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Scrcpy 4.1 can decode the mirrored video stream on your computer using a compatible hardware decoder. It is enabled by default when possible; if the selected hardware decoder cannot handle the stream, automatic mode falls back to software decoding.
What hardware decoding changes
Scrcpy mirrors an Android device’s screen, but this feature changes where the mirrored video is decoded: on the receiving computer, not on the Android device. The scrcpy project says in its 4.1 release notes that “The video stream is now decoded in hardware on the computer, when possible.”
Using a compatible hardware decoder can reduce the work done by the computer’s CPU. The project says decoding is faster, CPU usage drops by 10×, and power consumption is lower. That is a project claim, not a guaranteed result: the release notes do not specify a test machine, video codec, workload, baseline, or measurement method.
Which decoder scrcpy can use
The available hardware decoder depends on the computer’s operating system:
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| Operating system | Decoder option |
|---|---|
| Linux | vaapi |
| Windows | d3d11va |
| macOS | videotoolbox |
These options are documented in scrcpy’s video documentation. A listed backend is usable only if the computer has compatible hardware and software support for decoding the stream.
Enable, select, or disable hardware decoding
Run the command for the behavior you want from a terminal in the environment where scrcpy is available:
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| Command | Behavior |
|---|---|
scrcpy --hwdec=auto |
Use hardware decoding when possible; this is the default. If the hardware decoder cannot decode the stream, scrcpy falls back to software decoding. |
scrcpy --hwdec=disabled |
Force software decoding. |
scrcpy --hwdec=vaapi |
Request VA-API on Linux. |
scrcpy --hwdec=d3d11va |
Request D3D11VA on Windows. |
scrcpy --hwdec=videotoolbox |
Request VideoToolbox on macOS. |
Automatic and forced selection behave differently when decoding is unsupported. In automatic mode, FFmpeg can fall back to software decoding. If you explicitly request a particular hardware backend and it cannot decode the stream, the operation fails instead of using that automatic fallback.
Requirements and Linux setup
Hardware decoding requires video playback to be enabled and V4L2 to be disabled. Linux VA-API has two additional requirements: an installed VA-API driver for the GPU and EGL rendering.
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- For Debian or Ubuntu, the video documentation gives
va-driver-allas an example package for the driver. - On X11, scrcpy requests EGL by default. Setting
SDL_VIDEO_FORCE_EGL=0forces GLX, which makes hardware decoding unavailable.
If a requested decoder does not work, check that it matches the operating system, that the hardware supports it, and—on Linux—that the VA-API driver and EGL requirements are met. If you need scrcpy to continue without hardware decoding, use --hwdec=auto for its software fallback or --hwdec=disabled to force software decoding.
Get scrcpy from the official project
Scrcpy is free and open source. The project identifies its GitHub repository as its only official source and warns about unrelated sites using the scrcpy name. Use the official Genymobile/scrcpy repository to find project files and documentation.
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