The Intel(R) Media Driver for VAAPI is a new VA-API (Video Acceleration API) user mode driver supporting hardware accelerated decoding, encoding, and video post processing for GEN based graphics hardware.

The Intel(R) Media Driver for VAAPI is distributed under the MIT license with portions covered under the BSD 3-clause "New" or "Revised" License. You may obtain a copy of the License at MIT & BSD-3-Clause

For Ubuntu 16.04+

apt install autoconf libtool libdrm-dev xorg xorg-dev openbox libx11-dev libgl1-mesa-glx libgl1-mesa-dev

Equivalents for other distributions should work.

1. Build and install LibVA
2. Build and install GmmLib following GmmLib compatibility
3. Get media repo and format the workspace folder as below (suggest the workspace to be a dedicated one for media driver build):

<workspace>
    |- media-driver

4. Create build_media new folder under your workspace

$ mkdir <workspace>/build_media

then the workspace looks like below

<workspace>
    |- media-driver
    |- build_media

$ cd <workspace>/build_media

$ cmake ../media-driver

$ make -j"$(nproc)"

$ sudo make install

This will install the following files (e.g. on Ubuntu):

-- Installing: /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/dri/iHD_drv_video.so
-- Installing: /etc/profile.d/intel-media.sh
-- Installing: /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/igfxcmrt64.so

For iHD_drv_video.so please export related LIBVA environment variables.

export LIBVA_DRIVERS_PATH=<path-contains-iHD_drv_video.so>
export LIBVA_DRIVER_NAME=iHD

• BDW (Broadwell)
• SKL (Skylake)
• BXTx (BXT: Broxton, APL: Apollo Lake, GLK: Gemini Lake)
• KBLx (KBL: Kaby Lake, CFL: Coffe Lake, WHL: Whiskey Lake, CML: Comet Lake, AML: Amber Lake)
• ICL (Ice Lake)
• JSL (Jasper Lake) / EHL (Elkhart Lake)
• TGLx (TGL: Tiger Lake, RKL: Rocket Lake, ADL-S/P/N: Alder Lake, RPL-S/P: Raptor Lake)
• DG1/SG1
• Alchemist(DG2)/ATSM
• Meteor Lake(MTL)

Media driver contains three components as below

• Video decoding calls hardware-based decoder(VDBox) which provides fully-accelerated hardware video decoding to release the graphics engine for other operations.
• Video encoding supports two modes, one calls hardware-based encoder(VDEnc/Huc) to provide low power encoding, another one is hardware(PAK)+shader(media kernel+VME) based encoding. User could choose the mode through VA-API.
• Video processing supports several popular features by hardware-based video processor(VEBox/SFC) and shader(media kernel) based solution together.

Media driver supports two build types as below

• Full Feature Build is default driver build, which supports all feature by hardware accelerator and close source shaders(media kernel binaries). Ubuntu intel-media-va-driver-non-free package is generated from this build type.
• Free Kernel Build, enables fully open source shaders(media kernels) and hardware features but the features would be limited. Ubuntu intel-media-va-driver package is generated from this build type.

• * VP8 decoding is only supported on TGL platform
• D - Hardware Decoding
• E - Hardware Encoding, Low Power Encoding(VDEnc/Huc)
• Es - Hardware(PAK) + Shader(media kernel+VME) Encoding

For more decoding and encoding features information, please refer to

• Media Features Summary
  • Supported Decoding Output Format and Max Resolution
  • Supported Encoding Input Format and Max Resolution

• * EHL/JSL only support BOB DI
• CSC: Color Space Conversion
• ProcAmp: brightness,contrast,hue,saturation
• STD/E: Skin Tone Detect & Enhancement
• TCC: Total Color Control
• HDR10 TM: HDR10 Tone Mapping
• 3DLUT: Three Dimensional Look Up Table

For more feature information, please refer to Supported video processing csc/scaling format

Media-driver supports few build types as described below. You could refer to the following settings to enable them.

• Full Feature Build: ENABLE_KERNELS=ON(Default) ENABLE_NONFREE_KERNELS=ON(Default)
• Free Kernel Build: ENABLE_KERNELS=ON ENABLE_NONFREE_KERNELS=OFF
  • If trying to use pre-built open source kernel binaries, please add BUILD_KERNELS=OFF(Default).
  • If trying to rebuild open source kernel from source code, please add BUILD_KERNELS=ON.

Media-driver requires special i915 kernel mode driver (KMD) version to support the following new platforms since upstream version of i915 KMD does not fully support them (pending patches upstream):

• DG1/SG1
• Alchemist(DG2)/ATSM

By default, media-driver builds against upstream i915 KMD and will miss support for the platforms listed above. To enable new platforms which require special i915 KMD and specify ENABLE_PRODUCTION_KMD=ON (default: OFF) build configuration option.

1. Intel(R) Media Driver for VAAPI is recommended to be built against gcc compiler v6.1 or later, which officially supported C++11.

2. SKL: Green or other incorrect color will be observed in output frames when using YV12/I420 as input format for csc/scaling/blending/rotation, etc. on Ubuntu 16.04 stock (with kernel 4.10). The issue can be addressed with the kernel patch: WaEnableYV12BugFixInHalfSliceChicken7

3. HuC firmware is necessary for AVC/HEVC/VP9 low power encoding bitrate control, including CBR, VBR, etc. As of now, HuC firmware support is disabled in Linux kernels by default. kernel command line option "i915.enable_guc=2" for HuC loading can be set e.g. by doing echo "options i915 enable_guc=2" > /etc/modprobe.d/i915.conf (as root). Mind that HuC firmware support presents in the following kernels for the specified platforms:

   • APL/KBL: starting from kernel 4.11
   • CFL: starting from kernel 4.15
   • ICL: starting from kernel 5.2
   • EHL/JSL: starting from kernel 5.8
   • TGL: starting from kernel 5.9
   • RKL/ADL-S/ADL-P: starting from kernel 5.17
   • ADL-N/RPL-S/RPL-P: drm-tip
   • DG1/SG1/Alchemist(DG2)/ATSM: intel-gpu/intel-gpu-i915-backports