In hope it may be of some use for Cingg next, I make a summary and supplement to the guide in https://trac.ffmpeg.org/wiki/Hardware/VAAPI#Encoding And instead of adding a tail to already too long recent threads, I start a new thread here. Two additional references are used Developer Reference: Media Capabilities Supported by Intel Hardware https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/docs/onevpl/developer-reference-medi... Supported Encoding Input Format and Max Resolution https://github.com/intel/media-driver/blob/master/docs/media_features.md#sup... to clarify the Encode Features for my own Intel Arc A-series Discrete Graphics HEVC (fixed-function hardware + shader-based) 8-bit, 4:2:0 (NV12) 10-bit, 4:2:0 (P010) 8-bit, 4:2:2 (YUY2, Windows only) 10-bit, 4:2:2 (Y210) AV1 8-bit, 4:2:0 (NV12) 10-bit, 4:2:0 (P010) A short reminder: 8-bit vs 10-bit color depths is 256 vs 1024 color levels of each RGB color, or 16.7 mill. vs 1.0 bill colors. 4:2:0 vs 4:2:2 color sub-sampling is keeping 1/4 vs 1/2 of all 4:4:4 colors or the precision of color compression. https://fujifilm-x.com/en-us/series/the-filmmakers-handbook/8-bit-or-10-bit-... An important point to notice is that the VAAPI encoding 'formats' are based on those in the parentheses () above. Three simplified ffmpeg code lines with default bit-rates and without audio are used in the following three examples. Resulting fps encoding counts or speeds are the same in all cases; I don't know why. The input file used: ffprobe -hide_banner cfhd01.mkv Input #0, matroska,webm, from 'cfhd01.mkv': Metadata: ENCODER : Lavf61.1.100 Duration: 00:01:11.24, start: 0.000000, bitrate: 393480 kb/s Stream #0:0(eng): Video: cfhd (CFHD / 0x44484643), yuv422p10le(tv, bt709, top coded first (swapped)), 1920x1080, SAR 1:1 DAR 16:9, 25 fps, 25 tbr, 1k tbn (default) Metadata: HANDLER_NAME : Apple Video Media Handler VENDOR_ID : appl ENCODER : Lavc61.3.100 cfhd DURATION : 00:01:11.240000000 1) 8-bit yuv420p hevc vaapi encoding using -vf 'format=nv12,hwupload' ------------------------------------------------------------------ ffmpeg -hide_banner -vaapi_device /dev/dri/renderD128 -i cfhd01.mkv -vf 'format=nv12,hwupload' -c:v av1_vaapi cfhd01_av1_vaapi_format_nv12.mp4 ............ frame= 1781 fps= 46 q=-0.0 Lsize= 104132KiB time=00:01:11.24 bitrate=11974.3kbits/s speed=1.83x ffprobe -hide_banner cfhd01_av1_vaapi_format_nv12.mp4 Input #0, mov,mp4,m4a,3gp,3g2,mj2, from 'cfhd01_av1_vaapi_format_nv12.mp4': Metadata: major_brand : isom minor_version : 512 compatible_brands: isomav01iso2mp41 encoder : Lavf61.7.100 Duration: 00:01:11.24, start: 0.000000, bitrate: 11974 kb/s Stream #0:0[0x1](eng): Video: av1 (libdav1d) (Main) (av01 / 0x31307661), yuv420p(tv, bt709, progressive), 1920x1080, 11973 kb/s, SAR 1:1 DAR 16:9, 25 fps, 25 tbr, 12800 tbn (default) Metadata: handler_name : Apple Video Media Handler vendor_id : [0][0][0][0] encoder : Lavc61.19.100 av1_vaapi 2) 10-bit yuv420p10le hevc vaapi encoding using -vf 'format=p010,hwupload' ----------------------------------------------------------------------- ffmpeg -hide_banner -vaapi_device /dev/dri/renderD128 -i cfhd01.mkv -vf 'format=p010,hwupload' -c:v av1_vaapi cfhd01_av1_vaapi_format_p010.mp4 ............. frame= 1781 fps= 46 q=-0.0 Lsize= 111924KiB time=00:01:11.24 bitrate=12870.3kbits/s speed=1.82x ffprobe -hide_banner cfhd01_av1_vaapi_format_p010.mp4 Input #0, mov,mp4,m4a,3gp,3g2,mj2, from 'cfhd01_av1_vaapi_format_p010.mp4': Metadata: major_brand : isom minor_version : 512 compatible_brands: isomav01iso2mp41 encoder : Lavf61.7.100 Duration: 00:01:11.24, start: 0.000000, bitrate: 12870 kb/s Stream #0:0[0x1](eng): Video: av1 (libdav1d) (Main) (av01 / 0x31307661), yuv420p10le(tv, bt709, progressive), 1920x1080, 12869 kb/s, SAR 1:1 DAR 16:9, 25 fps, 25 tbr, 12800 tbn (default) Metadata: handler_name : Apple Video Media Handler vendor_id : [0][0][0][0] encoder : Lavc61.19.100 av1_vaapi 3) 10-bit yuv422p10le hevc_vaapi encoding using -vf 'format=y210,hwupload' ----------------------------------------------------------------------- ffmpeg -hide_banner -vaapi_device /dev/dri/renderD128 -i cfhd01.mkv -vf 'format=y210,hwupload' -c:v hevc_vaapi cfhd01_hevc_vaapi_format_y210.mp4 frame= 1781 fps= 46 q=-0.0 Lsize= 105482KiB time=00:01:11.20 bitrate=12136.3kbits/s speed=1.83x ffprobe -hide_banner cfhd01_hevc_vaapi_format_y210.mp4 Input #0, mov,mp4,m4a,3gp,3g2,mj2, from 'cfhd01_hevc_vaapi_format_y210.mp4': Metadata: major_brand : isom minor_version : 512 compatible_brands: isomiso2mp41 encoder : Lavf61.7.100 Duration: 00:01:11.24, start: 0.000000, bitrate: 12129 kb/s Stream #0:0[0x1](eng): Video: hevc (Rext) (hev1 / 0x31766568), yuv422p10le(tv, bt709, progressive), 1920x1080 [SAR 1:1 DAR 16:9], 12127 kb/s, 25 fps, 25 tbr, 12800 tbn (default) Metadata: handler_name : Apple Video Media Handler vendor_id : [0][0][0][0] encoder : Lavc61.19.100 hevc_vaapi