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Hardware-accelerated H.264/HEVC/MPEG-2/MPEG-4/VP8/VP9/MJPEG video encode/decode on NVIDIA Jetson, fully integrated into FFmpeg.

Every Jetson module ships dedicated silicon (NVDEC/NVENC/VIC) for video, but a stock FFmpeg build cannot use it. jetson-ffmpeg bridges that gap with two components:

• libnvmpi — a lightweight shared library wrapping NVIDIA's Jetson Multimedia API (V4L2/NvBuffer) behind a simple C interface.
• FFmpeg patches — register native *_nvmpi decoders and encoders that drive the hardware through libnvmpi.

ffmpeg -c:v h264_nvmpi -i input.mp4 -c:v hevc_nvmpi -b:v 4M output.mp4

Documentation map

graph TD
    H["🏠 Home"]
    H --> U["📦 Usage & Runtime"]
    H --> F["❓ FAQ & Known Limitations"]
    H --> D["🛠 Development"]
    H --> C["⚙️ CI / Infrastructure"]
    H --> P["🔬 Project / Fork Analysis"]

    U --> U1["Build and Install"]
    U --> U2["Compatibility"]
    U --> U3["Scripts and Commands"]

    F --> F1["Hardware & Platform Limits"]
    F --> F2["Versions & Compatibility"]
    F --> F3["Build & Install"]
    F --> F4["Performance"]
    F --> F5["Features & Fork Differences"]

    D --> D1["Development Guide"]
    D --> D2["Architecture"]
    D --> D3["API Reference"]
    D --> D4["Thread Safety"]
    D --> D5["Dev Container"]
    D --> D6["Testing"]

    C --> C1["GitHub Actions / GitLab CI"]
    C --> C2["Runner setup (Manual / Kubernetes)"]
    C --> C3["Release Process"]

    P --> P1["Fork Network Overview"]
    P --> P2["Fork Analysis Report"]
    P --> P3["Fork Analysis Results"]

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Start here

I want to…	Page
Build & install libnvmpi and patch FFmpeg	Build and Install
Check codec / JetPack / FFmpeg support	Compatibility
Look up a script, command, or alias	Scripts and Commands
Solve a common problem / limitation	FAQ
Contribute code or add an FFmpeg version	Development Guide
Understand the C API	API Reference
Set up CI runners	GitHub Actions / GitLab CI

Performance

Hardware max-performance mode is enabled by default, lifting the NVDEC/NVENC clock governor for maximum throughput:

Workload	Without max_perf	With max_perf	Speedup
720p H.264 decode	~46 fps	~290 fps	~6×
4K HEVC decode	~28 fps	~64 fps	~2.3×

Low-latency options: disable_dpb (decoder) skips picture-buffer reordering, poc_type=2 (encoder) removes reorder latency for H.264. More in the Performance FAQ.

Categories

• 📦 Usage & Runtime — Build and Install · Compatibility · Scripts and Commands
• ❓ FAQ — Overview · Hardware · Versions · Build · Performance · Features
• 🛠 Development — Development Guide · Architecture · API Reference · Thread Safety · Dev Container · Testing
• ⚙️ CI / Infrastructure — GitHub Actions · GitLab CI · GitHub Runner Manual · GitHub Runner Kubernetes · GitLab Runner Manual · GitLab Runner Kubernetes · Release Process
• 🔬 Project / Fork Analysis — Fork Network Overview · Analysis Report · Analysis Results

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The README and CHANGELOG live in the repository; everything else is here in the wiki.