Hardware video acceleration: Difference between revisions
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* X-Video Motion Compensation ([[XvMC]]) is an extension for the X.Org Server, allowing video programs to offload portions of the video decoding process to the GPU video-hardware. | * X-Video Motion Compensation ([[XvMC]]) is an extension for the X.Org Server, allowing video programs to offload portions of the video decoding process to the GPU video-hardware. | ||
== | == Driver support == | ||
=== | === VA-API === | ||
{{Expansion|Fill in capabilities of {{pkg|libva-mesa-driver}} and {{aur|amdgpu-pro-vdpau}}.}} | {{Expansion|Fill in capabilities of {{pkg|libva-mesa-driver}} and {{aur|amdgpu-pro-vdpau}}.}} | ||
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{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center;" | {| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center;" | ||
! | ! | ||
! {{pkg|libva-intel-driver}} [https://github.com/01org/intel-vaapi-driver/blob/master/README] | ! {{pkg|libva-intel-driver}} [https://github.com/01org/intel-vaapi-driver/blob/master/README] | ||
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| {{No}} | | {{No}} | ||
|} | |} | ||
=== VDPAU === | |||
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center;" | {| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center;" | ||
! | ! | ||
! {{pkg|mesa-vdpau}} | ! {{pkg|mesa-vdpau}} | ||
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* <sup>3</sup> [[Wikipedia:Nvidia PureVideo|Except]] GeForce 8800 Ultra, 8800 GTX, 8800 GTS (320/640 MB). | * <sup>3</sup> [[Wikipedia:Nvidia PureVideo|Except]] GeForce 8800 Ultra, 8800 GTX, 8800 GTS (320/640 MB). | ||
* <sup>4</sup> Except GeForce GTX 970 and GTX 980. | * <sup>4</sup> Except GeForce GTX 970 and GTX 980. | ||
=== NVDEC/NVENC === | |||
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center;" | {| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center;" | ||
! | ! | ||
! Decoding (NVDEC) | ! Decoding (NVDEC) | ||
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== Software support == | |||
{| class="wikitable" | {| class="wikitable" | ||
Revision as of 15:13, 15 October 2018
Hardware video acceleration makes it possible for the video card to decode/encode video, thus offloading the CPU and saving power.
There are several ways to achieve this on Linux:
- Video Acceleration API (VA-API) is a specification and open source library to provide both hardware accelerated video encoding and decoding, developed by Intel.
- Video Decode and Presentation API for Unix (VDPAU) is an open source library and API to offload portions of the video decoding process and video post-processing to the GPU video-hardware, developed by NVIDIA.
- X-Video Motion Compensation (XvMC) is an extension for the X.Org Server, allowing video programs to offload portions of the video decoding process to the GPU video-hardware.
Driver support
VA-API
Note:
- To choose the correct driver see #Installation.
- The features supported by your GPU may vary. To see what your GPU supports see #Verification.
| libva-intel-driver [1] | intel-media-driver [2] | libva-mesa-driver [3] | Catalyst XvBA | libva-vdpau-driver
(VDPAU adapter) | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Decoding | |||||
| MPEG2 | GMA 4500 and newer | Broadwell and newer | Radeon HD 6000 and newer | Radeon HD 4000 and newer | See VDPAU |
| MPEG4 | No | No | Radeon HD 6000 and newer | Radeon HD 6000 and newer | |
| AVC (H.264) | GMA 45001, Ironlake and newer | Broadwell and newer | Radeon HD 2000 and newer | Radeon HD 4000 and newer | |
| HEVC (H.265) 8bit | Cherryview/Braswell and newer | Skylake and newer | Radeon R9 Fury and newer | No | |
| HEVC (H.265) 10bit | Broxton and newer | Broxton/Apollo Lake and newer | Radeon 400 and newer | ||
