diff --git a/RELEASENOTES.md b/RELEASENOTES.md
index 785aea63d5..eff30b74d2 100644
--- a/RELEASENOTES.md
+++ b/RELEASENOTES.md
@@ -37,6 +37,11 @@
     *   Support the `forced-subtitle` track role
         ([#9727](https://github.com/google/ExoPlayer/issues/9727)).
 *   HLS:
+    *   Use chunkless preparation by default to improve start up time. If your
+        renditions contain muxed closed-caption tracks that are *not* declared
+        in the master playlist, you should add them to the master playlist to be
+        available for playback, or turn off chunkless preparation with
+        `HlsMediaSource.Factory.setAllowChunklessPreparation(false)`.
     *   Support key-frame accurate seeking in HLS
         ([#2882](https://github.com/google/ExoPlayer/issues/2882)).
     *   Correctly populate `Format.label` for audio only HLS streams
diff --git a/docs/hls.md b/docs/hls.md
index adb750e02a..a6821c3fc5 100644
--- a/docs/hls.md
+++ b/docs/hls.md
@@ -86,23 +86,28 @@ player.addListener(
 ExoPlayer provides multiple ways for you to tailor playback experience to your
 app's needs. See the [Customization page][] for examples.
 
-### Enabling faster start-up times ###
+### Disabling chunkless preparation ###
 
-You can improve HLS start up times noticeably by enabling chunkless preparation.
-When you enable chunkless preparation and `#EXT-X-STREAM-INF` tags contain the
-`CODECS` attribute, ExoPlayer will avoid downloading media segments as part of
-preparation. The following snippet shows how to enable chunkless preparation.
+By default, ExoPlayer will use chunkless preparation. This means that ExoPlayer
+will only use the information in the master playlist to prepare the stream,
+which works if the `#EXT-X-STREAM-INF` tags contain the `CODECS` attribute.
 
+You may need to disable this feature if your media segments contain muxed
+closed-caption tracks that are not declared in the master playlist with a
+`#EXT-X-MEDIA:TYPE=CLOSED-CAPTIONS` tag. Otherwise, these closed-caption tracks
+won't be detected and played. You can disable chunkless preparation in the
+`HlsMediaSource.Factory` as shown in the following snippet. Note that this
+will increase start up time as ExoPlayer needs to download a media segment to
+discover these additional tracks and it is preferable to declare the
+closed-caption tracks in the master playlist instead.
 ~~~
 HlsMediaSource hlsMediaSource =
     new HlsMediaSource.Factory(dataSourceFactory)
-        .setAllowChunklessPreparation(true)
+        .setAllowChunklessPreparation(false)
         .createMediaSource(MediaItem.fromUri(hlsUri));
 ~~~
 {: .language-java}
 
-You can find more details in our [Medium post about chunkless preparation][].
-
 ## Creating high quality HLS content ##
 
 In order to get the most out of ExoPlayer, there are certain guidelines you can
@@ -127,5 +132,4 @@ The following guidelines apply specifically for live streams:
 [PlayerView]: {{ site.exo_sdk }}/ui/PlayerView.html
 [UI components]: {{ site.baseurl }}/ui-components.html
 [Customization page]: {{ site.baseurl }}/customization.html
-[Medium post about chunkless preparation]: https://medium.com/google-exoplayer/faster-hls-preparation-f6611aa15ea6
 [Medium post about HLS playback in ExoPlayer]: https://medium.com/google-exoplayer/hls-playback-in-exoplayer-a33959a47be7
diff --git a/library/hls/src/main/java/com/google/android/exoplayer2/source/hls/HlsMediaSource.java b/library/hls/src/main/java/com/google/android/exoplayer2/source/hls/HlsMediaSource.java
index 0f85df5772..e0aaafc3d5 100644
--- a/library/hls/src/main/java/com/google/android/exoplayer2/source/hls/HlsMediaSource.java
+++ b/library/hls/src/main/java/com/google/android/exoplayer2/source/hls/HlsMediaSource.java
@@ -142,6 +142,7 @@ public final class HlsMediaSource extends BaseMediaSource
       metadataType = METADATA_TYPE_ID3;
       streamKeys = Collections.emptyList();
       elapsedRealTimeOffsetMs = C.TIME_UNSET;
+      allowChunklessPreparation = true;
     }
 
     /**