Introduction
Video content is typically compressed and encoded into a specific format when it is stored on hard drives, DVDs, Blu-ray* products, tablets, mobile devices, or broadcast media. When the content is played, uploaded on the internet, or copied, it must first be decoded and then re-encoded in the relevant format. This is due to the variety of web browsers, video players, and devices that support or play video at different formats.
The video encoding and decoding process uses video coding formats such as MPEG-4 Advanced Video Coding (MPEG-4 AVC/H.264)1, High-Efficiency Video Coding (HEVC/H.265) , VP8, and many more that adhere to standard specifications. The dedicated media processing capabilities of Intel® Graphics Technology decode and encode quickly, allowing the processor to complete other tasks and improve system responsiveness.
This document lists the media encode and decode capabilities for the 7th generation Intel® Core™ processors and newer.
1. In video compression, there are various algorithms for video frames called frame types (also known as picture types). The three major frame types used are Intra-coded picture frame (I-frame), Predicted picture frame (P-frame), and Bidirectional predicted picture frame (B-frame).
Video Encoding and Decoding
7th generation Intel® Core™ processors and newer implement various media codecs in hardware as well as a rich set of processing algorithms. Table 1 provides the supported video codecs for these processors.
Table 1. Media codec support
| Processor Graphics | JPEG | MJPEG | MPEG-2 (H.262) | MPEG-4 AVC1 (H.264) 8-bit 4K | MVC (H.265) | HEVC1,2 (H.265) 8 bit 4:2:0 | HEVC1,2 (H.265) 10 bit 4:2:0 | HEVC (H.265) 12 bit | VC1 | VP8 | VP9 8 bit 4:2:0 | VP9 10 bit 4:2:0 | VP9 12 bit | AV1 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Intel® Discrete Graphics | ||||||||||||||
| Intel® Iris® Xe MAX Graphics | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Decode only | Decode only | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Decode only |
| 11th Generation Intel® Core™ Processors | ||||||||||||||
| Intel® Iris® Xe Graphics | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Decode only | Decode only | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Decode only |
| Intel® UHD Graphics for 11th Gen | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Decode only | Decode only | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Decode only |
| Intel® UHD Graphics 750 | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Decode only | Decode only | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Decode only |
| 10th Generation Intel® Core™ Processors | ||||||||||||||
| Intel® Iris® Plus Graphics | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Decode only | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No |
| Intel® UHD Graphics | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Decode only | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No |
| 9th Generation Intel® Core™ Processors | ||||||||||||||
| Intel® UHD Graphics 630 | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Decode only | Yes3 | Yes | Decode only | No | No |
| 8th Generation Intel® Core™ Processors | ||||||||||||||
| Intel® Iris Plus Graphics 655 | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Decode only | Yes3 | Yes | Decode only | No | No |
| Intel® UHD Graphics 610 | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Decode only | Yes3 | Yes | Decode only | No | No |
| Intel® UHD Graphics 620 | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Decode only | Yes3 | Yes | Decode only | No | No |
| Intel® UHD Graphics 630 | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Decode only | Yes3 | Yes | Decode only | No | No |
| Intel® UHD Graphics P630 | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Decode only | Yes3 | Yes | Decode only | No | No |
| 7th Generation Intel® Core™ Processors | ||||||||||||||
| Intel® Iris® Plus Graphics 640 | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Decode only | Yes3 | Yes | Decode only | No | No |
| Intel® Iris® Plus Graphics 650 | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Decode only | Yes3 | Yes | Decode only | No | No |
| Intel® HD Graphics 610 | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Decode only | Yes3 | Yes | Decode only | No | No |
| Intel® HD Graphics 615 | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Decode only | Yes3 | Yes | Decode only | No | No |
| Intel® HD Graphics 620 | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Decode only | Yes3 | Yes | Decode only | No | No |
| Intel® HD Graphics 630 | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Decode only | Yes3 | Yes | Decode only | No | No |
| Intel® HD Graphics P630 | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Decode only | Yes3 | Yes | Decode only | No | No |
Notes:
1 Stereoscopic 3D (S3D) supported on native HDMI 1.4 or HDMI 2.0 ports. S3D is not supported if LSPCON is used.
2 HEVC encode supports Low Delay B-frame (LDB) and Random Access Hierarchical B-frame (HB). P-frame is not supported.
3 Encode supported only on Linux
For all processor graphics listed here, there is no limitation on the number of concurrent sessions to transcode.
Related Information
Supported APIs for Intel® Graphics Controllers
Identify Your Intel® Graphics Controller
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