| VC1 | Sandy Bridge and newer | Broadwell and newer | Radeon HD 2000 and newer | Radeon HD 4000 and newer | |
| VP8 | Broadwell and newer | No | No | No | |
| VP9 8bit | Broxton and newer | Broxton/Apollo Lake and newer | Raven Ridge and newer | ||
| VP9 10bit | Kaby Lake and newer | Kaby Lake and newer | |||
| Encoding | |||||
| MPEG2 | Ivy Bridge and newer | Broadwell and newer except Broxton/Apollo Lake |
No | No | No |
| AVC (H.264) | Sandy Bridge and newer | Broadwell and newer | Radeon HD 7000 and newer | ||
| HEVC (H.265) 8bit | Skylake and newer | Skylake and newer | Raven Ridge and newer | ||
| HEVC (H.265) 10bit | Kaby Lake and newer | Cannonlake and newer | |||
| VP8 | Cherryview/Braswell and newer | No | |||
| VP9 8bit | Kaby Lake and newer | Icelake and newer | |||
| VP9 10bit | No | ||||
VDPAU
| mesa-vdpau | nvidia-utils | amdgpu-pro-vdpauAUR (AMDGPU PRO only) |
libvdpau-va-gl (VA-API adapter) | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Decoding | ||||
| MPEG2 | Radeon 9500 and newer, GeForce 8 and newer | GeForce 8 and newer | ? | No2 |
| MPEG4 | Radeon HD 6000 and newer, GeForce 200 and newer | GeForce 200 and newer | ||
| AVC (H.264) | Radeon HD 2000 and newer, GeForce 8 and newer | GeForce 8 and newer | See VA-API | |
| HEVC (H.265) | Radeon R9 Fury and newer | GeForce 9004 and newer | No2 | |
| VC1 | Radeon HD 2000 and newer, GeForce 83 and newer | GeForce 83 and newer | ||
- 1 Supported by libva-intel-driver-g45-h264AUR instead.
- 2 As of version 0.3, the VA GL driver does not support any other hardware decoder than H.264.
- 3 Except GeForce 8800 Ultra, 8800 GTX, 8800 GTS (320/640 MB).
- 4 Except GeForce GTX 970 and GTX 980.
NVDEC/NVENC
| Decoding (NVDEC) | Encoding (NVENC) | |
|---|---|---|
| MPEG-2 | Yes | No |
| VC-1 | Yes | No |
| AVC (H.264) | Yes | Yes |
| HEVC (H.265) | Some Maxwell2 and newer | Pascal and newer |
| VP8 | Maxwell2 and newer | No |
| VP9 | Some Maxwell2 and newer | No |
Software support
| VA-API | VDPAU | NVDEC/NVENC | Documentation | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| GStreamer | Yes, via gstreamer-vaapi | Yes, via gst-plugins-bad | Yes, via gst-plugins-bad | GStreamer#Hardware video acceleration |
| VLC media player | Yes | Yes | No | VLC media player#Hardware video acceleration |
| mpv | Yes | Yes | Yes | mpv#Hardware decoding |
| MPlayer | Yes, via mplayer-vaapiAUR | Yes | No | MPlayer#Hardware video acceleration |
| Flash | No | NPAPI-only | No | Flash#Configuration |
| Kodi | Yes | Yes | Yes | Kodi#Hardware video acceleration |
| Firefox | No | No | No | Hardware decoding on Linux tracker bug |
| Chromium | Yes, via chromium-vaapiAUR | No | No | Chromium#Hardware video acceleration |
| FFmpeg | Yes | Yes | Yes | FFmpeg#Hardware video acceleration |
Installation
The choice varies depending on your video card vendor:
- For Intel Graphics use VA-API.
- For NVIDIA cards use VDPAU.
- For AMD cards you can use both (with mesa). The difference is really only in the application implementation [4].
There are also two specific types of drivers for VA-API and VDPAU:
- libva-vdpau-driver, which uses VDPAU as a backend for VA-API.
- libvdpau-va-gl, which uses VA-API as a backend for VDPAU.
For pre-2007 cards see XvMC.
Tip: It is recommended to install and configure both VA-API and VDPAU to achieve support in different scenarios, e.g. Flash does not support VA-API but can use the VDPAU VA-API backend.
Installing VA-API
Open source drivers:
- ATI/AMDGPU Radeon 9500 and newer GPUs are supported by libva-mesa-driver with mesa.
- Intel
- Intel GMA 4500 series and newer GPUs up to Coffee Lake are supported by libva-intel-driver with mesa.
- To get better support on GMA 4500 consider using libva-intel-driver-g45-h264AUR instead, see Intel#Hardware accelerated H.264 decoding on GMA 4500 for instructions and caveats.
