diff --git a/lib_com/ivas_qmetadata_com.c b/lib_com/ivas_qmetadata_com.c
index b7fcd9f668e97167ced27f100b171f5641b77e62..538d74c71e977c864fa3d020acbc40f462fba59c 100644
--- a/lib_com/ivas_qmetadata_com.c
+++ b/lib_com/ivas_qmetadata_com.c
@@ -526,9 +526,14 @@ ivas_error only_reduce_bits_direction_fx(
     Word16 *bits_dir0;
 
     Word16 bits_sph_idx_orig[MASA_MAXIMUM_CODING_SUBBANDS][MAX_PARAM_SPATIAL_SUBFRAMES];
+#ifdef FIX_QMETADATA_PENALTY 
+    Word32 penalty[MASA_MAXIMUM_CODING_SUBBANDS];
+    Word16 tmp;
+#else
     Word16 penalty[MASA_MAXIMUM_CODING_SUBBANDS];
     Word16 shift, tmp, tmp_e, flag;
     Word32 tmp_32;
+#endif
     FOR( j = 0; j < coding_subbands; j++ )
     {
         FOR( k = 0; k < no_subframes; k++ )
@@ -612,6 +617,53 @@ ivas_error only_reduce_bits_direction_fx(
     }
     ELSE
     {
+#ifdef FIX_QMETADATA_PENALTY    
+
+        Word16 m, sorted, index1, index2;
+
+        FOR( j = 0; j < coding_subbands; j++ )
+        {
+            ind_order[j] = j;
+            move16();
+        }
+        sorted = 0;
+        move16();
+        FOR( m = coding_subbands - 1; m && !sorted; m-- )
+        {
+            sorted = 1;
+            move16();
+            FOR( j = 0; j < m; j++ )
+            {
+                index1 = ind_order[j];
+                index2 = ind_order[j + 1];
+                tmp = 0;
+                move16();
+                FOR( k = 0; k < no_subframes; k++ )
+                {
+                    tmp = add( tmp, sub( bits_sph_idx_orig[index1][k], q_direction->band_data[index1].bits_sph_idx[k] ) );
+                }
+                penalty[0] = L_shr( W_extract_l( W_mult_32_16( tmp, bits_sph_idx_orig[index2][0] ) ), 1 );
+                tmp = 0;
+                move16();
+                FOR( k = 0; k < no_subframes; k++ )
+                {
+                    tmp = add( tmp, sub( bits_sph_idx_orig[index2][k], q_direction->band_data[index2].bits_sph_idx[k] ) );
+            }
+                penalty[1] = L_shr( W_extract_l( W_mult_32_16( tmp, bits_sph_idx_orig[index1][0] ) ), 1 );
+                IF( LT_32( penalty[0], penalty[1] ) )
+            {
+                    sorted = 0;
+                    move16();
+                    ind_order[j] = index2;
+                    move16();
+                    ind_order[j + 1] = index1;
+                    move16();
+            }
+        }
+        }
+        
+    
+#else
         FOR( j = 0; j < coding_subbands; j++ )
         {
             penalty[j] = 0;
@@ -669,6 +721,7 @@ ivas_error only_reduce_bits_direction_fx(
             }
         }
         sort_desc_ind_16_fx( penalty, coding_subbands, ind_order );
+#endif
     }
 
     *reduce_bits_out = negate( reduce_bits );
diff --git a/lib_com/options.h b/lib_com/options.h
index 366354dc890d594c3814771366c0b9b3bc016745..b7a13d5bd14fbb5a6bc9b22013092488331ae937 100644
--- a/lib_com/options.h
+++ b/lib_com/options.h
@@ -121,6 +121,8 @@
 
 #define FIX_ISSUE_723_INFO_TCX_NOISE /*FhG: Issue 723: fix for IGF that introduces wrong noise filling behavion*/
 
+#define FIX_QMETADATA_PENALTY /* Nokia: transform penalty calculation in qmetadata into integer operations */
+
 /* ##################### End NON-BE switches ########################### */
 #define FIX_740_HQ_CORE_OVA // Proposed fix to solve overlap and add issue for HQ_CORE
 #define FIX_746  // proposed fix to solve low bit-rate frame boundaries issues