Intel Quick Sync Video Explained

Intel Quick Sync Video is Intel's brand for its dedicated video encoding and decoding hardware core. Quick Sync was introduced with the Sandy Bridge CPU microarchitecture on 9 January 2011 and has been found on the die of Intel CPUs ever since.

The name "Quick Sync" refers to the use case of quickly transcoding ("converting") a video from, for example, a DVD or Blu-ray Disc to a format appropriate to, for example, a smartphone, in situations where speed is more important than the best possible quality.

Unlike video encoding on a CPU or a general-purpose GPU, Quick Sync is a dedicated hardware core on the processor die. This allows for much more power-efficient video processing.[1] [2]

Availability

Quick Sync Video is available on Core i3, Core i5, Core i7, and Core i9 processors starting with Sandy Bridge, and Celeron & Pentium processors starting with Haswell.[3] [4]

Performance and quality

Like most desktop hardware-accelerated encoders, Quick Sync has been praised for its speed.[5] The eighth annual MPEG-4 AVC/H.264 video codecs comparison showed that Quick Sync was comparable to x264 superfast preset in terms of speed, compression ratio and quality (SSIM);[6] tests were performed on an Intel Core i7-3770 (Ivy Bridge) processor. However, Quick Sync could not be configured to spend more time to achieve higher quality, whereas x264 improved significantly when allowed to use more time using the recommended settings.

A 2012 evaluation by AnandTech showed that QuickSync on Intel's Ivy Bridge produced similar image quality compared to the NVENC encoder on Nvidia's GTX 680 while performing much better at resolutions lower than 1080p.

Development

Quick Sync was first unveiled at Intel Developer Forum 2010 (September 13) but, according to Tom's Hardware, Quick Sync had been conceptualized five years before that. The older Clarkdale microarchitecture had hardware video decoding support, but no hardware encoding support; it was known as Intel Clear Video.

Version 1 (Sandy Bridge)
  • Quick Sync was initially built into some Sandy Bridge CPUs, but not into Sandy Bridge Pentiums or Celerons. It adds H.264/AVC encoding and VC-1 decoding acceleration.[7]
    Version 2 (Ivy Bridge, Bay Trail)
  • The Ivy Bridge microarchitecture included a "next-generation" implementation of Quick Sync.[8]
    Version 3 (Haswell)
  • The Haswell microarchitecture implementation adds H.262/MPEG-2 Part 2 encoding acceleration. An open-source hybrid driver was developed which supports partial VP8 encoding and VP9 decoding acceleration under Linux by utilizing both the integrated GPU and CPU.[9] [10] Started from Haswell, Pentiums and Celerons have included QSV technology.[11]
    Version 4 (Broadwell)
  • The Broadwell microarchitecture implementation adds VP8 hardware decoding.[12] Also, it has two independent bit stream decoder (BSD) rings to process video commands on GT3 GPUs; this allows one BSD ring to process decoding and the other BSD ring to process encoding at the same time.[13]
    Version 5 (Skylake)
  • The Skylake microarchitecture implementation adds a full fixed-function H.265/HEVC 8-bit 4:2:0 decoding and encoding acceleration, hybrid and partial HEVC 10-bit decoding acceleration, JPEG encoding acceleration for resolutions up to 16,000×16,000 pixels, and partial VP9 decoding and encoding acceleration.[14]
    Version 6 (Kaby Lake, Coffee Lake, Whiskey Lake, Comet Lake)
  • The Kaby Lake, Coffee Lake, Whiskey Lake and Comet Lake microarchitectures implementation adds full fixed-function H.265/HEVC 10-bit 4:2:0 decoding and encoding acceleration, and full fixed-function VP9 8-bit and 10-bit decoding acceleration and 8-bit encoding acceleration.[15] [16]
    Version 7 (Ice Lake)
  • The Ice Lake microarchitecture implementation adds VP9 8-bit and 10-bit decoding and encoding acceleration, H.265/HEVC 8-bit and 10-bit decoding and encoding acceleration with 4:2:2 and 4:4:4 chroma subsampling, HDR10 Tone Mapping[17] and Open Source Media Shaders.[18] HEVC hardware encoding quality has also been improved.[19]
    Version 8 (Tiger Lake, Rocket Lake, Alder Lake, Raptor Lake)
  • The Tiger Lake, Rocket Lake, Alder Lake & Raptor Lake microarchitectures implementation adds VP9 12-bit & 12-bit 4:4:4 hardware decoding and HEVC 12-bit 4:2:0, 4:2:2 and 4:4:4 hardware decoding.[20] Gen12 Xe will also support native AV1 decode, which includes 10-bit 4:2:0 16K stills and 10-bit 4:2:0 8K, 4K and 2K video.[21] Hardware encoding for VP8 was dropped and hardware decoding is only available on Tiger Lake.
    Version 9 (Intel Arc Alchemist, Meteor Lake, Arrow Lake)
  • Intel Arc Alchemist (discrete GPUs) adds 8K 10-bit AV1 hardware encoding.[22]

    Operating system support

    The Quick Sync Video SIP core needs to be supported by the device driver. The device driver provides one or more interfaces, for example VDPAU, Video Acceleration API (VA-API) or DXVA for video decoding, and OpenMAX IL or VA API for video encoding. One of these interfaces is then used by end-user software, for example VLC media player or GStreamer, to access the Quick Sync Video hardware and make use of it.

