hardware_encoder: Hardware video encoders

In tidymedia: Media File Preprocessing and Metadata for the 'tidyverse'

Hardware video encoders

Description

These functions help with optional hardware video encoding. hardware_encoder() gives the hardware encoder name for a codec family. has_hardware_encoder() reports whether that encoder is available in the local FFmpeg build. The package supports two backends: NVIDIA nvenc (H.264, HEVC and AV1) and Apple videotoolbox (H.264 and HEVC). So hardware_encoder("h264", "nvenc") is "h264_nvenc", and hardware_encoder("h264", "videotoolbox") is "h264_videotoolbox". The glossary in vignette("tidymedia") explains media terms such as codec, container and hardware encoder.

Usage

hardware_encoder(codec = c("h264", "hevc", "av1", "prores"), hardware)

has_hardware_encoder(codec = c("h264", "hevc", "av1", "prores"), hardware)

Arguments

codec	The video codec family: one of "h264", "hevc", "av1", or "prores". These are the families the package recognizes, not the families a given backend covers. If the chosen hardware backend has no encoder for a family, the function refuses the call. The error names both the backend and the family (e.g. "av1" under "videotoolbox"). Both backends refuse "prores" today.
hardware	The backend: "nvenc" or "videotoolbox". Required, with no default. This set is narrower than the hardware argument of the task functions. There, "none" means "use no backend". That has no meaning here, so the function refuses it.

Details

has_hardware_encoder() is a cheap check. It asks whether FFmpeg lists the encoder (via ffmpeg_encoders). That list reflects how FFmpeg was built. It does not reflect whether working hardware and a driver are present at run time. An encode can still fail at run time on a machine with no capable GPU. To override detection in a known environment (or in tests), set options(tidymedia.hardware_encoders = ) to a character vector of encoder names to treat as available.

The hardware argument of the task functions uses the same encoder names and the same check. These task functions have that argument: standardize_video, format_for_web, anonymize_video, crop_video, segment_video, compare_videos, picture_in_picture, and separate_audio_video (and their _batch forms). Some of these functions have a video_codec that defaults to NULL (no codec named), and they assume the H.264 family. So a container that does not take H.264 (e.g. .webm) needs an explicit HEVC- or AV1-family video_codec. AV1 works only under "nvenc". Hardware decoding (-hwaccel) and GPU filter pipelines are out of scope. Use the ffmpeg direct command for those.

Value

hardware_encoder() returns a single encoder-name string (e.g. "h264_nvenc"). has_hardware_encoder() returns a length-one logical. Neither returns for a codec that the chosen hardware backend has no encoder for. That pair is a wrong argument, not a machine without something. So both give the error that codec describes above. has_hardware_encoder() returns FALSE only for a pair that the chosen backend has an encoder for and this FFmpeg build does not list.

See Also

ffmpeg_encoders for the full encoder list. These task functions have the hardware argument: standardize_video, format_for_web, anonymize_video, crop_video, segment_video, compare_videos, picture_in_picture, and separate_audio_video.

Other capability functions: ffmpeg_codecs(), ffmpeg_encoders(), has_encoder(), refresh_ffmpeg_capabilities()

Examples

hardware_encoder("h264", "nvenc")
has_hardware_encoder("h264", "nvenc")

tidymedia documentation built on Oct. 11, 2026, 5:08 p.m.