- Intel HD Graphics series starting from CannonLake (or optionally from Broadwell) and newer are supported by intel-media-driver.
- Intel GMA 4500 series and newer GPUs up to Coffee Lake are supported by libva-intel-driver with mesa.
- NVIDIA GeForce 8 series and newer GPUs are supported by libva-mesa-driver with mesa.
Proprietary drivers:
- AMD cards depend on the driver:
- AMD Catalyst uses xvba.
- AMDGPU PRO uses libva-vdpau-driver + amdgpu-pro-vdpauAUR (see AMDGPU#AMDGPU PRO).
- NVIDIA GeForce 8 series and newer GPUs are supported by libva-vdpau-driver (see #Installing VDPAU).
Installing VDPAU
Open source drivers:
- ATI/AMDGPU Radeon 9500 and newer GPUs are supported by mesa-vdpau.
- Intel GMA 4500 series and newer GPUs are supported by libvdpau-va-gl (see #Installing VA-API).
- NVIDIA GeForce 8 series and newer GPUs are supported by mesa-vdpau. It requires nouveau-fwAUR, which contains the required firmware to operate that is presently extracted from the NVIDIA binary driver.
Proprietary drivers:
- AMD cards depend on the driver:
- AMD Catalyst uses libvdpau-va-gl (see #Installing VA-API).
- AMDGPU PRO uses amdgpu-pro-vdpauAUR (see AMDGPU#AMDGPU PRO).
- NVIDIA GeForce 600 series and newer GPUs are supported by nvidia-utils.
- GeForce 400/500 series are supported by nvidia-390xx-utils.
- GeForce 8/9 and GeForce 100-300 series are supported by nvidia-340xx-utils.
Verification
Your system may work perfectly out-of-the-box without needing any configuration. Therefore it is a good idea to start with this section to see that it is the case.
Tip: mpv is great for testing hardware acceleration in practice.
Verifying VA-API
Verify the settings for VA-API by running vainfo, which is provided by libva-utils:
$ vainfo
libva info: VA-API version 0.39.4
libva info: va_getDriverName() returns 0
libva info: Trying to open /usr/lib/dri/i965_drv_video.so
libva info: Found init function __vaDriverInit_0_39
libva info: va_openDriver() returns 0
vainfo: VA-API version: 0.39 (libva 1.7.3)
vainfo: Driver version: Intel i965 driver for Intel(R) Skylake - 1.7.3
vainfo: Supported profile and entrypoints
VAProfileMPEG2Simple : VAEntrypointVLD
VAProfileMPEG2Simple : VAEntrypointEncSlice
VAProfileMPEG2Main : VAEntrypointVLD
VAProfileMPEG2Main : VAEntrypointEncSlice
VAProfileH264ConstrainedBaseline: VAEntrypointVLD
VAProfileH264ConstrainedBaseline: VAEntrypointEncSlice
VAProfileH264ConstrainedBaseline: VAEntrypointEncSliceLP
VAProfileH264Main : VAEntrypointVLD
VAProfileH264Main : VAEntrypointEncSlice
VAProfileH264Main : VAEntrypointEncSliceLP
VAProfileH264High : VAEntrypointVLD
VAProfileH264High : VAEntrypointEncSlice
VAProfileH264High : VAEntrypointEncSliceLP
VAProfileH264MultiviewHigh : VAEntrypointVLD
VAProfileH264MultiviewHigh : VAEntrypointEncSlice
VAProfileH264StereoHigh : VAEntrypointVLD
VAProfileH264StereoHigh : VAEntrypointEncSlice
VAProfileVC1Simple : VAEntrypointVLD
VAProfileVC1Main : VAEntrypointVLD
VAProfileVC1Advanced : VAEntrypointVLD
VAProfileNone : VAEntrypointVideoProc
VAProfileJPEGBaseline : VAEntrypointVLD
VAProfileJPEGBaseline : VAEntrypointEncPicture
VAProfileVP8Version0_3 : VAEntrypointVLD
VAProfileVP8Version0_3 : VAEntrypointEncSlice
VAProfileHEVCMain : VAEntrypointVLD
VAProfileHEVCMain : VAEntrypointEncSlice
VAEntrypointVLD means that your card is capable to decode this format, VAEntrypointEncSlice means that you can encode to this format.
