DXVA

DXVA, short for DirectX Video Acceleration, is a Microsoft API framework that enables hardware-accelerated video decoding and certain video processing tasks on Windows. By moving decoding work from the CPU to graphics hardware or dedicated video decoders, DXVA aims to improve playback performance and energy efficiency for high‑definition content.

DXVA was introduced with DirectX 9.0. The initial interface, known as DXVA1, provided a path for certain video bitstream decoders to run on hardware. A later revision, DXVA2 (sometimes called DXVA-HD in early documentation), expanded capabilities to support full hardware-accelerated decoding, post-processing such as deinterlacing and color conversion, and broader codec support, including MPEG-2, H.264/AVC, WMV, and VC-1, subject to driver and hardware support.

Applications enable DXVA support through DirectShow or Media Foundation pipelines and require a compatible GPU with a driver that exposes the appropriate DXVA interface. The actual codecs decodable in hardware depend on the device and driver. When available, DXVA allows video data to be decoded directly in the hardware path, reducing CPU usage and enabling smoother playback on systems with limited processing power or battery life.

DXVA is vendor- and driver-dependent; some codecs or features may still be decoded in software. With evolving DirectX versions, DXVA functionality has integrated with newer video processing APIs while remaining a foundation for hardware acceleration in Windows video playback.