diff --git a/SConstruct b/SConstruct
index e8f000b334c..e589ee5e00f 100644
--- a/SConstruct
+++ b/SConstruct
@@ -131,6 +131,7 @@ opts.Add(EnumVariable("lto", "Link-time optimization (production builds)", "none
 opts.Add(BoolVariable("deprecated", "Enable deprecated features", True))
 opts.Add(BoolVariable("minizip", "Enable ZIP archive support using minizip", True))
 opts.Add(BoolVariable("xaudio2", "Enable the XAudio2 audio driver", False))
+opts.Add(BoolVariable("disable_exceptions", "Force disabling exception handling code", True))
 opts.Add("custom_modules", "A list of comma-separated directory paths containing custom modules to build.", "")
 opts.Add(BoolVariable("custom_modules_recursive", "Detect custom modules recursively for each specified path.", True))
 
@@ -480,6 +481,16 @@ if selected_platform in platform_list:
         print("       Please adjust your scripts accordingly.")
         Exit(255)
 
+    # Disable exception handling. Godot doesn't use exceptions anywhere, and this
+    # saves around 20% of binary size and very significant build time (GH-80513).
+    if env["disable_exceptions"]:
+        if env.msvc:
+            env.Append(CPPDEFINES=[("_HAS_EXCEPTIONS", 0)])
+        else:
+            env.Append(CCFLAGS=["-fno-exceptions"])
+    elif env.msvc:
+        env.Append(CCFLAGS=["/EHsc"])
+
     # Configure compiler warnings
     if env.msvc:  # MSVC
         # Truncations, narrowing conversions, signed/unsigned comparisons...
@@ -492,8 +503,6 @@ if selected_platform in platform_list:
             env.Append(CCFLAGS=["/W2"] + disable_nonessential_warnings)
         else:  # 'no'
             env.Append(CCFLAGS=["/w"])
-        # Set exception handling model to avoid warnings caused by Windows system headers.
-        env.Append(CCFLAGS=["/EHsc"])
 
         if env["werror"]:
             env.Append(CCFLAGS=["/WX"])
diff --git a/editor/plugins/script_editor_plugin.cpp b/editor/plugins/script_editor_plugin.cpp
index 66a1520a805..4cb11b1c44c 100644
--- a/editor/plugins/script_editor_plugin.cpp
+++ b/editor/plugins/script_editor_plugin.cpp
@@ -73,7 +73,7 @@ static bool _is_built_in_script(Script *p_script) {
 
 class EditorScriptCodeCompletionCache : public ScriptCodeCompletionCache {
 	struct Cache {
-		uint64_t time_loaded;
+		uint64_t time_loaded = 0;
 		RES cache;
 	};
 
diff --git a/modules/denoise/SCsub b/modules/denoise/SCsub
index 89433130013..9515377f0f8 100644
--- a/modules/denoise/SCsub
+++ b/modules/denoise/SCsub
@@ -109,6 +109,15 @@ env_oidn.AppendUnique(CPPDEFINES=["NDEBUG"])  # No assert() even in debug builds
 
 env_thirdparty = env_oidn.Clone()
 env_thirdparty.disable_warnings()
+
+if env["disable_exceptions"]:
+    # OIDN hard-requires exceptions, so we re-enable them here.
+    if env.msvc and ("_HAS_EXCEPTIONS", 0) in env_thirdparty["CPPDEFINES"]:
+        env_thirdparty["CPPDEFINES"].remove(("_HAS_EXCEPTIONS", 0))
+        env_thirdparty.AppendUnique(CCFLAGS=["/EHsc"])
+    elif not env.msvc and "-fno-exceptions" in env_thirdparty["CCFLAGS"]:
+        env_thirdparty["CCFLAGS"].remove("-fno-exceptions")
+
 env_thirdparty.add_source_files(thirdparty_obj, thirdparty_sources)
 env.modules_sources += thirdparty_obj
 
diff --git a/modules/fbx/fbx_parser/FBXMaterial.cpp b/modules/fbx/fbx_parser/FBXMaterial.cpp
index 1148106db93..e80b47f249b 100644
--- a/modules/fbx/fbx_parser/FBXMaterial.cpp
+++ b/modules/fbx/fbx_parser/FBXMaterial.cpp
@@ -329,8 +329,8 @@ Video::Video(uint64_t id, const ElementPtr element, const Document &doc, const s
 
