AMD FreeSync Video Facing Retirement In Linux 6.9

Back in 2020 AMD rolled out a video mode optimization for FreeSync on Linux, continued being revised in 2021, FreeSync Video mode then attempted by default in 2022 but then was reverted and then only last year FreeSync Video enabled by default. But now come Linux 6.9, the feature appears to be effectively retired.

The motivation was effectively to apply the FreeSync variable refresh rate (VRR) experience to the playback of video content. But recently some bugs have come to light now that Linux desktop environments/compositors have begun integrating VRR support themselves. KDE, GNOME, and other desktops have begun rolling out desktop VRR support and in turn appearing to deprecate the dedicated FreeSync Video mode.

AMDGPU Linux maintainer Alex Deucher reverted the FreeSync Video option this week:

"This conflicts with how compositors want to handle VRR. Now that compositors actually handle VRR, we probably don't need freesync video."

The associated bug report stems from three months ago here with the fake refresh rates presented by FreeSync Video being indistinguishable from real video modes and can't be disabled.

With the revert patch the "amdgpu.freesync_video" module option is restored while the default behavior is having FreeSync Video disabled by default. That patch was sent in as part of this week's AMDGPU patches for Linux 6.9 pull request. Most of the other work this week is just routine fixes. Presumably if no users of FreeSync Video come forward for cases not handled by modern desktop compositor VRR functionality, the code itself will likely be gutted soon.