Video Acceleration API

<h2 id="overview">Overview</h2>

The main motivation for VA-API is to enable hardware-accelerated video decode at various entry-points (<a href="/facts/Variable-length_code/DImYG6eg">VLD</a>, <a href="/facts/IDCT/gPpDhPwP">IDCT</a>, <a href="/facts/Motion_compensation/6BM2Ylxn">motion compensation</a>, <a href="/facts/Deblocking_filter_(video)/vYmrEGh9">deblocking</a><a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:4" href="#fn:4">4</a>) for the prevailing coding standards today (<a href="/facts/H.262%2fMPEG-2_Part_2/uKxBALVh">MPEG-2</a>, <a href="/facts/MPEG-4_Part_2/qrahXdyN">MPEG-4 ASP</a>/<a href="/facts/H.263/KSxo04Gy">H.263</a>, <a href="/facts/H.264%2fMPEG-4_AVC/soCzKcmJ">MPEG-4 AVC/H.264</a>, <a href="/facts/High_Efficiency_Video_Coding/6gp7DC1a">H.265/HEVC</a>, and <a href="/facts/VC-1/KotHFF8I">VC-1/WMV3</a>). Extending XvMC was considered, but due to its original design for MPEG-2 <a href="/facts/Motion_Compensation/6BM2Ylxn">MotionComp</a> only, it made more sense to design an interface from scratch that can fully expose the video decode capabilities in today's <a href="/facts/Graphics_processing_unit/PTK1RQVp">GPUs</a>.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:5" href="#fn:5">5</a>

<h3>Supported hardware and drivers</h3>
As of 2022, VA-API is natively supported by:<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:6" href="#fn:6">6</a>

<ul><li><a href="/facts/Intel_Quick_Sync/3A6RcIJh">Intel Quick Sync</a> open-source drivers for Linux</li>
<li><a href="/facts/Mesa_(computer_graphics)/oxcVI6bd">Mesa</a> open-source drivers for AMD and Nvidia graphics cards</li>
<li>AMDGPU-PRO drivers for AMD graphics cards on Linux</li>
<li>libva-vdpau-driver for cards supported by <a href="/facts/VDPAU/nQ1IYIdW">VDPAU</a></li>
<li><a href="/facts/Direct3D/WHJ6DTcv">Direct3D 12</a> implementations with the VAOn12 driver<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:7" href="#fn:7">7</a></li></ul>
<h3>Supported video codecs</h3>
VA-API currently supports these video codecs in the official mainline version, but note that exactly which video codecs are supported depends on the hardware and the driver's capabilities.

<ul><li>MPEG-2 decode acceleration Main Profile</li>
<li>VC-1 / WMV3 decode acceleration Advanced Profile</li>
<li><a href="/facts/MPEG-4_Part_2/qrahXdyN">MPEG-4 Part 2 (H.263)</a> (a.k.a. MPEG-4 SP / MPEG-4 ASP, more commonly known as <a href="/facts/Xvid/CbpsozCI">Xvid</a>) decode acceleration</li>
<li><a href="/facts/H.264%2fMPEG-4_AVC/soCzKcmJ">H.264 AVC</a> encode acceleration Main Profile</li>
<li>H.264 AVC decode acceleration High Profile
<ul><li>H.264 / AVC Hardware Variable Length Decoding (VLD) - CABAC</li>
<li>H.264 / AVC Hardware Variable Length Decoding (VLD) - CAVLC</li>
<li>H.264 / AVC Hardware Inverse Transform (IT)</li>
<li>H.264 / AVC Hardware Motion Compensation (HWMC)</li>
<li>H.264 / AVC Hardware In-Loop Deblocking (ILDB)</li></ul></li>
<li><a href="/facts/High_Efficiency_Video_Coding/6gp7DC1a">H.265/HEVC</a> encode acceleration</li>
<li>H.265/HEVC decode acceleration</li>
<li><a href="/facts/VP9/dBP8ffoc">VP9</a> 8-bit encode acceleration<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:8" href="#fn:8">8</a></li>
<li>VP9 8-bit and 10-bit decode acceleration<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:9" href="#fn:9">9</a></li>
<li><a href="/facts/AV1/d07UxHgf">AV1</a> 8-bit and 10-bit encode acceleration</li>
<li>AV1 8-bit and 10-bit decode acceleration<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:10" href="#fn:10">10</a></li></ul>
<h2 id="processes-that-can-be-accelerated-with-va-api">Processes that can be accelerated with VA-API</h2>
Video decoding and post-processing processes that can be offloaded and accelerated if both the device drivers and GPU hardware supports them:

