Vulkan Video finally launches AV1 video decoding extension

VulkanVideo, launched in April 2021, initially supports the new video codec API built around Vulkan. The earliest Vulkan video support was mainly for H.264 and H.265, and the Vulkan 1.3.277 version released today finally introduces new extensions for AV1 video decoding.

Vulkan1.3.277 introduces VK_KHR_vide_decode_av1, a new extension for Vulkan video AV1 decoding.

This highly anticipated extension is being developed by AMD, RedHat, Intel, NVIDIA, Collabora and others. You may remember that Mesa implemented its own AV1 decoding extension as part of the RADVAV1 video decoding prototype, and now it finally has this cross-vendor extension.

There is no AV1 encoding extension for Vulkan video yet, but anyway, for the vast majority of users, what they need is AV1 decoding. KhronosGroup today released an AV1 decoding extension and Vulkan SDK update.

The addition of VK_KHR_video_decode_av1 is the most exciting change in Vulkan 1.3.277, along with various documentation clarifications/fixes.