<p>Quite possible that the Windows player can make use of some HW acceleration the others can not / are not using. </p>

<p>Check this how to enable HW video decoding on VLC: </p>

<ul>
<li><a href="https://wiki.videolan.org/VLC_GPU_Decoding" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https://wiki.videolan.org/VLC_GPU_Decoding</a></li>
<li><a href="https://superuser.com/q/128478/228841">https://superuser.com/q/128478/228841</a></li>
</ul>

<p>If you are using VLC 2.2.2 check this
<a href="https://forum.videolan.org/viewtopic.php?t=130590" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https://forum.videolan.org/viewtopic.php?t=130590</a></p>

<p><strong>UPDATE</strong> from the author of the question:
Adding screenshot from VLC v. 2.2.1 to compliment this answer.</p>

<p>VLC 2.2.1 with Hardware Acceleration enabled.
<a href="https://i.sstatic.net/fqQTz.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.sstatic.net/fqQTz.png" alt="enter image description here"></a></p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2016-03-03T06:22:35.633Z
Unlikely. Even if so, H/W accel uses GPU and FTV shows half the GPU use as well.
Gyan
CC BY-SA 3.0
2016-03-03T07:12:29.507Z
If your gpu does HW video decoding, I don't think it would even register as high GPU usage since it is _Hardware_ Decoding.
Hans Meiser
CC BY-SA 3.0
2016-03-03T07:14:47.600Z
http://superuser.com/q/128478/228841
Hans Meiser
CC BY-SA 3.0
2016-03-03T07:21:21.830Z
The hardware decoder is part of the GPU die, so I'm not sure how that affects my point.
Gyan
CC BY-SA 3.0
2016-03-03T07:23:45.353Z
Your point is that HW decoder utilization should register on the GPU graph. Which It not necessarily does if there is a DSP actually doing the processing and not a piece of software that "runs" it's code on the GPU.
Hans Meiser
CC BY-SA 3.0
2016-03-03T07:40:12.780Z
Depending on how efficient the decoder is, it should still affect the temps. Compare the GPU temps. The chief discrepancy here seems to be the post-processing/renderer, not the decoding.
Gyan
CC BY-SA 3.0
2016-03-03T07:43:55.600Z
No, it wouldn't. You can run FullHD H264 movies on a raspberry pi, thanks to hardware acceleration and you wouldn't notice a temperature change.
Hans Meiser
CC BY-SA 3.0
2016-03-03T08:38:48.540Z
If you look at the first chart [here](http://www.anandtech.com/show/7007/intels-haswell-an-htpc-perspective/5) (with the default renderer), Quicksync decoding consumes more power than DXVA2. When I compare VLC playback of FHD 30fps with s/w decode vs DXVA2 using a nV card, I register a 5% increase in GPU (30 -> 35) and 1-2 C increase in GPU temp in the latter case. That suggests that decoding doesn't account for all the discrepancy in the OP's case.
Gyan
CC BY-SA 3.0
2016-03-03T09:37:44.980Z
The point is: there cannot be any other real explanation for his / her original question. The Windows player uses some kind of acceleration the others are not. This also lines up with other search results related to that subject: one article praising the Windows player as less battery consuming, other articles speaking of high CPU utilization when using VLC. I think your energy would be more wisely invested trying to to figure out WHICH acceleration is missing in the other players than arguing that there is none.
Hans Meiser
CC BY-SA 3.0
2016-03-03T09:41:38.000Z
I'm not arguing "WHICH acceleration is missing". I'm saying the discrepancy isn't explained by different decoding pipelines between the players.
Gyan
CC BY-SA 3.0
2016-03-03T09:55:29.700Z
Using ( or not using)  a HW decoder results in a different decoding pipeline. Sorry man I really think you're getting nowhere with this. And also I don't find it interesting discussing the existence of something obvious.
Hans Meiser
CC BY-SA 3.0
2016-03-05T23:30:29.747Z
I have to agree  with Hans Meiser. GPU decoding absolutely explains this behavior.
timonsku
CC BY-SA 3.0
2016-03-09T15:31:14.830Z
@HansMeiser Today I downgraded VLC player to version 2.2.1 (in 2.2.2 hardware acceleration isn't working as you pointed out) and results are similar (though not as good) as the default Windows player. Therefore I believe hardware acceleration will explain the big difference in resource utilization. The minor difference probably has to do with some further optimizations.
Filip Nikolov
CC BY-SA 3.0
2016-03-09T20:15:04.593Z
Yeah, GPU decoding does explain the CPU %. But not the GPU %, which looks due to VLC's filters+renderer.
Gyan
CC BY-SA 3.0
2016-03-03T01:06:52.177Z
2016-03-09T18:19:01.270Z
2017-03-20T10:18:33.487Z
Hans Meiser
<p>I am trying to understand how the default Windows 10 player (called "Films and TV") is able to play FHD (1920 x 1080 x 60fps) videos (shot with GoPro 4) and utilize only around 10% of the CPU, while other players namely VLC and GOM will utilize around 60-70% CPU.</p>

