ffmpeg -hwaccel flag never set for playback - Printable Version +- Jellyfin Forum (https://forum.jellyfin.org) +-- Forum: Support (https://forum.jellyfin.org/f-support) +--- Forum: Troubleshooting (https://forum.jellyfin.org/f-troubleshooting) +--- Thread: ffmpeg -hwaccel flag never set for playback (/t-ffmpeg-hwaccel-flag-never-set-for-playback)

ffmpeg -hwaccel flag never set for playback - boosnap - 2025-11-23 I have been running into issues with playback buffering for Live TV and movies. I have setup my system with all of the proper Nvidia drivers as outlined in the documentation.  I have Nvidia NVENC enabled on the transcoding page and regardless of the "Enable Hardware Decoding" options, I never get the -hwaccel flag added to my ffmpeg string in Jellyfin.  Any playback initiated by Jellyfin shows "No running processes found" in nvidia-smi, but running ffmpeg directly with the following command DOES show in nvidia-smi. nvidia-smi while playing a video launched in jellyfin: /usr/lib/jellyfin-ffmpeg/ffmpeg -analyzeduration 200M -probesize 1G -fflags +genpts -f matroska  -i file:"path_to_file/filename.mkv" -map_metadata -1 -map_chapters -1 -threads 0 -map 0:0 -map 0:1 -map -0:s -codec:v:0 copy -bsf:v h264_mp4toannexb -start_at_zero -codec:a:0 libfdk_aac -ac 2 -vbr:a 5 -af "volume=2" -copyts -avoid_negative_ts disabled -max_muxing_queue_size 2048 -f hls -max_delay 5000000 -hls_time 6 -hls_segment_type fmp4 -hls_fmp4_init_filename "9993d101f56e79a4f21589750cdbc275-1.mp4" -start_number 0 -hls_segment_filename "/var/cache/jellyfin/transcodes/9993d101f56e79a4f21589750cdbc275%d.mp4" -hls_playlist_type vod -hls_list_size 0 -hls_segment_options movflags=+frag_discont -y "/var/cache/jellyfin/transcodes/9993d101f56e79a4f21589750cdbc275.m3u8" +-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+ | NVIDIA-SMI 580.95.05              Driver Version: 580.95.05      CUDA Version: 13.0    | +-----------------------------------------+------------------------+----------------------+ | GPU  Name                Persistence-M | Bus-Id          Disp.A | Volatile Uncorr. ECC | | Fan  Temp  Perf          Pwr:Usage/Cap |          Memory-Usage | GPU-Util  Compute M. | |                                        |                        |              MIG M. | |=========================================+========================+======================| |  0  NVIDIA GeForce GTX 960        Off |  00000000:01:00.0 Off |                  N/A | |  0%  45C    P8            14W /  128W |      18MiB /  4096MiB |      0%      Default | |                                        |                        |                  N/A | +-----------------------------------------+------------------------+----------------------+ +-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+ | Processes:                                                                              | |  GPU  GI  CI              PID  Type  Process name                        GPU Memory | |        ID  ID                                                              Usage      | |=========================================================================================| |  No running processes found                                                            | +-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+ nvidia-smi while transcoding directly with this command: /usr/lib/jellyfin-ffmpeg/ffmpeg \   -hwaccel cuda -hwaccel_output_format cuda \   -i "/path_to_file/filename.mkv" \   -c:v hevc_nvenc -c:a copy \   -y "test_output.mkv" +-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+ | NVIDIA-SMI 580.95.05              Driver Version: 580.95.05      CUDA Version: 13.0    | +-----------------------------------------+------------------------+----------------------+ | GPU  Name                Persistence-M | Bus-Id          Disp.A | Volatile Uncorr. ECC | | Fan  Temp  Perf          Pwr:Usage/Cap |          Memory-Usage | GPU-Util  Compute M. | |                                        |                        |              MIG M. | |=========================================+========================+======================| |  0  NVIDIA GeForce GTX 960        Off |  00000000:01:00.0 Off |                  N/A | |  0%  48C    P2            35W /  128W |    151MiB /  4096MiB |      5%      Default | |                                        |                        |                  N/A | +-----------------------------------------+------------------------+----------------------+ +-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+ | Processes:                                                                              | |  GPU  GI  CI              PID  Type  Process name                        GPU Memory | |        ID  ID                                                              Usage      | |=========================================================================================| |    0  N/A  N/A        1096079      C  /usr/lib/jellyfin-ffmpeg/ffmpeg        130MiB | +-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+ I am not running Jellyfin in Docker, I am running as a systemd application. Jellyfin 10.11.3 Ubuntu 24.04.3 LTS Kernel 6.8.0-88-generic output of lshw -c display:   *-display       description: VGA compatible controller       product: GM206 [GeForce GTX 960]       vendor: NVIDIA Corporation       physical id: 0       bus info: pci@0000:01:00.0       logical name: /dev/fb0       version: a1       width: 64 bits       clock: 33MHz       capabilities: pm msi pciexpress vga_controller bus_master cap_list rom fb       configuration: depth=32 driver=nvidia latency=0 resolution=3840,1080       resources: irq:156 memory:f6000000-f6ffffff memory:e0000000-efffffff memory:f0000000-f1ffffff ioport:e000(size=12 memory:c0000-dffff Any help getting my video card engaged would be appreciated.