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AV1 encoding uses software encoding instead of hardware, even though the hardware supports it

(#2920) Bug Open: Confirmed desktop performance video
by TarekMod

Reproduction steps

  1. Have a GPU that supports AV1 encoding, i.e 8th gen NVENC encoder (Nvidia 40/50 series+)
  2. Enable screenshare with AV1

Observed behaviour

You get an orange banner about the stream being encoded with software

Build information

Canary Desktop 2026.531.33409, Web 2026.531.132513, Windows 11 10.0.26200 (x64), Electron 41.2.2, Chrome 146.0.7680.188, Node 24.14.1, Locale en-US

Platform

Windows

Details

Expected behaviour Should encode in AV1 through hw
  1. Rex changed the status from Needs triage to Fixed
  2. Tarek changed the status from Fixed to Confirmed

5 comments

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Comment by Tarek
TarekMod OP2 votes Still happening
I can still reproduce this on Canary Desktop 2026.1101.102914, Web 2026.1101.132345, Windows 11 10.0.26300 (x64), Electron 44.10.0, Chrome 152.0.7977.169, Node 24.22.1, Locale en-GB
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Comment by kojitsari
kojitsari 1 vote
Experiencing this on the current Canary build when trying to stream from on a self hosted instance. 9800x3d/4090 with Nvidia driver 616.92 (current latest, I have tested with older drivers). Canary Desktop 2026.1015.145307, Web 2026.1016.10903, Windows 11 10.0.26300 (x64), Electron 44.4.1, Chrome 152.0.7977.78, Node 24.21.0, Locale en-US
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Comment by StarzSpirit
StarzSpirit 1 vote edited
I'm using an RTX 5090 FE, and this is the case for myself as well. I get a popup when attempting to stream in AV1 despite having the Prefer Hardware setting selected in the advanced settings. Canary Desktop 2026.1018.223341, Web 2026.1018.223341, Windows 11 10.0.26200 (x64), Electron 44.4.1, Chrome 152.0.7977.78, Node 24.21.0, Locale en-US
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Comment by Jinx
Jinx 1 vote
Same here, I'm on Nobara Linux with NVidia 4080 Super and NVidia open kernel drivers and I can de+encode videos with handbrake, but fluxer shows "using software encoder" when "Hardware preferred" is set NVIDIA-SMI 595.112.07 Driver Version: 595.112.07 CUDA Version: 13.2 Stable Desktop 2026.1031.143121, Web 2026.1031.143121, Linux 7.3.0-203.nobara.fc44.x86_64 (x64), Electron 44.10.0, Chrome 152.0.7977.169, Node 24.22.1, Locale en-GB
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