<s>
Video	B-Application
Acceleration	I-Application
API	I-Application
(	O
VA-API	B-Application
)	O
is	O
an	O
open	B-License
source	I-License
application	B-Application
programming	I-Application
interface	I-Application
that	O
allows	O
applications	O
such	O
as	O
VLC	B-Application
media	I-Application
player	I-Application
or	O
GStreamer	B-Language
to	O
use	O
hardware	O
video	O
acceleration	O
capabilities	O
,	O
usually	O
provided	O
by	O
the	O
graphics	B-Architecture
processing	I-Architecture
unit	I-Architecture
(	O
GPU	B-Architecture
)	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
It	O
is	O
implemented	O
by	O
the	O
free	B-License
and	I-License
open-source	I-License
library	B-Library
,	O
combined	O
with	O
a	O
hardware-specific	O
driver	O
,	O
usually	O
provided	O
together	O
with	O
the	O
GPU	B-Architecture
driver	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
VA-API	B-Application
video	O
decode/encode	O
interface	O
is	O
platform	O
and	O
window	O
system	O
independent	O
but	O
is	O
primarily	O
targeted	O
at	O
Direct	B-Application
Rendering	I-Application
Infrastructure	I-Application
(	O
DRI	O
)	O
in	O
X	B-Operating_System
Window	I-Operating_System
System	I-Operating_System
on	O
Unix-like	O
operating	B-General_Concept
systems	I-General_Concept
(	O
including	O
Linux	B-Application
,	O
FreeBSD	B-Operating_System
,	O
Solaris	B-Application
)	O
,	O
and	O
Android	B-Application
,	O
however	O
it	O
can	O
potentially	O
also	O
be	O
used	O
with	O
direct	O
framebuffer	B-Algorithm
and	O
graphics	O
sub-systems	O
for	O
video	O
output	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Accelerated	O
processing	O
includes	O
support	O
for	O
video	B-Application
decoding	I-Application
,	O
video	B-Algorithm
encoding	I-Algorithm
,	O
subpicture	O
blending	O
,	O
and	O
rendering	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
VA-API	B-Application
specification	O
was	O
originally	O
designed	O
by	O
Intel	O
for	O
its	O
GMA	O
(	O
Graphics	O
Media	O
Accelerator	O
)	O
series	O
of	O
GPU	B-Architecture
hardware	O
with	O
the	O
specific	O
purpose	O
of	O
eventually	O
replacing	O
the	O
XvMC	B-Protocol
standard	O
as	O
the	O
default	O
Unix	B-Application
multi-platform	O
equivalent	O
of	O
Microsoft	O
Windows	O
DirectX	B-General_Concept
Video	I-General_Concept
Acceleration	I-General_Concept
(	O
DxVA	B-General_Concept
)	O
API	B-Application
,	O
but	O
today	O
the	O
API	B-Application
is	O
no	O
longer	O
limited	O
to	O
Intel-specific	O
hardware	O
or	O
GPUs	B-Architecture
.	O
</s>
<s>
Other	O
hardware	O
and	O
manufacturers	O
can	O
freely	O
use	O
this	O
open	O
standard	O
API	B-Application
for	O
hardware	O
accelerated	O
video	O
processing	O
with	O
their	O
own	O
hardware	O
without	O
paying	O
a	O
royalty	O
fee	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
main	O
motivation	O
for	O
VA-API	B-Application
is	O
to	O
enable	O
hardware-accelerated	O
video	B-Application
decode	I-Application
at	O
various	O
entry-points	O
(	O
VLD	B-Algorithm
,	O
IDCT	B-General_Concept
,	O
motion	B-Algorithm
compensation	I-Algorithm
,	O
deblocking	B-General_Concept
)	O
for	O
the	O
prevailing	O
coding	O
standards	O
today	O
(	O
MPEG-2	B-Algorithm
,	O
MPEG-4	O
ASP/H.263	O
,	O
MPEG-4	B-Application
AVC/H.264	I-Application
,	O
H.265/HEVC	B-Algorithm
,	O
and	O
VC-1/WMV3	B-Operating_System
)	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Extending	O
XvMC	B-Protocol
was	O
considered	O
,	O
but	O
due	O
to	O
its	O
original	O
design	O
for	O
MPEG-2	B-Algorithm
MotionComp	B-Algorithm
only	O
,	O
it	O
made	O
more	O
sense	O
to	O
design	O
an	O
interface	O
from	O
scratch	O
that	O
can	O
fully	O
expose	O
the	O
video	B-Application
decode	I-Application
capabilities	O
in	O
today	O
's	O
GPUs	B-Architecture
.	O
</s>
<s>
As	O
of	O
2022	O
,	O
VA-API	B-Application
is	O
natively	O
supported	O
by	O
:	O
</s>
<s>
VA-API	B-Application
currently	O
supports	O
these	O
video	B-Application
codecs	I-Application
in	O
the	O
official	O
mainline	O
version	O
,	O
but	O
note	O
that	O
exactly	O
which	O
video	B-Application
codecs	I-Application
are	O
supported	O
depends	O
on	O
the	O
hardware	O
and	O
the	O
driver	O
's	O
capabilities	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
MPEG-4	B-Application
Part	I-Application
2	I-Application
(	O
H.263	B-Algorithm
)	O
(	O
a.k.a.	O
</s>
<s>
Video	B-Application
decoding	I-Application
and	O
post-processing	O
processes	O
that	O
can	O
be	O
offloaded	O
and	O
accelerated	O
if	O
both	O
the	O
device	O
drivers	O
and	O
GPU	B-Architecture
hardware	O
supports	O
them	O
:	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
current	O
interface	O
is	O
window	O
system	O
independent	O
,	O
so	O
that	O
it	O
can	O
potentially	O
be	O
used	O
with	O
graphics	O
sub-systems	O
other	O
than	O
the	B-Application
DRI	I-Application
(	O
Direct	B-Application
Rendering	I-Application
Infrastructure	I-Application
)	O
in	O
X	B-Operating_System
Window	I-Operating_System
System	I-Operating_System
,	O
such	O
as	O
direct	O
with	O
framebuffer	B-Algorithm
,	O
and	O
it	O
can	O
work	O
with	O
third-party	O
DRM	O
(	O
Direct	B-Application
Rendering	I-Application
Manager	I-Application
)	O
libraries	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
In	O
a	O
nutshell	O
,	O
it	O
is	O
a	O
scheme	O
to	O
pass	O
various	O
types	O
of	O
data	O
buffers	O
from	O
the	O
application	O
to	O
the	O
GPU	B-Architecture
for	O
decoding	B-Application
or	I-Application
encoding	I-Application
a	O
compressed	O
bit-stream	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
ffmpeg	B-Library
,	O
a	O
command	O
line	O
tool	O
from	O
the	O
FFmpeg	B-Library
project	O
,	O
supports	O
VA-API	B-Application
encoding	O
through	O
CLI	O
with	O
version	O
starting	O
from	O
3.1	O
and	O
also	O
libavcodec	B-Language
(	O
also	O
part	O
of	O
the	O
FFmpeg	B-Library
project	O
)	O
does	O
contain	O
code	O
that	O
other	O
applications	O
use	O
to	O
support	O
hardware	O
accelerated	O
decoding	O
,	O
including	O
VA-API	B-Application
.	O
</s>
