HEVC/H265 Hardware Decoding Fails in Edge on Intel Graphics

Environment

Operating System: Windows 11 24H2, Build 26100.3194.

Microsoft Edge Version: 152.0.4191.66.

GPU: Intel(R) Graphics, PCI Device ID 0xA7AB.

Intel Graphics Driver Version: 32.0.101.7088.

Hardware acceleration is enabled in Microsoft Edge.

Issue Description

Microsoft Edge fails to play an MP4 video encoded with HEVC/H.265 Main Profile at 1920 × 1080 resolution.

The video source itself is accessible, and HTTP Range requests are supported normally.

Microsoft Edge can successfully detect the video stream as HEVC Main Profile.

However, playback fails when Edge attempts to initialize the hardware video decoder.

GPU Capability Reported by Microsoft Edge

According to edge://gpu, hardware video decoding is enabled.

The Intel GPU is correctly detected and active.

Microsoft Edge also reports hardware decoding support for HEVC Main and HEVC Main10.

The relevant capabilities shown in edge://gpu include:

Decode hevc main

Decode hevc main 10

This indicates that the GPU and graphics driver expose HEVC hardware decoding capability to Microsoft Edge.

Media Pipeline Failure

According to edge://media-internals, Microsoft Edge successfully recognizes and creates the HEVC video stream.

The media pipeline then attempts to use MediaFoundationVideoDecoder with DXVA hardware acceleration.

The decoder initialization process uses a D3D11 device for DXVA.

The following messages are recorded:

Use MediaFoundationVideoDecoder for DXVA

Starting Initialization of DXVAVDA

Using D3D11 device for DXVA

Cannot select VDAVideoDecoder

status = DecoderStatus::Codes::kFailed

After VDAVideoDecoder initialization fails, the other decoder candidates are also unable to handle the HEVC video stream.

The decoder initialization eventually fails with:

video decoder initialization failed

DecoderStatus::Codes::kUnsupportedConfig

The playback pipeline finally reports:

PipelineStatus::DECODER_ERROR_NOT_SUPPORTED

Error code: 15

Control Test

I performed a control test on the same computer using the same Windows installation, GPU, graphics driver, network environment, website, and HEVC video file.

The same HEVC video can be played normally in Quark Browser.

Quark Browser reports that its Apollo media player pipeline is being used.

The video plays normally through the Apollo media pipeline without the HEVC decoder initialization failure seen in Microsoft Edge.

This indicates that the HEVC video file itself is valid.

It also indicates that the same computer is capable of decoding and playing the video when another browser media pipeline is used.

Expected Behavior

Microsoft Edge should successfully initialize the HEVC hardware decoder when edge://gpu reports that HEVC Main hardware decoding is supported.

The HEVC MP4 video should play normally without returning DECODER_ERROR_NOT_SUPPORTED.

Actual Behavior

Microsoft Edge successfully recognizes the HEVC video stream and reports HEVC hardware decoding support.

However, the D3D11/DXVA VDAVideoDecoder initialization fails during actual playback.

As a result, no available decoder is selected and the video playback pipeline stops.

Preliminary Analysis

Based on the current evidence, this issue does not appear to be caused by the Intel GPU lacking HEVC hardware decoding capability.

Microsoft Edge itself reports HEVC Main and HEVC Main10 decoding capability in edge://gpu.

The same HEVC video also plays successfully on the same computer using Quark Browser.

The failure therefore appears to occur during the interaction between the Microsoft Edge/Chromium media pipeline, Media Foundation, DXVA/D3D11, and the Intel graphics driver.

In particular, Microsoft Edge detects HEVC decoding capability successfully, but VDAVideoDecoder cannot be initialized during actual HEVC playback.

Request for Investigation

Could the Microsoft Edge media team please investigate why VDAVideoDecoder fails to initialize for HEVC playback on this Intel graphics configuration?

Could you also verify whether there is a compatibility issue between the Microsoft Edge Chromium media pipeline, Media Foundation, DXVA/D3D11, and Intel Graphics driver version 32.0.101.7088?

Since edge://gpu already reports HEVC Main/Main10 hardware decoding support, I would also like to understand why this capability cannot be successfully used by the actual video decoder during playback.

If additional logs, GPU diagnostic information, Media Internals data, or a reproducible HEVC sample video are required, I can provide them for further investigation.