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Screenshare codec always uses software, not hardware

(#2914) Bug Confirmed desktop performance video
by FullestReviewer

Observed behaviour

Software encoding is used. I have also tried VP8 and VP9 with similar results. I realized that we've discussed this issue a lot, but there is no actual bug report for it.

Reproduction steps

  1. In settings, choose a screenshare codec you know your GPU has encoders for (e.g. H264 on an RTX 3080)
  2. Start a screenshare
  3. Look at stats for nerds, console, or the obvious nag banner telling you software encoding is being used

Build information

Canary Desktop 2026.531.33409, Web 2026.531.34415, Linux 7.0.10-101.fc43.x86_64 (x64), Electron 41.2.2, Chrome 146.0.7680.188, Node 24.14.1, Locale en-US

Platform

Linux

Evidence

Voice diagnostics while doing a screenshare with software-backed Openh264.

Details

Expected behaviour Hardware encoding should be used when available.
  1. Rex changed the status from Needs triage to Confirmed

2 comments

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Comment by Comfy_Deer
Comfy_DeerReviewer 1 vote
Can reproduce CR - H264 selected, orange bar warning for software encoding, GPU - RTX 3080; Canary Desktop 2026.531.33409, Web 2026.531.34415, Linux 6.17.0-35-generic (x64), Electron 41.2.2, Chrome 146.0.7680.188, Node 24.14.1, Locale en-US
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