    Linux

    Quick Sync support on Linux is available by both Intel VAAPI Driver (legacy, pre-Broadwell) and Intel Media Driver (Broadwell and newer) which also uses VA-API,[23] [24] and through the Intel Media SDK.

    Windows

    Microsoft offers support for Quick Sync in Windows (in Windows Vista and later) based on supporting driver software from Intel and support through both DirectX as well as WMF (Windows Media Foundation). A wide range of applications are based upon this base support for the technology in Windows.

    macOS

    Apple added Quick Sync support in OS X Mountain Lion for AirPlay, FaceTime, iTunes, Safari, QuickTime X, iMovie, Final Cut Pro X, Motion and Compressor. Third-party software includes Adobe Premiere Pro, Adobe Media Encoder, DaVinci Resolve and others.

    Hardware decoding and encoding

    Support for Quick Sync hardware accelerated decoding of H.264, MPEG-2, and VC-1 video is widely available. One common way to gain access to the technology on Microsoft Windows is by use of the free ffdshow filter. Some other free software like VLC media player (since version 2.1.0 "Rincewind") supports Quick Sync as well. Many commercial applications also benefit from the technology today, including CyberLink PowerDVD, CyberLink PowerDirector and MacroMotion Bogart "gold" edition.

    According to the ffdshow documentation, Quick Sync has very low CPU utilization while being about twice as fast as libavcodec.[25]

    Support for hardware-assisted media encoding tailored for Quick Sync is widely available. Examples of such software with Quick Sync support during encoding processes are Emby Media Server,[26] Plex Media Server,[27] Badaboom Media Converter, CyberLink MediaShow, CyberLink MediaEspresso, ArcSoft MediaConverter, MAGIX Video Pro X, Pinnacle Studio (since version 18), Roxio Toast, Roxio Creator, XSplit Broadcaster,[28] XSplit Gamecaster[29] (all commercial) and projects like HandBrake,[30] [31] Open Broadcaster Software[32] or applications for operation with a video content entering in Adobe CC2018.

    The following table shows fixed-function encode/decode support for various Intel platforms.[33] [34] Support for hybrid and/or partial decode/encode are not detailed.

    Fixed-function Quick Sync Video format support
    Apollo Lake[35] Kaby Lake / Coffee Lake / Comet Lake[36] / Whiskey Lake[37] Gemini Lake[38] Ice Lake[39] / Jasper LakeTiger LakeRocket Lake / Alder Lake / Raptor Lake[40] Arc Alchemist[41] / Meteor Lake / Arrow Lake
    MPEG-2
    AVC(High 10 not supported)colspan=3 (High 10 not supported)colspan=3 (High 10 not supported)
    VC-1
    JPEGcolspan=9
    VP8colspan=2
    HEVCcolspan=3
    HEVC 10-bitcolspan=6 [42]
    HEVC 12-bitcolspan=3 (Encode at 4:2:0 only)[43]
    VP9colspan=5 (Haswell Refresh to Skylake)[44] colspan=4
    VP9 10-bitcolspan=4 [45]
    VP9 12-bitcolspan=3
    AV1
    AV1 10-bit
    AV1 12-bit

    Certain low-end and high-end parts (including multi-socket Xeons and some Extreme Edition CPUs expected to be used with a dedicated GPU) do not contain the hardware core to support Quick Sync.

