While the Intel Media SDK with VA-API has long supported accelerated video decoding, the latest Mesa 25.2 development code has now landed support for AV1 decoding using the Vulkan Video API with the Intel ANV driver for Xe2 Battlemage / Lunar Lake graphics and Gfx125 Xe graphics too.
Going back to last year was the initial Intel ANV Vulkan Video support for AV1 decode while a newly-merged patch-set extends the coverage to Gfx125 and Xe2 graphics compatibility.
Adds basic support for AV1 video decoding on Gfx125 and Xe2.
It passes all the AV1 separated_dpb CTS tests besides film grain and dEQP-VK.video.decode.av1.allintrabc_8_separated_dpb for me on Xe2, and I can play AV1 content in ffmpeg using Vulkan, I have not tested Gfx125.
The only real change here is Xe2 adds yet another scratch buffer, the “Loop Restoration Filter Tile Column Alignment Read Write Buffer”, that has to be allocated once per session. Otherwise, a few of the instructions were also resized to add more fields that are only used for encoding and film grain synthesis.
I reverse engineered the Xe2 stuff from the VA-API driver.
Calder Young who formerly worked as a contract engineer for Intel had written the patch and merge request last week for enabling Intel ANV Vulkan Video AV1 decode for the Gfx125 and Xe2 graphics hardware.
Great news particularly for those on the latest Intel Lunar Lake laptops and/or Arc B-Series “Battlemage” graphics cards as an alternative to using VA-API.
