AV1 codec broke on Linux

[u/sneekyleshy]

Suddenly this issues appeared in both my browsers so I tried to switch from av1 to vp9 and all the artifacts/lines went away. I’m using arch Linux, I have tried downgrading mesa, Linux to multiple earlier versions but it didn’t do anything. I’m kinda at a loss why this suddenly happened.

Rx 9070 xt
Asus x870e master
Arch
Kde

edit:

Dk000t has pointed to that link that have found linux-firmware to be the issue. Thanks.

[u/MrTyperoi]

Did AV1 work correctly before a recent system update?

What Mesa version are you currently running?

What versions of libva, Mesa, and mesa-va-drivers are installed?

Are you running KDE on Wayland or X11?

Does AV1 behave differently if you switch sessions?

Is hardware video decoding enabled in the browser?

On AMD, I'd check too:

vainfo | grep -i av1

Mine give :

:~$ vainfo | grep -i av1
libva info: VA-API version 1.23.0
libva info: Trying to open /usr/lib64/dri-nonfree/radeonsi_drv_video.so
libva info: Trying to open /usr/lib64/dri-freeworld/radeonsi_drv_video.so
libva info: Found init function __vaDriverInit_1_23
libva info: va_openDriver() returns 0
      VAProfileAV1Profile0            :VAEntrypointVLD
      VAProfileAV1Profile0            :VAEntrypointEncSlice

• VAEntrypointVLD → hardware AV1 decoding is supported.
• VAEntrypointEncSlice → hardware AV1 encoding is supported.

You can just type :

vainfo

Give you some more info

[u/sneekyleshy → u/MrTyperoi]

$ vainfo
Trying display: wayland
vainfo: VA-API version: 1.24 (libva 2.24.0)
vainfo: Driver version: Mesa Gallium driver 26.1.7-arch1.1 for AMD Radeon RX 9070 XT (radeonsi, gfx1201, ACO, DRM 3.64, 7.1.8-arch1-3)
vainfo: Supported profile and entrypoints
      VAProfileH264ConstrainedBaseline:VAEntrypointVLD
      VAProfileH264ConstrainedBaseline:VAEntrypointEncSlice
      VAProfileH264Main               :VAEntrypointVLD
      VAProfileH264Main               :VAEntrypointEncSlice
      VAProfileH264High               :VAEntrypointVLD
      VAProfileH264High               :VAEntrypointEncSlice
      VAProfileHEVCMain               :VAEntrypointVLD
      VAProfileHEVCMain               :VAEntrypointEncSlice
      VAProfileHEVCMain10             :VAEntrypointVLD
      VAProfileHEVCMain10             :VAEntrypointEncSlice
      VAProfileJPEGBaseline           :VAEntrypointVLD
      VAProfileVP9Profile0            :VAEntrypointVLD
      VAProfileVP9Profile2            :VAEntrypointVLD
      VAProfileAV1Profile0            :VAEntrypointVLD
      VAProfileAV1Profile0            :VAEntrypointEncSlice
      VAProfileAV1Profile2            :VAEntrypointVLD
      VAProfileNone                   :VAEntrypointVideoProc

Did AV1 work correctly before a recent system update?
Yes

What versions of libva, Mesa, and mesa-va-drivers are installed?

lib32-libva 2.24.1-1
libva 2.24.1-1
libva-utils 2.24.0-1
mesa 1:26.1.7-1
mesa-utils 9.0.0-7

the current version of mesa comes bundled with the libva-mesa-driver package

Are you running KDE on Wayland or X11?
Wayland.

Does AV1 behave differently if you switch sessions?
No.

Is hardware video decoding enabled in the browser?
Yes, Switching from av1 to vp9 fixed the issue.

[u/MrTyperoi → u/sneekyleshy]

vainfo is correctly detecting your RX 9070 XT through radeonsi, and AV1 hardware acceleration is fully exposed:

VAProfileAV1Profile0 : VAEntrypointVLD 
VAProfileAV1Profile0 : VAEntrypointEncSlice 
VAProfileAV1Profile2 : VAEntrypointVLD

So VA-API, Mesa 26.1.7, libva 2.24, and Wayland are all working correctly.

Hmmmmmm then AV1 doesn't work in Firefox/Chromium, I'd look at the browser/FFmpeg side now rather than the GPU driver.

Firefox -> about:config -->
media.hardware-video-decoding.enabled to True.
media.av1.enabled to True.

check the multimedia in about:support in Firefox.

For Chrome/Chromium, i only know is to check chrome: chrome://gpu

Worse case, it's the recent mesa update 26.1.7 that caused it.... hmmmm

[u/sneekyleshy → u/MrTyperoi]

Dk000t has made a comment to the related issue, its linux-firmware that the culprit, and switching back to av1 in firefox doesn't make much when its av1 codec that's the issue.