Universal Media Server | Forum

Posted: **Sat Jan 03, 2026 4:46 pm**

My AMD RDNA2 system does have vaapi support for h264 and h265, there is also a system version of ffmpeg available as /usr/bin/ffmpeg.

ffmpeg doesn't show up in the regular logs when I click play video, and the drop-down for ffmpeg encoding acceleration method only lists:
libx264
h264_nvenc
h264_amf
h264_qsv
h264_mf
libx264rgb

I tried adding to UMS.conf with no success:
ffmpeg_path = /usr/bin/ffmpeg
ffmpegHwAccel = vaapi

How can I get ffmpeg to have vaapi displayed in the dropdown so it can be used by the appimage?

Flatpaks on the system are able to use vaapi.

Posted: **Sun Jan 04, 2026 5:35 am**

I am guessing you are using linux?
I know very little about this but have seen that hardware acceleration for h264 and h465 can be reliant on drivers and have heard Linux support from some manufacturers is not the best.

As it is an AMD GPU you will need to set the acceleration method to the ones ending with "_amf".

: Screenshot 2025-03-04 163538.png (49.13 KiB) Viewed 138808 times

: Screenshot 2025-03-04 171257.png (20.3 KiB) Viewed 138808 times

You could also set this as I think the actual default is none, I saw a pull request about this the other day.

Code: Select all

ffmpeg_gpu_decoding_acceleration_method =auto

I suggest you use the FFmpeg included with UMS as it may have features enabled that your system one may not although if you need a modified version to work on your GPU make sure it is the full one and not the essentials as this should have everything enabled if UMS need it.

To use the system ffmpeg then seting its path should make it work.
I don't know what it will be in Linux for you but this is what it says in UMS.conf

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# Path to ffmpeg (absolute or relative from project.binaries.dir)
# Example: /usr/bin/ffmpeg
# Default:
#     Win: win32/ffmpeg.exe
#     Mac: osx/ffmpeg
#     Linux: ffmpeg + system PATH
ffmpeg_path =

There is no option for "ffmpegHwAccel".
When UMS is initialised it will run FFmpeg to get the available acceleration methods and store them in UMS.conf.
This is what it stores for me on Windows with a Nvidia GPU.

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ffmpeg_available_gpu_acceleration_methods = none,auto,cuda,vaapi,dxva2,qsv,d3d11va,d3d12va,amf

To get a better understanding on what is happening I would need to see your logs. Things like FFmpeg don't usually show unless put in TRACE mode.
See the red section above for instructions.

Universal Media Server | Forum

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