In this example the i965 driver is used, as you can see in this line:
libva info: Trying to open /usr/lib/dri/i965_drv_video.so
If the following error is displayed when running vainfo:
libva info: va_openDriver() returns -1 vaInitialize failed with error code -1 (unknown libva error),exit
You need to configure the correct driver, see #Configuring VA-API.
Verifying VDPAU
Install vdpauinfo to verify if the VDPAU driver is loaded correctly and retrieve a full report of the configuration:
$ vdpauinfo
display: :0 screen: 0 API version: 1 Information string: G3DVL VDPAU Driver Shared Library version 1.0 Video surface: name width height types
420 16384 16384 NV12 YV12 422 16384 16384 UYVY YUYV 444 16384 16384 Y8U8V8A8 V8U8Y8A8 Decoder capabilities: name level macbs width height
MPEG1 --- not supported --- MPEG2_SIMPLE 3 9216 2048 1152 MPEG2_MAIN 3 9216 2048 1152 H264_BASELINE 41 9216 2048 1152 H264_MAIN 41 9216 2048 1152 H264_HIGH 41 9216 2048 1152 VC1_SIMPLE 1 9216 2048 1152 VC1_MAIN 2 9216 2048 1152 VC1_ADVANCED 4 9216 2048 1152 ..
Configuration
Although the video driver should automatically enable hardware video acceleration support for both VA-API and VDPAU, it may be needed to configure VA-API/VDPAU manually. Only continue to this section if you went through #Verification.
The default driver names, used if there is no other configuration present, are guess by the system. However, they are often hacked together and may not work. You can see the guessed values by running:
$ grep -iE 'vdpau | dri driver' ~/.local/share/xorg/Xorg.0.log
(II) RADEON(0): [DRI2] DRI driver: radeonsi (II) RADEON(0): [DRI2] VDPAU driver: radeonsi
In this case radeonsi is the default for both VA-API and VDPAU.
Note: If you use GDM, run
journalctl -b | grep -iE 'vdpau | dri driver' instead.This does not represent the configuration however. The values above will not change even if you override them.
Configuring VA-API
You can override the driver for VA-API by using the LIBVA_DRIVER_NAME environment variable:
- For Intel Graphics use
i965oriHD. - For NVIDIA use
vdpau. - For AMD use either
radeonsiorvdpau.
Note:
- You can find the installed drivers in
/usr/lib/dri/. They are used as/usr/lib/dri/${LIBVA_DRIVER_NAME}_drv_video.so. - Some drivers are installed several times under different names for compatibility reasons. You can see which by running
sha1sum /usr/lib/dri/*. - Since version 12.0.1 libva-mesa-driver provides
radeonsiinstead ofgallium.
Configuring VDPAU
You can override the driver for VDPAU by using the VDPAU_DRIVER environment variable.
The correct driver name depends on your setup:
- For Intel Graphics or AMD Catalyst you need to set it to
va_gl. - For the open source AMD/ATI driver set it to the proper driver version depending on your GPU, see #Verification.
- For NVIDIA's proprietary version set it to
nvidia.
Note:
- You can find the installed drivers in
/usr/lib/vdpau/. They are used as/usr/lib/vdpau/libvdpau_${VDPAU_DRIVER}.so. - Some drivers are installed several times under different names for compatibility reasons. You can see which by running
sha1sum /usr/lib/vdpau/*. - For hybrid setups (both NVIDIA and AMD), it may be necessary to set
DRI_PRIME=1. For more information see PRIME.
Troubleshooting
Failed to open VDPAU backend
This happens when you use libvdpau-va-gl without overriding VDPAU_DRIVER. VDPAU does not know what driver to use in this case for some reason and guesses wrongly. See #Configuring VDPAU.
However you may want to configure your media player to use VA-API instead, getting far better results. See #Software.
VAAPI init failed
An error along the lines of libva: /usr/lib/dri/i965_drv_video.so init failed is encountered. This can happen because of improper detection of Wayland. One solution is to unset $DISPLAY so that mpv, mplayer, VLC, etc. do not assume it is X11. Another mpv-specific solution is to add the parameter --opengl-backend=wayland.