<ul><li><a href="/facts/Motion_compensation/6BM2Ylxn">Motion compensation</a></li>
<li><a href="/facts/Inverse_discrete_cosine_transform/gPpDhPwP">Inverse discrete cosine transform</a></li>
<li>In-loop <a href="/facts/Deblocking_filter_(video)/vYmrEGh9">deblocking filter</a></li>
<li>Intra-frame prediction</li>
<li><a href="/facts/Huffman_coding/dBgMBz48">variable-length decoding</a>, more commonly known as slice-level acceleration</li>
<li>Bitstream processing (<a href="/facts/Context-adaptive_variable-length_coding/f6auheYI">Context-adaptive variable-length coding</a>/<a href="/facts/Context-adaptive_binary_arithmetic_coding/nTRVHwH1">Context-adaptive binary arithmetic coding</a>)</li></ul>
<h2 id="software-architecture">Software architecture</h2>

The current interface is window system independent, so that it can potentially be used with graphics sub-systems other than the <a href="/facts/Direct_Rendering_Infrastructure/gY65go57">DRI (Direct Rendering Infrastructure)</a> in <a href="/facts/X_Window_System/ac2vRIQL">X Window System</a>, such as direct with <a href="/facts/Framebuffer/kr8I4mm3">framebuffer</a>, and it can work with third-party <a href="/facts/Direct_Rendering_Manager/AjCBBvrU">DRM (Direct Rendering Manager)</a> libraries. In a nutshell, it is a scheme to pass various types of data buffers from the application to the <a href="/facts/Graphics_processing_unit/PTK1RQVp">GPU</a> for <a href="/facts/Video_codec/psfSuqg7">decoding or encoding</a> a <a href="/facts/Elementary_stream/n57V5LzS">compressed bit-stream</a>.