 	if (Content && !Content->Tokens().empty()) {
 		//this field is omitted when the embedded texture is already loaded, let's ignore if it's not found
-		try {
-			const Token *token = GetRequiredToken(Content, 0);
+		const Token *token = GetRequiredToken(Content, 0);
+		if (token) {
 			const char *data = token->begin();
 			if (!token->IsBinary()) {
 				if (*data != '"') {
@@ -341,6 +341,7 @@ Video::Video(uint64_t id, const ElementPtr element, const Document &doc, const s
 					// First time compute size (it could be large like 64Gb and it is good to allocate it once)
 					for (uint32_t tokenIdx = 0; tokenIdx < numTokens; ++tokenIdx) {
 						const Token *dataToken = GetRequiredToken(Content, tokenIdx);
+						ERR_FAIL_COND(!dataToken);
 						size_t tokenLength = dataToken->end() - dataToken->begin() - 2; // ignore double quotes
 						const char *base64data = dataToken->begin() + 1;
 						const size_t outLength = Util::ComputeDecodedSizeBase64(base64data, tokenLength);
@@ -383,10 +384,6 @@ Video::Video(uint64_t id, const ElementPtr element, const Document &doc, const s
 				content = new uint8_t[len];
 				::memcpy(content, data + 5, len);
 			}
-		} catch (...) {
-			//			//we don't need the content data for contents that has already been loaded
-			//			ASSIMP_LOG_VERBOSE_DEBUG_F("Caught exception in FBXMaterial (likely because content was already loaded): ",
-			//									   runtimeError.what());
 		}
 	}
 
diff --git a/platform/android/detect.py b/platform/android/detect.py
index b575e9f162b..c9ce633b51d 100644
--- a/platform/android/detect.py
+++ b/platform/android/detect.py
@@ -173,11 +173,11 @@ def configure(env):
     env["RANLIB"] = compiler_path + "/llvm-ranlib"
     env["AS"] = compiler_path + "/clang"
 
-    # Disable exceptions and rtti on non-tools (template) builds
+    # Disable rtti on non-tools (template) builds.
     if env["tools"]:
         env.Append(CXXFLAGS=["-frtti"])
     else:
-        env.Append(CXXFLAGS=["-fno-rtti", "-fno-exceptions"])
+        env.Append(CXXFLAGS=["-fno-rtti"])
         # Don't use dynamic_cast, necessary with no-rtti.
         env.Append(CPPDEFINES=["NO_SAFE_CAST"])
 
diff --git a/platform/iphone/detect.py b/platform/iphone/detect.py
index bfbcc46d2e3..8be184a7c45 100644
--- a/platform/iphone/detect.py
+++ b/platform/iphone/detect.py
@@ -34,7 +34,6 @@ def get_opts():
         ),
         ("IPHONESDK", "Path to the iPhone SDK", ""),
         BoolVariable("ios_simulator", "Build for iOS Simulator", False),
-        BoolVariable("ios_exceptions", "Enable exceptions", False),
         ("ios_triple", "Triple for ios toolchain", ""),
     ]
 
@@ -157,13 +156,6 @@ def configure(env):
         env.Append(CPPDEFINES=["NEED_LONG_INT"])
         env.Append(CPPDEFINES=["LIBYUV_DISABLE_NEON"])
 
-    # Disable exceptions on non-tools (template) builds
-    if not env["tools"]:
-        if env["ios_exceptions"]:
-            env.Append(CCFLAGS=["-fexceptions"])
-        else:
-            env.Append(CCFLAGS=["-fno-exceptions"])
-
     # Temp fix for ABS/MAX/MIN macros in iPhone SDK blocking compilation
     env.Append(CCFLAGS=["-Wno-ambiguous-macro"])
 
diff --git a/platform/javascript/detect.py b/platform/javascript/detect.py
index e3cf28e70c6..b32133e3326 100644
--- a/platform/javascript/detect.py
+++ b/platform/javascript/detect.py
@@ -88,9 +88,9 @@ def configure(env):
             print('Note: Forcing "initial_memory=64" as it is required for the web editor.')
             env["initial_memory"] = 64
     else:
-        # Disable exceptions and rtti on non-tools (template) builds
-        # These flags help keep the file size down.
-        env.Append(CCFLAGS=["-fno-exceptions", "-fno-rtti"])
+        # Disable rtti on non-tools (template) builds.
+        # This helps keep the file size down.
+        env.Append(CCFLAGS=["-fno-rtti"])
         # Don't use dynamic_cast, necessary with no-rtti.
         env.Append(CPPDEFINES=["NO_SAFE_CAST"])
 
diff --git a/servers/audio_server.h b/servers/audio_server.h
index 10aa5b5d3dc..4cbd949e240 100644
--- a/servers/audio_server.h
+++ b/servers/audio_server.h
@@ -208,9 +208,9 @@ private:
 
 		struct Effect {
 			Ref<AudioEffect> effect;
-			bool enabled;
+			bool enabled = false;
 #ifdef DEBUG_ENABLED
-			uint64_t prof_time;
+			uint64_t prof_time = 0;
 #endif
 		};