Jin Daily Tech Trivia: Dell & HP Are Quietly Dropping HEVC Hardware Support

Jin Daily Tech Trivia: Dell & HP Are Quietly Dropping HEVC Hardware Support

Did you know your new Dell or HP laptop might struggle with smooth HEVC/H.265 video playback—even though the processor technically supports it?

Most Intel (6th-gen and newer) and AMD laptop chips have built-in hardware support for HEVC decoding since 2015. But recently, some popular models from Dell and HP are intentionally disabling this feature.

Why? Likely to save on licensing costs.

OEMs may need to pay fees for enabling HEVC hardware decoding and encoding—both for using the technology and for every device they ship with it enabled. With royalty rates increasing from $0.20 to $0.24 per device starting January, the cost adds up fast. For context, HP sold over 15 million PCs in Q3 2025, while Dell sold over 10 million.

So, what does this mean for users? Without hardware decoding, HEVC videos may stutter, drain more battery, and rely heavily on software decoding—even if your CPU is fully capable.

This isn’t the first case either. Last year, NAS maker Synology also dropped HEVC and H.264 transcoding, saying most modern devices already support video playback natively.

Now think about it—if they’re willing to turn off a key feature just to save a few cents per device… what else might they quietly cut next?

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