<h2 id="software-supporting-va-api">Software supporting VA-API</h2>

<ul><li><a href="/facts/Chromium_(web_browser)/F1S8sAEt">Chromium</a></li>
<li>Bluecherry DVR client (starting from release 2.2.6)<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:11" href="#fn:11">11</a></li>
<li>datarhei Restreamer<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:12" href="#fn:12">12</a> real-time live video streaming</li>
<li><a href="/facts/Emby/BEcUhrye">Emby</a> media server (starting from release 3.0.6400)<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:13" href="#fn:13">13</a></li>
<li>ffmpeg, a command line tool from the <a href="/facts/FFmpeg/85yf3kHI">FFmpeg</a> project (starting from 3.1)<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:14" href="#fn:14">14</a></li>
<li><a href="/facts/Firefox/xez2zv8H">Firefox</a> (On Wayland since release 78 and on X11 since release 80)<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:15" href="#fn:15">15</a><a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:16" href="#fn:16">16</a></li>
<li>Fluendo<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:17" href="#fn:17">17</a><a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:18" href="#fn:18">18</a></li>
<li>Frigate NVR<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:19" href="#fn:19">19</a></li>
<li><a href="/facts/Gnash_(software)/mBR2oa7z">Gnash</a> Flash / <a href="/facts/SWF/5qwLlUC5">SWF</a> player<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:20" href="#fn:20">20</a></li>
<li><a href="/facts/GStreamer/34EkSQAf">GStreamer</a> through gstreamer-vaapi<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:21" href="#fn:21">21</a></li>
<li><a href="/facts/Helix_(project)/jrofyQmr">Helix media player</a> (<a href="/facts/Linux/9FvCKSTq">Linux</a>)<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:22" href="#fn:22">22</a><a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:23" href="#fn:23">23</a></li>
<li><a href="/facts/Jellyfin/41jB0eyB">Jellyfin</a> media server<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:24" href="#fn:24">24</a></li>
<li><a href="/facts/Kodi_(software)/tzwEQ9oh">Kodi</a> (formerly XBMC Media Center) (<a href="/facts/Linux/9FvCKSTq">Linux</a>)<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:25" href="#fn:25">25</a></li>
<li><a href="/facts/Kodi_(software)/tzwEQ9oh">Kodibuntu</a> (formerly XBMC Live) (Linux Live CD/USB operating-system)<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:26" href="#fn:26">26</a></li>
<li><a href="/facts/Libavcodec/69SFWWvw">libavcodec</a><a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:27" href="#fn:27">27</a></li>
<li><a href="/facts/MPlayer/nfyW0yjn">MPlayer</a> with custom patches<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:28" href="#fn:28">28</a> and its fork <a href="/facts/Mpv_(media_player)/VGkzJm7R">mpv</a> (native)</li>
<li><a href="/facts/MythTV/zK2W6UMn">MythTV</a> (starting from release 0.25)<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:29" href="#fn:29">29</a></li>
<li><a href="/facts/OBS_Studio/Hw6FJhaF">OBS Studio</a><a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:30" href="#fn:30">30</a></li>
<li>OpenShot<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:31" href="#fn:31">31</a></li>
<li><a href="/facts/VLC_media_player/aNurLBXb">VLC media player</a> (starting from release 1.1.0)<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:32" href="#fn:32">32</a></li>
<li><a href="/facts/Xine/gm2KJFor">Xine</a> (via "xine-lib-vaapi" library) since Version 1.2.3<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:33" href="#fn:33">33</a></li></ul>
<h2 id="see-also">See also</h2>
<ul>
<li>Free and open-source software portal</li></ul>
<ul><li><a href="/facts/Distributed_Codec_Engine/hBdePdMh">Distributed Codec Engine</a> (libdce) — Texas Instruments API for the video codec engine in OMAP based embedded systems</li>
<li><a href="/facts/OpenMAX/uLBY8gXQ">OpenMAX</a> — a royalty-free cross-platform media abstraction API from the Khronos Group</li></ul>

<h2 id="external-links">External links</h2>
<ul><li><a href="http://www.freedesktop.org/wiki/Software/vaapi">Official website</a></li>
<li><a href="https://01.org/linuxmedia/vaapi">Intel Media and Audio for Linux</a></li>
<li><a href="http://wiki.ubuntu.com/mobile-hw-decode">mobile-hw-decode</a></li>
<li><a href="https://lwn.net/Articles/339349/">"VA API slowly -- but surely -- making progress"</a> – an overview from 2009</li>
<li><a href="https://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=article&item=xorg_vaapi_mplayer/">"MPlayer, FFmpeg Gain VA-API Support"</a> – from 2008</li></ul>

