I've recently spent some time testing the implementations in various browsers. Chromium implements VA-API but it's disabled in official builds and fragile, breaking regularly. Webkit uses gstreamer-vaapi and I've had quality issues with that using both Intel (wrong colours) and AMD (blur) hardware.
I've seen Mozilla tracks issues for VA-API and VDPAU/NVDEC. Have you seen libplacebo[1]? It encapsulates the core video rendering used in mpv in a reusable library. mpv's video acceleration has been stable and flawless for both VAAPI and NVDEC (and DXVA, FWIW, but I've no experience with that) for years. In contrast to the browsers' and gstreamer va-api implementations, I've never had performance, stability or quality issues with mpv. In fact, hundreds (thousands?) of Firefox users use several WebExtensions to have videos played in mpv[2],[3],[4]. I haven't worked with either Firefox or mpv code so I can only speak from a user's perspective right now. I just thought, it might be worth to consider implementing libplacebo instead of rolling an own implementation for va-api and vdpau/nvdec. libplacebo is licensed in LGPLv2.1. Note: I initially wanted to post this in #1210726, quoting first comment: > This bug will track support for hardware decoding on Linux and the various > system available (VA-API, VDPAU, DXVA and others) > > There's so many frameworks available, it's hard to keep track! But this one's locked. If it suits better there, feel free to move this comment. [1]: https://github.com/haasn/libplacebo [2]: https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/send-to-mpv-player/ [3]: https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/ff2mpv/ [4]: https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/play-with/ -- You received this bug notification because you are a member of Desktop Packages, which is subscribed to firefox in Ubuntu. https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/1688592 Title: Missing VA-API hardware decoding support drains battery Status in Mozilla Firefox: Confirmed Status in firefox package in Ubuntu: Confirmed Bug description: Current devices ship with graphics devices supporting hardware decoding of certain video formats. While doing that, energy can be saved, as the main processor can go to sleep, and the graphics devices do their jobs more efficiently saving energy. Today, the browser is used a lot to watch movies. Unfortunately, the Firefox browser does not support VA-API hardware decoding, which is the interface to be used for Intel graphics device, which are included in current Intel processors. The issue in the Mozilla bug tracker [1] is open for over two years. Currently, this missing feature is a major show stopper for people using Ubuntu GNU/Linux on their laptops, as compared to Microsoft Windows one battery charge(?) lasts noticeably less time. [1] https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1210727 To manage notifications about this bug go to: https://bugs.launchpad.net/firefox/+bug/1688592/+subscriptions -- Mailing list: https://launchpad.net/~desktop-packages Post to : desktop-packages@lists.launchpad.net Unsubscribe : https://launchpad.net/~desktop-packages More help : https://help.launchpad.net/ListHelp
