VA-API is the Video Acceleration API that's largely developed by Intel as a means of GPU-based video encode/decode acceleration. VA-API is supported by the Intel Linux graphics driver, the Poulsbo driver, and there's a now unmaintained VA-API state tracker to Gallium3D. There is also a VDPAU back-end to VA-API for using VA-API applications with NVIDIA graphics hardware and separately the VDPAU state tracker.

Additional Information: freedesktop.org/wiki/Software/vaapi

VA-API Articles & Reviews

ASRock P67 Pro3   Motherboards   2011-03-14
Intel Sandy Bridge VA-API Performance   Display Drivers   2011-03-07
Some Good & Bad News For The Nouveau Driver   Display Drivers   2011-01-10
S3 Graphics Releases Linux Driver With OpenGL 3.0, VA-API   Display Drivers   2009-02-27
A NVIDIA VDPAU Back-End For Intel's VA-API   Display Drivers   2009-02-03
Mplayer, FFmpeg Gain VA-API Support   Software   2008-12-24

VA-API Linux & Open-Source News

Intel Media Driver 2024Q1 Brings Arrow Lake H Support   Intel   2024-04-22
Intel oneVPL GPU Runtime 2024Q1 Brings VP9 Fix & AV1 Refinements   Intel   2024-04-19
MPV 0.38 Media Player Released With New Options & Fixes   Multimedia   2024-04-17
Intel VA-API 2.21 Library Adds Intel Xe Kernel Driver Support, AV1 & Windows Fixes   Multimedia   2024-03-26
OBS Studio 30.1 Released With AV1 Support For VA-API & PipeWire Video Capture   Multimedia   2024-03-12
Mesa's VDPAU State Tracker Adds Support For AV1 Decoding   Mesa   2024-03-07
GStreamer 1.24 Released With Vulkan H.264/H.265 Decode & Many Enhancements   Multimedia   2024-03-04
GNOME Makes Progress On GPU-Accelerated Screencasting, systemd-homed Home Encryption   GNOME   2024-02-25
OBS Studio 30.1 Beta Released With AV1 For VA-API & AV1 For WebRTC/WHIP Output   Multimedia   2024-02-02
Steam Beta Adds VA-API DRM Video Acceleration For Remote Play   Valve   2024-01-25
OBS Merges FFmpeg VA-API AV1 Support   Multimedia   2024-01-24
Mesa Vulkan Drivers Reach An Inflection Point: Idea Raised To Be More Like Gallium3D   Mesa   2024-01-19
Intel FFmpeg Cartwheel Updated With Meteor Lake Support & More DNN Functionality   Intel   2024-01-10
Google Chrome Adds VA-API Video Acceleration On Wayland   Wayland   2024-01-06
Microsoft Continued Advancing WSL2, Mesa & Its In-House Linux Distro In 2023   Microsoft   2024-01-03
Intel Media Driver 2023Q4 Improves Video Acceleration For Meteor Lake & Arrow Lake   Intel   2024-01-03
NVIDIA's Open-Source Kernel Driver & Maturing Wayland Support Were Great In 2023   NVIDIA   2024-01-02
RadeonSI Gallium3D Enables VCN Encoder Intra-Refresh Support   Radeon   2023-11-18
FFmpeg 6.1 Released With Vulkan Video Decoding, VA-API AV1 Encode   Multimedia   2023-11-11
NVIDIA-VAAPI-Driver 0.0.11 Delivers Various Fixes   NVIDIA   2023-11-06
Intel FFmpeg Cartwheel 2023Q3 Released For Latest VA-API & QSV Code   Intel   2023-10-27
Intel Video Acceleration Drivers Begin Preparing For Arrow Lake S   Intel   2023-10-24
Libva 2.20 Released For Video Acceleration API   Multimedia   2023-10-09
Ubuntu Desktop "Charting A Course For The Future" With Ubuntu 24.04 LTS Next Year   Ubuntu   2023-08-25
OBS Studio 30 Beta Brings Intel QSV On Linux, WHIP/WebRTC Output   Multimedia   2023-08-17
Intel Media Driver 2023Q2 Preps More For Meteor Lake, More Arc Graphics Fixes   Intel   2023-08-02
Intel Releases Updated Q2-2023 FFmpeg Cartwheel   Intel   2023-07-19
Intel Releases libva 2.19 VA-API Video Acceleration Library For Windows & Linux   Multimedia   2023-07-12
Firefox 115 Now Available With Intel GPU Video Decoding On Linux   Mozilla   2023-07-04
Microsoft Adds Direct3D 12 Powered AV1 Video Encoding To Mesa   Microsoft   2023-06-28
