rocDecode is a high-performance video decode SDK for AMD GPUs. Using the rocDecode API, you can access the video decoding features available on your GPU.

Note

The published documentation is available at rocDecode in an organized, easy-to-read format, with search and a table of contents. The documentation source files reside in the rocDecode/docs folder of this repository. As with all ROCm projects, the documentation is open source. For more information on contributing to the documentation, see Contribute to ROCm documentation.

Supported codecs

• H.265 (HEVC) - 8 bit, and 10 bit
• H.264 (AVC) - 8 bit
• AV1 - 8 bit, and 10 bit
• VP9 - 8 bit, and 10 bit

Prerequisites

Operating Systems

• Linux
  • Ubuntu - 22.04 / 24.04
  • RedHat - 8 / 9
  • SLES - 15-SP5

Hardware

• GPU: AMD Radeon™ Graphics / AMD Instinct™ Accelerators

Important

• gfx908 or higher GPU required

• Install ROCm 6.3.0 or later with amdgpu-install: Required usecase:rocm

Important

sudo amdgpu-install --usecase=rocm

Compiler

• AMD Clang++ Version 18.0.0 or later - installed with ROCm

Libraries

• CMake Version 3.10 or later

  sudo apt install cmake
  

• Video Acceleration API - libva-amdgpu-dev is an AMD implementation for VA-API

  sudo apt install libva-amdgpu-dev
  

Note

• RPM Packages for RHEL/SLES - libva-amdgpu-devel
• libva-amdgpu is strongly recommended over system libva as it is used for building mesa-amdgpu-va-driver

• AMD VA Drivers

  sudo apt install libva2-amdgpu libva-amdgpu-drm2 libva-amdgpu-wayland2 libva-amdgpu-x11-2 mesa-amdgpu-va-drivers
  

Note

RPM Packages for RHEL/SLES - libva-amdgpu mesa-amdgpu-va-drivers

• pkg-config

  sudo apt install pkg-config
  

• FFmpeg libraries and headers:

  • libavcodec - provides implementation of a wider range of codecs.
  • libavformat - implements streaming protocols, container formats and basic I/O access.
  • libavutil - includes hashers, decompressors and miscellaneous utility functions.

Note

FFmpeg libraries are used in samples and tests

sudo apt install libavcodec-dev libavformat-dev libavutil-dev

Important

• Required compiler support
  • C++17
  • Threads
• On Ubuntu 22.04 - Additional package required: libstdc++-12-dev

sudo apt install libstdc++-12-dev

Note

• All package installs are shown with the apt package manager. Use the appropriate package manager for your operating system.

Prerequisites setup script

For your convenience, we provide the setup script, rocDecode-setup.py, which installs all required dependencies. Run this script only once.

python3 rocDecode-setup.py  --rocm_path [ ROCm Installation Path  - optional (default:/opt/rocm)]
                            --runtime   [ Setup runtime requirements - optional (default:ON) [options:ON/OFF]]
                            --developer [ Setup Developer Options - optional (default:OFF) [options:ON/OFF]]

Installation instructions

The installation process uses the following steps:

• ROCm-supported hardware install verification

• Install ROCm 6.3.0 or later with amdgpu-install with --usecase=rocm

Important

Use either package install or source install as described below.

Package install

To install rocDecode runtime, development, and test packages, run the line of code for your operating system.

• Runtime package - rocdecode only provides the rocdecode library librocdecode.so
• Development package - rocdecode-dev/rocdecode-devel provides the library, header files, and samples
• Test package - rocdecode-test provides CTest to verify installation

Ubuntu

sudo apt install rocdecode rocdecode-dev rocdecode-test

RHEL

sudo yum install rocdecode rocdecode-devel rocdecode-test

SLES

sudo zypper install rocdecode rocdecode-devel rocdecode-test

Note

Package install auto installs all dependencies.

Important

RHEL/SLES package install requires manual FFMPEG dev install

Source install

To build rocDecode from source and install, run:

git clone https://github.com/ROCm/rocDecode.git
cd rocDecode
python3 rocDecode-setup.py
mkdir build && cd build
cmake ../
make -j8
sudo make install

Run tests

make test

Important

make test requires FFMPEG dev install

Note

To run tests with verbose option, use make test ARGS="-VV".

Make package

sudo make package

Verify installation

The installer copies:

• Libraries into /opt/rocm/lib
• Header files into /opt/rocm/include/rocdecode
• Samples folder into /opt/rocm/share/rocdecode
• Documents folder into /opt/rocm/share/doc/rocdecode

Using sample application

To verify your installation using a sample application, run:

mkdir rocdecode-sample && cd rocdecode-sample
cmake /opt/rocm/share/rocdecode/samples/videoDecode/
make -j8
./videodecode -i /opt/rocm/share/rocdecode/video/container/AMD_driving_virtual_20-H265.mp4

Using test package

To verify your installation using the rocdecode-test package, run:

mkdir rocdecode-test && cd rocdecode-test
cmake /opt/rocm/share/rocdecode/test/
ctest -VV

Samples

You can access samples to decode your videos in our GitHub repository. Refer to the individual folders to build and run the samples.

FFmpeg is required for sample applications and make test. To install FFmpeg, refer to the instructions listed for your operating system:

• Ubuntu:

  sudo apt install libavcodec-dev libavformat-dev libavutil-dev
  

• RHEL/SLES:

  Install ffmpeg development packages manually or use rocDecode-setup.py script

Docker

You can find rocDecode Docker containers in our GitHub repository.

Tested configurations

• Linux
  • Ubuntu - 22.04 / 24.04
  • RHEL - 8 / 9
  • SLES - 15 SP5
• ROCm: 6.3.0
• libva-amdgpu-dev - 2.16.0
• mesa-amdgpu-va-drivers - 1:24.3.0
• FFmpeg - 4.4.2 / 6.1.1
• rocDecode Setup Script - V2.5.0