
+from multiprocessing import cpu_count
 
 import numpy as np
 from tqdm import tqdm
@@ -30,7 +31,7 @@ def sample_episode_video_frames(dataset: LeRobotDataset, episode_index: int, ft_
     return video_frames[ft_key].numpy()
 
 
-def convert_episode_stats(dataset: LeRobotDataset, ep_idx: int):
+def convert_episode_stats(dataset: LeRobotDataset, ep_idx: int, is_parallel: bool = False):
     ep_start_idx = dataset.episode_data_index["from"][ep_idx]
     ep_end_idx = dataset.episode_data_index["to"][ep_idx]
     ep_data = dataset.hf_dataset.select(range(ep_start_idx, ep_end_idx))
@@ -52,7 +53,10 @@ def convert_episode_stats(dataset: LeRobotDataset, ep_idx: int):
                 k: v if k == "count" else np.squeeze(v, axis=0) for k, v in ep_stats[key].items()
             }
 
-    dataset.meta.episodes_stats[ep_idx] = ep_stats
+    if not is_parallel:
+        dataset.meta.episodes_stats[ep_idx] = ep_stats
+
+    return ep_stats, ep_idx
 
 
 def convert_stats(dataset: LeRobotDataset, num_workers: int = 0):
@@ -75,6 +79,29 @@ def convert_stats(dataset: LeRobotDataset, num_workers: int = 0):
         write_episode_stats(ep_idx, dataset.meta.episodes_stats[ep_idx], dataset.root)
 
 
+def convert_stats_parallel(dataset: LeRobotDataset, num_workers: int = 0):
+    """Convert stats in parallel using multiple thread."""
+    assert dataset.episodes is None
+    print("Computing episodes stats")
+    total_episodes = dataset.meta.total_episodes
+    futures = []
+
+    max_workers = min(cpu_count(), num_workers)
+    if num_workers > 0:
+        with ThreadPoolExecutor(max_workers=max_workers) as executor:
+            for ep_idx in range(total_episodes):
+                futures.append(executor.submit(convert_episode_stats, dataset, ep_idx, True))
+            for future in tqdm(as_completed(futures), total=total_episodes, desc="Converting episodes stats"):
+                ep_stats, ep_data = future.result()
+                dataset.meta.episodes_stats[ep_idx] = ep_data
+    else:
+        for ep_idx in tqdm(range(total_episodes)):
+            convert_episode_stats(dataset, ep_idx)
+
+    for ep_idx in tqdm(range(total_episodes)):
+        write_episode_stats(ep_idx, dataset.meta.episodes_stats[ep_idx], dataset.root)
+
+
 def check_aggregate_stats(
     dataset: LeRobotDataset,
     reference_stats: dict[str, dict[str, np.ndarray]],
diff --git a/lerobot/common/datasets/video_utils.py b/lerobot/common/datasets/video_utils.py
index c38d570d..8d361fb8 100644
--- a/lerobot/common/datasets/video_utils.py
+++ b/lerobot/common/datasets/video_utils.py
@@ -23,6 +23,8 @@ from dataclasses import dataclass, field
 from pathlib import Path
 from typing import Any, ClassVar
 
+import decord
+import numpy as np
 import pyarrow as pa
 import torch
 import torchvision
@@ -66,6 +68,8 @@ def decode_video_frames(
         return decode_video_frames_torchcodec(video_path, timestamps, tolerance_s)
     elif backend in ["pyav", "video_reader"]:
         return decode_video_frames_torchvision(video_path, timestamps, tolerance_s, backend)
+    elif backend == "decord":
+        return decode_video_frames_decord(video_path, timestamps)
     else:
         raise ValueError(f"Unsupported video backend: {backend}")
 
@@ -243,6 +247,21 @@ def decode_video_frames_torchcodec(
     return closest_frames
 
 
+def decode_video_frames_decord(
+    video_path: Path | str,
+    timestamps: list[float],
+) -> torch.Tensor:
+    video_path = str(video_path)
+    vr = decord.VideoReader(video_path)
+    num_frames = len(vr)
+    frame_ts: np.ndarray = vr.get_frame_timestamp(range(num_frames))
+    indices = np.abs(frame_ts[:, :1] - timestamps).argmin(axis=0)
+    frames = vr.get_batch(indices)
+
+    frames_tensor = torch.tensor(frames.asnumpy()).type(torch.float32).permute(0, 3, 1, 2) / 255
+    return frames_tensor
+
+
 def encode_video_frames(
     imgs_dir: Path | str,
     video_path: Path | str,