Mozilla Firefox 116 To Allow For Wayland-Only Builds   Mozilla   2023-06-26
FFmpeg's Next Release Will Be Exciting With Vulkan Video Decode, More Vulkan Filters   Multimedia   2023-05-31
OBS Studio 29.1 Released With AV1/HEVC Streaming Over Enhanced RTMP   Multimedia   2023-05-03
Intel FFmpeg Cartwheel 2023Q1 Brings Improved Multi-GPU Video Acceleration Support   Intel   2023-05-01
AMD Adds AV1 Video Encoding Support To Mesa VA-API   Radeon   2023-04-27
FFmpeg Now Works With VA-API On Windows Thanks To Microsoft   Multimedia   2023-04-25
Chinese GPU Vendor Moore Threads Contributing To VA-API, FFmpeg   Free Software   2023-04-17
Intel oneVPL GPU Runtime 2023Q1 Adds AV1 Error Resilient Mode   Intel   2023-04-13
Intel Media Driver 2023Q1 Adds Meteor Lake AV1 Error-Resilient Video Encoding   Intel   2023-04-10
AMD Instinct MI300 "GFX940" Support Merged To Mesa 23.1   Mesa   2023-04-07
OBS Studio 29.1 Beta 1 Released With New AV1/HEVC Streaming Over RTMP   Free Software   2023-03-29
VA-API's Libva 2.18 Released With Windows WSL D3D12 Support, Optional Disabling DRI3   Multimedia   2023-03-28
NVIDIA VA-API Driver 0.0.9 Released With YUV444 Support   NVIDIA   2023-03-12
LibreELEC 11 Released With GBM/V4L2 HDR Support On x86_64, More ARM Hardware   Multimedia   2023-03-06
FFmpeg 6.0 Released With NVIDIA NVENC AV1, VA-API Improvements   Multimedia   2023-02-28
Microsoft Officially Launches D3D12 GPU Video Acceleration For WSL Linux Use   Microsoft   2023-02-13
Mesa 23.1 RADV Driver Lands Vulkan Video Decoding For H.264/H.265   Radeon   2023-02-07
Linux 6.3 Features, Intel Sapphire Rapids & More Made For An Exciting January   Phoronix   2023-01-31
Intel oneVPL GPU Runtime 22.6.5 Brings AV1 & VP9 Encode Improvements   Intel   2023-01-26
VA-API 2.17 Released With Basic X11 DRI3 Support, Enabling VA-API On Windows   Multimedia   2023-01-17
Intel's FFmpeg Cartwheel 2022Q4 Released - Raptor Lake P, Better AV1 & HEVC Encode   Intel   2023-01-16
Kodi 20 Released With VA-API AV1 Support, Steam Deck Controls Support   Multimedia   2023-01-15
Intel Media Driver 2022Q4 Adds Meteor Lake Enablement   Intel   2023-01-13
RADV Vulkan Video Making Progress On H.264 Encoding   Radeon   2022-12-29
NVIDIA-VAAPI-Driver 0.0.8 Introduces New Direct Backend   NVIDIA   2022-12-18
Intel Publishes Latest FFmpeg Patches For Better GPU Video Encode/Decode   Intel   2022-12-01
Mesa 22.3 Released With RDNA3 Vulkan, Rusticl OpenCL, Better Intel Arc Graphics   Mesa   2022-11-30
Virgl Adds Accelerated Video Encoding To Guest VMs   Mesa   2022-11-18
MPV 0.35 Media Player Released With PipeWire Backend, Wayland DMA-BUF Support   Multimedia   2022-11-12
Microsoft Adds Mesa Support For Building Against The DirectX 12 Agility SDK   Microsoft   2022-10-21
Intel Publishes New Media Driver, oneVPL GPU Runtime "2022Q3" Releases   Intel   2022-10-14
NVIDIA-VAAPI-Driver 0.0.7 Released For Enjoying VA-API With NVIDIA's Proprietary Driver   NVIDIA   2022-10-14
RadeonSI Driver Lands Multi-Slice Video Encoding For AVC/HEVC   Radeon   2022-10-13
VA-API Library 2.16 Released With Various Improvements   Multimedia   2022-10-08
Blumenkrantz Flushes 17.1k Lines Of Old Mesa Code   Mesa   2022-10-01
AMD Ryzen 7000 Series, Linux 6.0, MGLRU, Rust & IO_uring Made For An Exciting September   Phoronix   2022-10-01
Microsoft Adds AV1 Decode Support To Their Mesa D3D12 Driver   Microsoft   2022-09-30
Fedora Linux Disabling Mesa's H.264 / H.265 / VC1 VA-API Support Over Legal Concerns   Fedora   2022-09-28
Thanks Microsoft: RadeonSI Enables Async VA-API For Faster Video Acceleration   Mesa   2022-09-27
Microsoft Speeds Up Mesa VA-API Video Acceleration For FFmpeg   Mesa   2022-09-22
