AMD VCN
Supported Hardware and Configurations
- AMD Radeon RX6000 (RDNA2), RX7000 (RDNA3) and RX9000 (RDNA4) series GPU or better
- Windows 10 or later
- Limited support is available on Ubuntu 22.04 and later.
Please note, these are not hard limits. Hardware encoding via VCN might work on older series GPUs and older operating systems, but this is not officially supported.
Enabling support
Support for the AMD VCN encoder is enabled in preferences on the video tab. If your system is not supported, the option will be disabled.
On Linux, we need the official amdgpu-pro drivers.
- Download the latest drivers from: AMD Radeon Software for Linux version 24.20 or later is required to use the VCN encoder.
- sudo dpkg -i amdgpu-install_VERSION_all.deb (Where version is similar to: 6.3.60302-1)
- sudo amdgpu-install -y –usecase=graphics,amf –accept-eula
- Reboot your computer.
For native installs, VCN should now be available in the HandBrake GUI.
If your are using a flatpak build, you will have to perform some additional steps:
- If you don’t already have Flatseal installed, you will need to install it.
- Open FlatSeal and choose the HandBrake app.
- In the “Other Files” section, add a folder “/opt”
- In the “Environment - Variables” section, change LD_LIBRARY_PATH=/app/extensions/lib:/opt/amdgpu-pro/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu (adding :/opt/amdgpu-pro/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu) to the end. Note, on non-ubuntu distros, this path may be differnet. I.e RHEL/SLE it may be under: /opt/amdgpu-pro/lib64
Now, if your run HandBrake, you should see the VCN options available.
Presets
The following presets are available under the ‘Hardware’ category in the presets menu:
- H.265 VCN 2160P 4K
- H.265 VCN 1080p
These are a good starting point for configuring HandBrake to use these encoders.
Known Limitations
- The AV1 encoder that ships with Navi 3.x products requires a resolution that is divisible by 64 in both width and height. Becareful that the output resolution after cropping follows this rule.
Performance
HandBrake supports the AMD VCN hardware encoder but does NOT support the hardware decoder.
The CPU will still be used for:
- Video decoding
- All video filters
- Audio encoding
- HandBrake’s engine, A/V sync etc
- Subtitles
- Muxing
These operations all happen in parallel as the job progresses. As such, it is normal to see high (or even 100%) CPU utilisation even when using VCN.
It is also common, particularly on lower-end or older hardware, for the CPU to be a bottleneck which will cause lower than expected performance. To minimize this effect, disable any filters that you do not require.
Advanced options
The AMD VCN hardware encoder has a limited set of advanced encoder options. Generally speaking, it is not recommended to change these parameters, as the built-in presets offer a good range of options for common uses.
If using HandBrake’s graphical interface, you can set the options in the Advanced Options field on the Video tab in the following format:
option1=value1:option2=value2
If using HandBrake’s command line interface, use the --encopts parameter as follows:
--encopts="option1=value1:option2=value2"