Windows Subsystem for Linux Receives D3D12 GPU Video Acceleration

Microsoft is bringing GPU video acceleration to Windows Subsystem for Linux, offering better performance and energy consumption.

Microsoft is now rolling out D3D12 GPU video acceleration for its Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL) service. With this integration, users will see a performance improvement while also seeing energy gains and betting image resolution.

Hardware acceleration in terms of video decoding and encoding brings significant benefits to Windows Subsystem for Linux by putting all video processing on the GPU instead of the CPU.

Microsoft says that Windows Subsystem for Linux is receiving its hardware-accelerated video processing through any application. All the app needs is to be using VAAPI and Mesa 3D D3D12. Users also need to be running WSL version 1.1.0 with a compatible Linux distro.

“When decoding, encoding or processing a video, you have the option to do so using the CPU or -when available- offload it to accelerator hardware, usually delegating it to the GPU.

Leveraging video hardware acceleration instead of using the CPU usually has several benefits: increased performance, lower power consumption and it frees up those CPU cycles to be available for other tasks in WSL or even in the Windows host, increasing overall performance. The benefits of using the GPU increase as the resolution of the video gets higher.”

Requirements

In a blog post, Microsoft points to the following PC components you need to access this feature in WSL:

Vendor

CPU

GPU

Driver

AMD

Ryzen 4000 or newer

Radeon RX 5000 and newer

23.3.1 (coming soon)

Intel

Iris Xe (DG1)
Intel Arc (Alchemist)

11th Gen Intel Core (Tiger and Rocket Lake)
12th Gen Intel Core (Alder Lake)
13th Gen Intel Core (Raptor Lake)

31.0.101.4032

NVIDIA

GeForce GTX 10 Series
GeForce RTX 20 Series
Quadro RTX
NVIDIA RTX

526.47

Tip of the day: It’s a good idea to backup your computer on a regular basis, and the most fool-proof way is to manually create a disk image and save it to an external hard drive.

Luke Jones
Luke Jones
Luke has been writing about Microsoft and the wider tech industry for over 10 years. With a degree in creative and professional writing, Luke looks for the interesting spin when covering AI, Windows, Xbox, and more.

Recent News

0 0 votes
Article Rating
Subscribe
Notify of
guest
0 Comments
Newest
Oldest Most Voted
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments
0
We would love to hear your opinion! Please comment below.x
()
x