Microsoft Lands HEVC Video Encode/Decode Within Mesa Using VA-API To Direct3D 12   Mesa   2022-09-15
Intel Talks Up Their oneVPL Acceleration Within FFmpeg   Intel   2022-09-11
Kdenlive 22.08 Video Editor Brings UI Improvements, Experimental Parallel Processing   KDE   2022-08-22
FFmpeg Begins Integrating Intel oneVPL Support   Multimedia   2022-08-12
Microsoft Extends Mesa's D3D12 Video Acceleration To Support Video Engine Based Effects   Mesa   2022-07-22
AMD Hiring For Another Open-Source GPU Driver Developer With Multimedia Expertise   AMD   2022-07-06
Ubuntu's Chromium Snap Finally Seeing Progress On Supporting VA-API GPU Acceleration   Ubuntu   2022-07-04
Intel Media Driver 2022Q2 Adds HDR10/HVS Support For DG2, Raptor Lake P Enabling   Intel   2022-07-03
Intel Releases libva 2.15 Video Acceleration Library   Intel   2022-07-01
Firefox Nightly Tries For VA-API Video Acceleration For Mesa Users   Mozilla   2022-06-02
Intel Media Driver Adding Vulkan Video Acceleration Support   Intel   2022-05-29
Intel oneVPL 2022.1 Brings Support For Arc A Series, Rocky Linux, Better Multi-GPU   Intel   2022-05-28
NVIDIA VA-API 0.0.6 Driver Works On Multi-Threaded Decode, Improved GPU Selection   NVIDIA   2022-05-25
Microsoft Lands VA-API To Direct3D 12 H.264 Video Encode/Decode In Mesa   Microsoft   2022-05-17
VA-API Library 2.14 Released With AV1 Encode Interface   Multimedia   2022-02-22
FFmpeg Finally Retires XvMC Hardware Acceleration Code   Multimedia   2022-02-17
NVIDIA VAAPI Driver 0.0.5 Released With AV1 Acceleration   NVIDIA   2022-02-12
GStreamer 1.20 Multimedia Framework Released With Many Improvements   GNOME   2022-02-04
GStreamer 1.20 RC1 Released With Many Exciting Improvements   Multimedia   2022-01-28
Intel Media Driver 22 Debuts With Alchemist / ATS-M Support, ADL-N   Intel   2022-01-19
Firefox Gets AV1 VA-API Acceleration Sorted Out   Mozilla   2022-01-18
Experimental VA-API Implemented Over NVIDIA's NVDEC - Allows Firefox Video Acceleration   NVIDIA   2022-01-04
Better AMD Radeon VCE Video Encode Performance Coming To Linux   Radeon   2021-12-30
NVIDIA NVDEC Video Decode Support Sent Out For Linux 5.17, Better Power Management   NVIDIA   2021-12-17
Intel Contributes A Number Of Vulkan Filters/Improvements To FFmpeg   Intel   2021-12-12
Airlie Exploring Possibility Of VA-API On Top Of Vulkan Video   Vulkan   2021-11-24
Microsoft Working On Direct3D 12 Video Acceleration For Mesa   Microsoft   2021-11-22
Mesa 21.3 Released With Radeon RADV Ray-Tracing, Much Better Zink   Mesa   2021-11-17
David Airlie Hacking On Intel Vulkan Video Decode, Crocus Gallium3D VA-API   Intel   2021-11-12
RADV Seeing Early Experimenting With Vulkan Video Capabilities   Radeon   2021-11-05
Steam Beta Adds VA-API Acceleration For Remote Play   Valve   2021-11-03
NVIDIA Contributing Tegra NVDEC Support To Linux 5.16   NVIDIA   2021-10-10
VA-API AV1 Decode Lands In Mesa 21.3 Gallium3D   Mesa   2021-08-17
NVIDIA Tegra Open-Source Graphics Driver Introducing New User-Space ABI   NVIDIA   2021-08-13
AV1 VA-API Acceleration Coming For AMD Radeon RX 6000 Series Linux Users   Radeon   2021-08-13
AMD Hiring For Open-Source GPU Driver Work With Mentions Of Tesla Model S, Steam Deck   Radeon   2021-08-03
Intel Media Driver 2021Q2 Focuses On Gen12 Enhancements   Intel   2021-06-30
Firefox Making Strides On Improved Linux Stability Thanks To Better Crash Reports   Mozilla   2021-05-19
FFmpeg 4.4 Released With AV1 VA-API Decoder, SVT-AV1 Encoding   Multimedia   2021-04-09
Intel's VA-API Library LibVA 2.11 Released With Support For Protected Content   Multimedia   2021-03-24