<p>I tried looking at GPU utilization, but even there while using the default Windows 10 player utilization is around 15% vs around 30% when using VLC and GOM.</p>

<p>Right now this looks like magic to me as FHD playback is taxing on the hardware and I can't figure out what is going on. I am thinking the difference will be in the decoder used, but can't find more information. </p>

<p>The CPU / GPU used are Core i5 5200U / Intel HD Graphics 5500</p>

<p>VLC Player CPU utilization:
<a href="https://i.sstatic.net/XGSQE.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.sstatic.net/XGSQE.png" alt="VLC Player CPU utilization"></a></p>

<p>Films and TV CPU utilization
<a href="https://i.sstatic.net/agPr7.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.sstatic.net/agPr7.png" alt="Films and TV CPU utilization"></a></p>

<p>This is the info for a sample video file.</p>

<pre><code>General
Format                                   : MPEG-4
Format profile                           : Base Media / Version 1
Codec ID                                 : mp41
File size                                : 2.61 GiB
Duration                                 : 12mn 23s
Overall bit rate mode                    : Variable
Overall bit rate                         : 30.1 Mbps

Video
ID                                       : 1
Format                                   : AVC
Format/Info                              : Advanced Video Codec
Format profile                           : High@L4.2
Format settings, CABAC                   : Yes
Format settings, ReFrames                : 1 frame
Format settings, GOP                     : M=1, N=30
Codec ID                                 : avc1
Codec ID/Info                            : Advanced Video Coding
Duration                                 : 12mn 23s
Bit rate mode                            : Variable
Bit rate                                 : 30.0 Mbps
Width                                    : 1 920 pixels
Height                                   : 1 080 pixels
Display aspect ratio                     : 16:9
Frame rate mode                          : Constant
Frame rate                               : 59.940 fps
Color space                              : YUV
Chroma subsampling                       : 4:2:0
Bit depth                                : 8 bits
Scan type                                : Progressive
Bits/(Pixel*Frame)                       : 0.241
Stream size                              : 2.60 GiB (99%)
Title                                    : GoPro AVC
Color primaries                          : BT.709
Transfer characteristics                 : BT.709
Matrix coefficients                      : BT.709

Audio
ID                                       : 2
Format                                   : AAC
Format/Info                              : Advanced Audio Codec
Format profile                           : LC
Codec ID                                 : 40
Duration                                 : 12mn 23s
Bit rate mode                            : Constant
Bit rate                                 : 128 Kbps
Channel(s)                               : 2 channels
Channel positions                        : Front: L R
Sampling rate                            : 48.0 KHz
Compression mode                         : Lossy
Stream size                              : 11.4 MiB (0%)
Title                                    : GoPro AAC
</code></pre>

<p>VLC reports the following video output in: Tools -> Messages -> Module Tree -> playlist -> video output</p>

