NVIDIA Video Codec: Encode-Decode Video #

Authors: Holoscan Team (NVIDIA)
Supported platforms: x86_64, aarch64
Language: Python
Last modified: July 11, 2025
Latest version: 1.0
Minimum Holoscan SDK version: 3.3.0
Tested Holoscan SDK versions: 3.3.0, 3.4.0
Contribution metric: Level 1 - Highly Reliable

This application demonstrates the use of NVIDIA Video Codec SDK. The application loads a video file, encodes the video using either H.264 or HEVC (H.265), decodes the video, and displays it with Holoviz.

[!IMPORTANT]
By using the NVIDIA Video Codec Demo application and its operators, you agree to the NVIDIA Software Developer License Agreement. If you disagree with the EULA, please do not run this application.

Requirements#

x86 and SBSA platforms with dedicated GPU
NVIDIA Video Codec SDK

💡 Note: NVIDIA IGX Orin with integrated GPU is not currently supported.

Data#

📦️ (NGC) Sample App Data for AI-based Endoscopy Tool Tracking

Building and Running the NVIDIA Video Codec Application#

Python#

./holohub run nvc_encode_decode --language python

Configuration#

The application is configured with H.264 codec by default, it may be modified in the nvc_encode_decode.yaml file:

encoder:
  codec: "H264" # H265 or HEVC
  preset: "P3" # P1, P2, P3, P4, P5, P6, P7
  cuda_device_ordinal: 0
  bitrate: 10000000
  frame_rate: 60
  rate_control_mode: 0 # 0: Constant QP, 1: Variable bitrate, 2: Constant bitrate
  multi_pass_encoding: 1 # 0: Disabled, 1: Quarter resolution, 2: Full resolution

Refer to the NVIDIA Video Codec documentation for additional details.

Benchmarks#

We collected latency benchmark results using Holoscan Data Flow Tracking tools on the NVIDIA Video Codec sample application. The benchmark is conducted on x86_64 with AMD Ryzen 9 7950X, 128 GB system memory and NVIDIA ADA6000 GPU.

Encoder Configurations: - Bitrate: 10 MB - FPS: 60 - Rate Control Mode: 1 Variable Bitrate - Multi-pass Encoding: 1 Quarter Resolution

		E2E			Encoding			Decoding			FPS
Codec	Preset	Min	Max	Avg	Min	Max	Avg	Min	Max	Avg	Avg
H.264	P3	6.242	8.423	6.743	0.536	0.865	0.593	5.258	7.307	5.699	145.270
	P4	6.22	8.219	6.674	0.561	0.962	0.615	5.220	7.218	5.616	146.875
	P5	6.508	8.441	7.044	0.921	1.403	0.971	5.229	7.097	5.658	139.433
	P6	6.37	9.409	7.102	0.680	1.060	0.730	5.141	7.301	5.646	143.368
	P7	6.529	8.531	7.107	0.740	1.155	0.795	5.104	8.231	5.650	142.727
HEVC	P3	6.258	9.039	6.898	0.684	1.078	0.728	5.141	7.371	5.656	145.058
	P4	6.146	9.351	6.788	0.684	1.088	0.731	5.130	7.301	5.642	143.481
	P5	6.193	8.991	6.818	0.680	1.060	0.730	5.130	7.301	5.643	143.371
	P6	6.337	9.113	6.924	0.682	1.109	0.733	5.254	8.043	5.729	141.633
	P7	6.246	10.11	6.909	0.740	1.155	0.793	5.104	8.231	5.667	142.035

Note: all reported latency values are in milliseconds.

Licensing#

Holohub applications and operators are licensed under Apache-2.0.

NVIDIA Video Codec is governed by the terms of the NVIDIA Software Developer License Agreement, which you accept by clonging, running, or using the NVIDIA Video Codec sample applications and operators.

NVIDIA Video Codec: Encode-Decode Video#