ffmpeg-hardware-acceleration

## CRITICAL GUIDELINES

### Windows File Path Requirements

**MANDATORY: Always Use Backslashes on Windows for File Paths**

When using Edit or Write tools on Windows, you MUST use backslashes (`\`) in file paths, NOT forward slashes (`/`).

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## Quick Reference

| Platform | Encoder | Decoder | Detect Command |
|----------|---------|---------|----------------|
| NVIDIA | `h264_nvenc`, `hevc_nvenc`, `av1_nvenc` | `h264_cuvid`, `hevc_cuvid` | `ffmpeg -encoders \| grep nvenc` |
| Intel QSV | `h264_qsv`, `hevc_qsv`, `av1_qsv` | `h264_qsv`, `hevc_qsv` | `ffmpeg -encoders \| grep qsv` |
| AMD AMF | `h264_amf`, `hevc_amf`, `av1_amf` | N/A (use software) | `ffmpeg -encoders \| grep amf` |
| Apple | `h264_videotoolbox`, `hevc_videotoolbox` | `h264_videotoolbox` | macOS only |
| VAAPI | `h264_vaapi`, `hevc_vaapi`, `av1_vaapi` | with `-hwaccel vaapi` | Linux only |

## When to Use This Skill

Use when **GPU acceleration is needed**:
- Encoding speed is critical (10-30x faster than CPU)
- Processing large batches of videos
- Real-time encoding for streaming
- Server-side transcoding at scale
- Docker containers with GPU passthrough

**Key decision**: GPU encoding trades some quality for massive speed. Use `-cq` or `-qp` for quality control.

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# FFmpeg Hardware Acceleration (2025)

Comprehensive guide to GPU-accelerated encoding and decoding with NVIDIA, Intel, AMD, Apple, and Vulkan.

**Current Latest**: FFmpeg 8.0.1 (released 2025-11-20) - Check with `ffmpeg -version`

## Hardware Acceleration Overview

Hardware acceleration uses dedicated GPU/SoC components for video processing:
- **NVENC/NVDEC** (NVIDIA): Dedicated video encode/decode engines
- **QSV** (Intel): Quick Sync Video on Intel CPUs with integrated graphics
- **AMF** (AMD): Advanced Media Framework for AMD GPUs
- **VideoToolbox** (Apple): macOS/iOS hardware acceleration
- **VAAPI** (Linux): Video Acceleration API (Intel, AMD on Linux)
- **Vulkan Video** (Cross-platform): FFmpeg 7.1+/8.0 GPU acceleration

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