    See also

    Video Hardware Technologies

    AMD

    Intel

    Nvidia

    Others

    Notes and References

    1. Web site: Intel's Second-Gen Core CPUs: The Sandy Bridge Review - Sandy Bridge's Secret Weapon: Quick Sync . 3 January 2011 . Tom's Hardware . 2011-08-30.
    2. Web site: The Sandy Bridge Review: Intel Core i7-2600K, i5-2500K and Core i3-2100 Tested . AnandTech . 2014-04-05.
    3. Web site: Kevin Parrish . 2014-02-27 . Intel Drivers Bring Quick Sync Video to Pentium, Celeron . 2022-11-29 . Tom's Hardware . en.
    4. Web site: Release Notes Driver version: 15.36.38.5117 . 2020-01-10 . 2020-01-10.
    5. Web site: The Sandy Bridge Review: Intel Core i7-2600K, i5-2500K and Core i3-2100 Tested. 2011-09-23. Anandtech.
    6. Web site: Eighth MPEG-4 AVC/H.264 Video Codecs Comparison. . 135–137 (6.4 Speed/Quality Trade-Off) . MSU Graphics & Media Lab (Video Group).
    7. Web site: Intel Pentium Processor G620.
    8. Web site: Intel's Roadmap: Ivy Bridge, Panther Point, and SSDs . Anandtech . 2011-08-30.
    9. Web site: AUR (en) - intel-hybrid-codec-driver. AUR. 16 July 2017.
    10. Web site: intel/intel-hybrid-driver . GitHub. 27 August 2014.
    11. Web site: Intel Pentium Processor G3250 3M Cache 3.20 GHz Product Specifications .
    12. Web site: VA-API 1.3 Readies Broadwell Support, Adds VP8 Decoding . Phoronix.com . March 18, 2014 . June 10, 2015.
    13. Web site: Intel Broadwell GT3 Graphics Have Dual BSD Rings . Phoronix.com . April 17, 2014.
    14. Web site: The Intel 6th Gen Skylake Review: Core i7-6700K and i5-6600K Tested. 2015-08-06. Ian. Cutress.
    15. Web site: What's New in Intel® Media SDK 2016 R2. Harsh Jain. 2016-06-06. Intel. 2016-07-27.
    16. Web site: Intel® Media Software Development Kit 2016, R2, Release Notes Version (7.0.0.358). 2016-06-06. Intel. 2016-07-27.
    17. Web site: Default Driver Build Features. GitHub. 16 October 2021.
    18. Web site: Open Source Shader Media Features. GitHub. 16 October 2021.
    19. Web site: Evolution of Hardware HEVC Encode on 10th Generation Intel® Core™. https://web.archive.org/web/20200129190837/https://software.intel.com/en-us/articles/evolution-of-hardware-hevc-encode-on-tenth-generation-intel-core-processors. 2020-01-29. dead.
    20. Web site: HW Media Features. GitHub. 16 October 2021.
    21. Web site: Release Intel Media Driver Q3'2020 Release · intel/Media-driver. GitHub.
    22. Web site: Intel Arc Graphics for Creators.
    23. Web site: 2018-08-20 . Intel Media For Linux . 2022-09-11 . 01.org.
    24. Web site: 2019-01-14 . Intel® Video and Audio for Linux* . 2022-09-11 . 01.org.
    25. Web site: H.264/AVC . Codecs . ffdshow-tryout.sourceforge.net.
    26. Web site: Hardware Acceleration Overview . MediaBrowserWiki . March 6, 2019.
    27. Web site: Using Hardware-Accelerated Streaming . Plex Support . 2018-10-11.
    28. Web site: XSplit Broadcaster . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20140314115849/https://www.xsplit.com/products/broadcaster . 2014-03-14 .
    29. Web site: XSplit Gamecaster . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20140314041854/https://www.xsplit.com/products/gamecaster . 2014-03-14 .
    30. Web site: HandBrake Documentation - Intel QuickSync Video . handbrake.fr . 2019-10-07.
    31. Web site: HandBrake 1.2.0 Released . handbrake.fr . 2018-12-22 . 2019-10-07.
    32. Web site: Open Broadcaster Software.
    33. Web site: Intel VA-API driver readme. GitHub. 12 October 2021.
    34. Web site: Intel Quicksync generations by FFMPEG.
    35. Web site: Intel takes the lid off the full specs of its Apollo Lake NUCs . Zak Killian . The Tech Report . 2017-12-05 . 2017-10-20.
    36. Web site: Encode and Decode Capabilities for 7th Generation Intel® Core™ Processors and Newer. 6 August 2021.
    37. Web site: Supported Platforms. GitHub. 3 April 2022.
    38. Web site: New Features of Intel Gemini Lake Processors – HDMI 2.0, 10-bit VP9 Codec, 4-Wide Pipeline, and More . CNXSoft . 2017-08-13 . 2017-10-20.
    39. Web site: Intel Media Driver - HW Media Features. GitHub. 25 January 2019.
    40. Web site: Intel Media Driver - HW Media Features. GitHub. 24 December 2020.
    41. Web site: Intel(R) Media Driver for VAAPI - Decoding/Encoding Features. GitHub. 29 March 2022. 2 December 2022.
    42. Web site: VA-API 1.7.3 changelog. GitHub. 12 October 2021.
    43. Web site: except 4:2:2 and 4:4:4.
    44. Web site: Hardware video acceleration - ArchWiki (VA-API drivers comparison table). ArchWiki. 16 October 2021.
    45. Web site: Known Issues and Limitations #5. GitHub. 16 October 2021.

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