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AndreCocco28's avatar
AndreCocco28
Copper Contributor
Feb 12, 2024

H.264/AVC 444 mode on non-GPU enabled series in Azure Virtual Desktop

Hi, does enabling H.264/AVC 444 mode on non-GPU enabled (N series) VMs makes any sense in an Azure Virtual Desktop environment?

Will it leverage the internal video card for encoding or it needs a dedicated GPU like in "N" series?

Thanks a lot.

Andrea

1 Reply

  • Kidd_Ip's avatar
    Kidd_Ip
    MVP
    Mar 02, 2026

    Highlight the below and you may referring below URL on detail:

     

    • H.264/AVC 444 mode is an advanced Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP) feature designed to enhance visual fidelity. By encoding the full 4:4:4 color space rather than the default 4:2:0, it delivers sharper text rendering and improved graphics clarity.
    • On non-GPU-enabled virtual machines (such as D-series or E-series), encoding is performed exclusively by the CPU. Enabling 444 mode in these environments does not utilize any integrated or “internal” video card. To offload encoding and rendering tasks to a GPU, a dedicated GPU-enabled VM (e.g., N-series, NVv3, NVadsA10 v5, NCasT4_v3) is required.
    • Without GPU acceleration, enabling 444 mode can significantly increase CPU utilization, which may negatively impact performance and scalability, particularly in multi-user session host scenarios.

     

    https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/virtual-desktop/graphics-enable-gpu-acceleration?tabs=intune