GPUs get used to outsource graphic processing from the CPU. They are designed for this purpose and will therefore perform way better and also take off load.
Hardware
This also contains HWVD, which is provided by an ASIC either on the GPU itself or next to it. It depends on the graphic chip if HWVD is supported at all and if yes which codecs on which level.
Interfaces
| Interface | OS | HW |
|---|---|---|
| DxVA2 (part of D3D9) | Windows | Intel, AMD, NVIDIA |
| D3D11VA (part of D3D11) | Windows | Intel, AMD, NVIDIA |
| VA-API | Linux | Intel, AMD, NVIDIA |
| VDPAU | Linux | AMD, NVIDIA |
Applications
Applications with video playback will use the matching interfaces, at least some of them, to cover most of their users.
VLC -> Windows -> DxVA2 (since v1.1.0)
-> D3D11VA (since v3.0.0)
-> Linux -> VA-API (since v1.1.0)
-> VDPAU (since v2.1.0)
- ASIC … Application-specific integrated circuit
- HWVD … Hardware(-accelerated) video decoding