HP and Dell Remove Built In HEVC Video Support from Some Laptops A recent report reveals that HP and Dell have disabled the built in hardware support for the HEVC video codec in some of their laptop models. HEVC, also known as H.265, is a crucial standard for efficiently compressing high quality video, including 4K content, into smaller file sizes without a significant loss in quality. This built in hardware decoding capability has been a standard feature in Intel Core processors from the 6th generation onward and in many AMD chips from the last decade. However, users of certain HP and Dell laptops have taken to online forums to report issues, specifically encountering infinite loading screens when trying to play HEVC video content in web browsers like Google Chrome and Mozilla Firefox. Internal documentation for specific HP business laptops, such as the ProBook 460 G11, ProBook 465 G11, and EliteBook 665 G11, explicitly states that hardware acceleration for the H.265 or HEVC codec is disabled on the platform. While Dell has not made a similar explicit statement, the company has a support page detailing that HEVC content streaming is only available on devices with specific configurations, indicating a similar limitation on some of its models. It is important to note that this change does not completely block HEVC video playback. Users can still play these video files using standalone media player applications like VLC or Windows Media Player. The problem is isolated to browser based video playback, which relies on the now disabled hardware decoding to run efficiently. This means streaming 4K video from certain websites or watching HEVC files directly in a browser tab may fail or perform poorly. HP confirmed that it began disabling HEVC on select devices back in 2024. The company’s suggested workaround is for users to employ licensed third party software solutions for playback. Dell, for its part, clarified that its premium laptops continue to support HEVC video. For users with base or standard model laptops that lack support, Dell also points toward using third party software. Neither company provided a definitive reason for removing this hardware feature. Industry observers suggest the decision is likely tied to the cost of licensing the HEVC codec. The licensing body, MPEG LA, increased its royalty rates effective after September 30 of this year. The fee per device rose from 20 cents to 24 cents for every unit shipped after the first 100,000. For massive manufacturers like HP and Dell, who ship millions of laptops annually, this small per unit fee adds up to a substantial annual cost, providing a strong financial incentive to disable the feature on lower end models where the cost cutting has the most impact. This move shifts the burden of HEVC licensing and software decoding onto the user for affected devices, potentially leading to higher CPU usage and reduced battery life during video playback compared to the more efficient hardware accelerated decoding that was previously available.