<pre><code>window "qt4" (0x5a738fc)
vout display "direct3d" (0x5a57a34)

subpicture (0xf456b4)
spu text "freetype" (0x5a24264)
scale "yuvp" (0x5a70c1c)
scale "swscale" (0x55a1eac)
</code></pre>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2016-03-02T07:29:18.140Z
Probably different renderer and/or filters used with VLC/GOM. In VLC, what does `Tools -> Messages -> Module Tree -> playlist -> video output` say?
Gyan
CC BY-SA 3.0
2016-03-02T18:30:03.137Z
@Mulvya Added the requested info in the body of the post/question.
Filip Nikolov
CC BY-SA 3.0
2016-03-07T14:49:50.050Z
Do both players played 1080p? In other words, is your display 1080p and you played the movie full-screen on both tests? If you just play in a small window it is possible that F&TV runs a partial rendering.
avnr
CC BY-SA 3.0
2016-03-09T15:24:31.313Z
@avnr My display is 1600 x 900 and player are running maximized, though not in full screen.
Filip Nikolov
<playback><full-hd>
How is the default video player in Windows 10 achieving the low CPU utilization while playing FHD videos
Filip Nikolov
# How is the default video player in Windows 10 achieving the low CPU utilization while playing FHD videos

(Asked by: username_0 on 2016-03-01)

I am trying to understand how the default Windows 10 player (called "Films and TV") is able to play FHD (1920 x 1080 x 60fps) videos (shot with GoPro 4) and utilize only around 10% of the CPU, while other players namely VLC and GOM will utilize around 60-70% CPU.
I tried looking at GPU utilization, but even there while using the default Windows 10 player utilization is around 15% vs around 30% when using VLC and GOM.
Right now this looks like magic to me as FHD playback is taxing on the hardware and I can't figure out what is going on. I am thinking the difference will be in the decoder used, but can't find more information. 
The CPU / GPU used are Core i5 5200U / Intel HD Graphics 5500
VLC Player CPU utilization:

Films and TV CPU utilization

This is the info for a sample video file.
General
Format                                   : MPEG-4
Format profile                           : Base Media / Version 1
Codec ID                                 : mp41
File size                                : 2.61 GiB
Duration                                 : 12mn 23s
Overall bit rate mode                    : Variable
Overall bit rate                         : 30.1 Mbps

Video
ID                                       : 1
Format                                   : AVC
Format/Info                              : Advanced Video Codec
Format profile                           : High@L4.2
Format settings, CABAC                   : Yes
Format settings, ReFrames                : 1 frame
Format settings, GOP                     : M=1, N=30
Codec ID                                 : avc1
Codec ID/Info                            : Advanced Video Coding
Duration                                 : 12mn 23s
Bit rate mode                            : Variable
Bit rate                                 : 30.0 Mbps
Width                                    : 1 920 pixels
Height                                   : 1 080 pixels
Display aspect ratio                     : 16:9
Frame rate mode                          : Constant
Frame rate                               : 59.940 fps
Color space                              : YUV
Chroma subsampling                       : 4:2:0
Bit depth                                : 8 bits
Scan type                                : Progressive
Bits/(Pixel*Frame)                       : 0.241
Stream size                              : 2.60 GiB (99%)
Title                                    : GoPro AVC
Color primaries                          : BT.709
Transfer characteristics                 : BT.709
Matrix coefficients                      : BT.709

Audio
ID                                       : 2
Format                                   : AAC
Format/Info                              : Advanced Audio Codec
Format profile                           : LC
Codec ID                                 : 40
Duration                                 : 12mn 23s
Bit rate mode                            : Constant
Bit rate                                 : 128 Kbps
Channel(s)                               : 2 channels
Channel positions                        : Front: L R
Sampling rate                            : 48.0 KHz
Compression mode                         : Lossy
Stream size                              : 11.4 MiB (0%)
Title                                    : GoPro AAC

VLC reports the following video output in: Tools -> Messages -> Module Tree -> playlist -> video output
window "qt4" (0x5a738fc)
vout display "direct3d" (0x5a57a34)

subpicture (0xf456b4)
spu text "freetype" (0x5a24264)
scale "yuvp" (0x5a70c1c)
scale "swscale" (0x55a1eac)