<h2 id="references">References</h2>

<ol>
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<li id="fn:2">"Video4Linux2: Path to a Standardized Video Codec API" (PDF). Events.linuxfoundation.org. Archived from the original (PDF) on 6 January 2014. Retrieved 23 February 2019. <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20140106032317/https://events.linuxfoundation.org/images/stories/pdf/lceu2012_debski.pdf" target="_blank">https://web.archive.org/web/20140106032317/https://events.linuxfoundation.org/images/stories/pdf/lceu2012_debski.pdf</a> <a href="#fnref:2" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:3">Nathan Willis (2009-07-01). "VA API slowly, but surely, making progress". Lwn.net. <a href="https://lwn.net/Articles/339349/" target="_blank">https://lwn.net/Articles/339349/</a> <a href="#fnref:3" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:4">"Mplayer, FFmpeg Gain VA-API Support - Phoronix". Phoronix.com. Retrieved 23 February 2019. <a href="https://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=article&item=xorg_vaapi_mplayer&num=1" target="_blank">https://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=article&item=xorg_vaapi_mplayer&num=1</a> <a href="#fnref:4" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
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<li id="fn:6">"Hardware video acceleration". wiki.ArchLinux.org. <a href="https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Hardware_video_acceleration" target="_blank">https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Hardware_video_acceleration</a> <a href="#fnref:6" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:7">Vilerino, Sil (2023-02-15). "Video acceleration API (VA-API) now available on Windows!". DirectX Developer Blog. Retrieved 2023-03-08. <a href="https://devblogs.microsoft.com/directx/video-acceleration-api-va-api-now-available-on-windows/" target="_blank">https://devblogs.microsoft.com/directx/video-acceleration-api-va-api-now-available-on-windows/</a> <a href="#fnref:7" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:8">"Hardware/vaapi". wiki.libav.org. Archived from the original on 2017-02-01. Retrieved 2017-01-20. <a href="https://wiki.libav.org/Hardware/vaapi" target="_blank">https://wiki.libav.org/Hardware/vaapi</a> <a href="#fnref:8" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:9">"Hardware/vaapi". wiki.libav.org. Archived from the original on 2017-02-01. Retrieved 2017-01-20. <a href="https://wiki.libav.org/Hardware/vaapi" target="_blank">https://wiki.libav.org/Hardware/vaapi</a> <a href="#fnref:9" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:10">"Hardware video acceleration". wiki.ArchLinux.org. <a href="https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Hardware_video_acceleration" target="_blank">https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Hardware_video_acceleration</a> <a href="#fnref:10" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:11">"[Client] 2.2.6 Released – Significant CPU usage reductions included". Bluecherrydvr.com. 2 March 2017. Retrieved 23 February 2019. <a href="http://www.bluecherrydvr.com/client-2-2-6-released-significant-cpu-usage-reductions-included/" target="_blank">http://www.bluecherrydvr.com/client-2-2-6-released-significant-cpu-usage-reductions-included/</a> <a href="#fnref:11" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:12">"datarhei Restreamer". <a href="https://docs.datarhei.com/restreamer/" target="_blank">https://docs.datarhei.com/restreamer/</a> <a href="#fnref:12" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:13">"Emby Server 3.0.6400 Released". Emby.media. 29 August 2016. Retrieved 23 February 2019. <a href="http://emby.media/" target="_blank">http://emby.media/</a> <a href="#fnref:13" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:14">"Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2016-09-16. Retrieved 2016-08-31.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link) <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20160916205031/https://raw.githubusercontent.com/FFmpeg/FFmpeg/master/Changelog" target="_blank">https://web.archive.org/web/20160916205031/https://raw.githubusercontent.com/FFmpeg/FFmpeg/master/Changelog</a> <a href="#fnref:14" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:15">"Firefox on Fedora finally gets VA-API on Wayland". mastransky.wordpress.com. 3 June 2020. Retrieved 2020-08-19. <a href="https://mastransky.wordpress.com/2020/06/03/firefox-on-fedora-finally-gets-va-api-on-wayland/" target="_blank">https://mastransky.wordpress.com/2020/06/03/firefox-on-fedora-finally-gets-va-api-on-wayland/</a> <a href="#fnref:15" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:16">"Firefox 80 Available With VA-API On X11, WebGL Parallel Shader Compile Support". www.phoronix.com. Retrieved 2020-08-25. <a href="https://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_item&px=Firefox-80-Released" target="_blank">https://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_item&px=Firefox-80-Released</a> <a href="#fnref:16" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:17">"Fluendo". <a