Comparison Between Hardware Decoding and Software Decoding

When it comes to video decoding -transmiting and presenting encoded videos to a larger screen, we have software decoding and hardware decoding.

Software decoding uses CPU to decode and read video while hardware decoding is mainly based on GPU  (graphics processing unit) to process video data instead of CPU. This means HD video decoding with software will never make friends with computer of low-power CPU - it may not decode smoothly or affect other tasks running, especially for low-configuration computers. Moreover, with 4k and H.265’s overwhelming development, CPU decoding could not afford to decode such videos.

Hardware decoding, which is a more professional way to present videos in events, meetings, remote class, monitoring, post production especially in a big one. Hardware decoding eases CPU consumption in processing HD videos and is able to run other tasks, and even quickens the GPU render - making full use of the high efficiency of GPU for image processing. Thus a hardware decoder is necessary for smooth video transmission.