GTK 4.0.1 Released With Many Bug Fixes, Better Media Acceleration   GNOME   2021-01-12
Happy New Year! A Look Back At The Most Popular Phoronix Content Of 2020   Phoronix   2020-12-31
Intel Media VA-API Driver Update Adds EU Fused Dispatch For 8K Video Processing   Intel   2020-12-31
Intel Media SDK 20.5.1 Released   Intel   2020-12-30
AMD Lands AV1 Decode For Radeon RX 6000 Series In Mesa   Radeon   2020-11-17
Intel Preparing Linux Support For The "Protected Xe Path" PXP Functionality   Intel   2020-11-14
FFmpeg Lands Support For NVIDIA AV1 Video Decoding With RTX 30 + NVDEC   Multimedia   2020-11-11
AMD Adds Secure Video Playback To Their Open-Source Linux Driver   Radeon   2020-11-04
FFmpeg Lands VA-API AV1 Decode Support Led By Intel   Multimedia   2020-11-04
Intel mOS, Torvalds Commentary, Intel Gen12 Graphics, Zen 2 "XT" CPUs Topped Q3   Phoronix   2020-09-29
Firefox 81 Released With Security Fixes, PDF Viewer Enhancements   Mozilla   2020-09-22
AMD Radeon Navi 2 / VCN 3.0 Supports AV1 Video Decoding   Radeon   2020-09-15
Intel Working On VA-API AV1 Acceleration For FFmpeg   Intel   2020-09-10
GStreamer 1.18 Released With Better Windows Support, Intel SVT-HEVC   Multimedia   2020-09-08
Intel mOS, Cachy, Mozilla Layoffs Were The Open-Source Buzz Of August   Phoronix   2020-09-01
Firefox 80 Available With VA-API On X11, WebGL Parallel Shader Compile Support   Mozilla   2020-08-24
Rust Maybe Coming To The Linux Kernel, Other Open-Source Milestones For July   Phoronix   2020-08-02
Firefox 79 Is Ready To Ship With Safeguard On "_blank" Links, More Wayland VA-API Work   Mozilla   2020-07-27
FFmpeg Adds H.265 Tile Encoding Support For VA-API With Intel Icelake+   Multimedia   2020-07-20
Firefox 80 To Support VA-API Acceleration On X11   Mozilla   2020-07-04
Intel vs. AMD, Systemd-Homed, Kernel Advancements Top H1'2020 For Linux   Phoronix   2020-06-30
Firefox 76 Released With WebRender Improvements, Better Security   Mozilla   2020-05-05
Intel Media Linux Driver Q1-2020 Released With Tiger Lake Features, Better VP9 Encode   Intel   2020-04-09
Firefox 75 Released With Flatpak Support, Wayland Improvements   Mozilla   2020-04-07
Apple Using Rust, exFAT, Ryzen Laptops, Ubuntu 20.04 Advances + Other Hits From March   Phoronix   2020-03-31
MythTV 31 Released With Video Decode Improvements, Finally Supporting Python 3   Multimedia   2020-03-23
Firefox 76 Enabling VA-API Wayland Acceleration For All Video Codecs   Mozilla   2020-03-19
Mozilla Making Progress With Offering Firefox As A Flatpak On Linux   Mozilla   2020-03-09
OpenShot 2.5.1 Released With Performance Improvements   Multimedia   2020-03-03
Firefox 75 On Wayland Now To Have Full WebGL, Working VA-API Acceleration   Mozilla   2020-03-03
Intel's Linux Media Driver Preparing For 20.1 Release, Game Streaming Optimizations   Intel   2020-03-02
RadeonSI + Gallium3D Video Code Fix Up 4:2:2 Support, YUY2   Radeon   2020-02-27
Intel Adds VA-API Acceleration For HEVC REXT To FFmpeg   Intel   2020-02-25
Intel Gen12/Xe Graphics To Support 12-Bit HEVC/VP9 Decode   Intel   2020-02-20
OpenShot 2.5 Video Editor Brings Hardware Acceleration, SVG, Blender 2.8+ Compatibility   Multimedia   2020-02-09
OpenMandriva 4.1 Released With Clang'ed LTO+PGO Packages, Linux 5.5 + More   Operating Systems   2020-02-01
Firefox Is Seeing Work On Wayland VA-API Video Acceleration   Mozilla   2020-01-25
Bootlin Wraps Up Feature Development On The Allwinner Cedrus VPU Driver   Multimedia   2020-01-09
Intel Media Driver Q4-19 Brings Tiger Lake, Jasper Lake, Better Encode/Decode   Intel   2020-01-08
Mesa Developers Weigh Renaming Gallium "State Tracker" To "API"   Mesa   2019-12-05