href="https://fluendo.com/en/" target="_blank">https://fluendo.com/en/</a> <a href="#fnref:17" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:18">"Fluendo's New Codecs Support VDPAU, VA-API - Phoronix". Phoronix.com. Retrieved 23 February 2019. <a href="https://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_item&px=ODEwMw" target="_blank">https://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_item&px=ODEwMw</a> <a href="#fnref:18" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:19">"Hardware Acceleration". <a href="https://docs.frigate.video/configuration/hardware_acceleration/#via-vaapi" target="_blank">https://docs.frigate.video/configuration/hardware_acceleration/#via-vaapi</a> <a href="#fnref:19" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:20">"H.264 VA-API GPU Video Acceleration For Flash - Phoronix". Phoronix.com. Retrieved 23 February 2019. <a href="https://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_item&px=NzU1MA" target="_blank">https://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_item&px=NzU1MA</a> <a href="#fnref:20" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:21">"Hardware-accelerated video decoding, encoding and processing on Intel graphics through VA-API". Cgit.freedesktop.org. Retrieved 23 February 2019. <a href="https://cgit.freedesktop.org/gstreamer/gstreamer-vaapi" target="_blank">https://cgit.freedesktop.org/gstreamer/gstreamer-vaapi</a> <a href="#fnref:21" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:22">"Mailing list entry that describes uses of VA-API". Lists.moblin.org. Retrieved 23 February 2019. <a href="http://lists.moblin.org/pipermail/dev/2008-September/002750.html" target="_blank">http://lists.moblin.org/pipermail/dev/2008-September/002750.html</a> <a href="#fnref:22" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:23">"RealPlayer for MID & Intel/Linux FAQ". HelixCommunity.org. Archived from the original on 2012-03-24. Retrieved 2011-05-12. <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20120324001505/https://community.helixcommunity.org/Licenses/realplayer_for_mid_faq.html" target="_blank">https://web.archive.org/web/20120324001505/https://community.helixcommunity.org/Licenses/realplayer_for_mid_faq.html</a> <a href="#fnref:23" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:24">"Intel GPU". jellyfin.org. Retrieved 2024-12-02. <a href="https://jellyfin.org/docs/general/administration/hardware-acceleration/intel/" target="_blank">https://jellyfin.org/docs/general/administration/hardware-acceleration/intel/</a> <a href="#fnref:24" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:25">"XBMC Gets Working Intel VA-API Support - Phoronix". Phoronix.com. Retrieved 23 February 2019. <a href="https://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_item&px=ODEyNw" target="_blank">https://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_item&px=ODEyNw</a> <a href="#fnref:25" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:26">"XBMC Gets Working Intel VA-API Support - Phoronix". Phoronix.com. Retrieved 23 February 2019. <a href="https://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_item&px=ODEyNw" target="_blank">https://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_item&px=ODEyNw</a> <a href="#fnref:26" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:27">"This gist contains instructions on setting up FFmpeg and Libav to use VAAPI-based hardware accelerated encoding (on supported platforms) for H.264 (and H.265 on supported hardware) video formats". Gist. Retrieved 2024-12-02. <a href="https://gist.github.com/jcf/266239b2b9106bcd00358acb77c1f12e" target="_blank">https://gist.github.com/jcf/266239b2b9106bcd00358acb77c1f12e</a> <a href="#fnref:27" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:28">"gbeauchesne / mplayer-vaapi". <a href="https://github.com/gbeauchesne/mplayer-vaapi" target="_blank">https://github.com/gbeauchesne/mplayer-vaapi</a> <a href="#fnref:28" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:29">"Release Notes - 0.25 - MythTV Official Wiki". Mythtv.org. Retrieved 23 February 2019. <a href="https://www.mythtv.org/wiki/Release_Notes_-_0.25" target="_blank">https://www.mythtv.org/wiki/Release_Notes_-_0.25</a> <a href="#fnref:29" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:30">"OBS Studio Now Supports VA-API For Video Encoding - Phoronix". www.phoronix.com. Retrieved 2020-08-06. <a href="https://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_item&px=OBS-Studio-VA-API-H264" target="_blank">https://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_item&px=OBS-Studio-VA-API-H264</a> <a href="#fnref:30" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:31">"OpenShot Library | libopenshot". <a href="https://openshot.org/files/libopenshot/md_doc_HW-ACCEL.html" target="_blank">https://openshot.org/files/libopenshot/md_doc_HW-ACCEL.html</a> <a href="#fnref:31" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
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</ol>

Video Acceleration API open-in-new

Video Acceleration API