**Tags:** playback, full-hd

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: Probably different renderer and/or filters used with VLC/GOM. In VLC, what does `Tools -> Messages -> Module Tree -> playlist -> video output` say?  
> **username_0**: @Mulvya Added the requested info in the body of the post/question.  
> **username_2**: Do both players played 1080p? In other words, is your display 1080p and you played the movie full-screen on both tests? If you just play in a small window it is possible that F&TV runs a partial rendering.  
> **username_0**: @username_2 My display is 1600 x 900 and player are running maximized, though not in full screen.  

---

## 1 answers

### Answer by username_3 on 2016-03-03. Score: 0 | Accepted answer

Quite possible that the Windows player can make use of some HW acceleration the others can not / are not using.

Check this how to enable HW video decoding on VLC:

* <https://wiki.videolan.org/VLC_GPU_Decoding>
* <https://superuser.com/q/128478/228841>

If you are using VLC 2.2.2 check this
<https://forum.videolan.org/viewtopic.php?t=130590>

**UPDATE** from the author of the question:
Adding screenshot from VLC v. 2.2.1 to compliment this answer.

VLC 2.2.1 with Hardware Acceleration enabled.
[![enter image description here](https://i.sstatic.net/fqQTz.png)](https://i.sstatic.net/fqQTz.png)

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: Unlikely. Even if so, H/W accel uses GPU and FTV shows half the GPU use as well.  
> **username_3**: If your gpu does HW video decoding, I don't think it would even register as high GPU usage since it is _Hardware_ Decoding.  
> **username_3**: http://superuser.com/q/128478/228841  
> **username_1**: The hardware decoder is part of the GPU die, so I'm not sure how that affects my point.  
> **username_3**: Your point is that HW decoder utilization should register on the GPU graph. Which It not necessarily does if there is a DSP actually doing the processing and not a piece of software that "runs" it's code on the GPU.  
> **username_1**: Depending on how efficient the decoder is, it should still affect the temps. Compare the GPU temps. The chief discrepancy here seems to be the post-processing/renderer, not the decoding.  
> **username_3**: No, it wouldn't. You can run FullHD H264 movies on a raspberry pi, thanks to hardware acceleration and you wouldn't notice a temperature change.  
> **username_1**: If you look at the first chart [here](http://www.anandtech.com/show/7007/intels-haswell-an-htpc-perspective/5) (with the default renderer), Quicksync decoding consumes more power than DXVA2. When I compare VLC playback of FHD 30fps with s/w decode vs DXVA2 using a nV card, I register a 5% increase in GPU (30 -> 35) and 1-2 C increase in GPU temp in the latter case. That suggests that decoding doesn't account for all the discrepancy in the OP's case.  
> **username_3**: The point is: there cannot be any other real explanation for his / her original question. The Windows player uses some kind of acceleration the others are not. This also lines up with other search results related to that subject: one article praising the Windows player as less battery consuming, other articles speaking of high CPU utilization when using VLC. I think your energy would be more wisely invested trying to to figure out WHICH acceleration is missing in the other players than arguing that there is none.  
> **username_1**: I'm not arguing "WHICH acceleration is missing". I'm saying the discrepancy isn't explained by different decoding pipelines between the players.  
> **username_3**: Using ( or not using)  a HW decoder results in a different decoding pipeline. Sorry man I really think you're getting nowhere with this. And also I don't find it interesting discussing the existence of something obvious.  
> **username_4**: I have to agree  with username_3. GPU decoding absolutely explains this behavior.  
> **username_0**: @HansMeiser Today I downgraded VLC player to version 2.2.1 (in 2.2.2 hardware acceleration isn't working as you pointed out) and results are similar (though not as good) as the default Windows player. Therefore I believe hardware acceleration will explain the big difference in resource utilization. The minor difference probably has to do with some further optimizations.  
> **username_1**: Yeah, GPU decoding does explain the CPU %. But not the GPU %, which looks due to VLC's filters+renderer.  

---

