Why Are Manufacturers Removing HEVC Support?

HP and Dell have quietly disabled built-in HEVC (H.265) hardware decoding on several recent business and budget laptop models, despite the CPUs and GPUs natively supporting the codec.

The change, first noticed by users on forums and tech communities, appears to be a cost-cutting measure tied to escalating HEVC licensing fees.

Rather than paying per-device royalties on lower-margin products, manufacturers are simply disabling the codec support at the firmware or driver level.

Why Are Manufacturers Removing HEVC Support?

HEVC (High Efficiency Video Coding), also known as H.265, requires manufacturers to pay royalties to multiple patent pools.

Recent reports indicate these royalties have increased from approximately 20 cents to 24 cents per device once certain shipment thresholds are met.

While this may seem insignificant, at scale these costs add up quickly.

For a manufacturer shipping millions of budget laptops annually, the licensing fees can represent millions of dollars in additional costs - expenses that directly impact profit margins on already thin-margin products.

Which Models Are Affected?

The change primarily affects business-class and budget laptop lines from both manufacturers.

While neither HP nor Dell has published an official list, users have reported issues with:

• HP ProBook and EliteBook business series (select 2024-2025 models).
• HP Pavilion and HP 15 budget consumer lines.
• Dell Latitude business laptops (select configurations).
• Dell Inspiron budget models.
• Dell Vostro small business laptops.

Premium product lines like HP Spectre, HP Envy, Dell XPS, and Dell Alienware appear to retain full HEVC support, suggesting manufacturers are reserving this feature for higher-margin products.

How This Affects Your Video Playback

Without hardware-accelerated HEVC decoding, affected systems experience several drawbacks:

• Higher CPU usage: Software decoding of 4K HEVC content can use 40-80% CPU compared to 5-15% with hardware acceleration.
• Reduced battery life: The increased CPU load directly impacts battery consumption during video playback.
• Potential stuttering: Less powerful systems may struggle with 4K60 or HDR HEVC content.
• Browser limitations: Many streaming services fallback to lower quality streams when hardware decoding isn't available.

How to Fix HEVC Playback on Your Laptop

The good news is that software solutions can restore HEVC playback capability, though without the efficiency benefits of hardware acceleration:

Option 1: Install the HEVC Video Extension

Microsoft offers an HEVC codec extension for Windows that enables software-based playback in system apps and some browsers.

While there's a paid version in the Microsoft Store, there's also a free alternative: HEVC Video Extensions from Device Manufacturer.

Option 2: Use VLC Media Player

VLC includes its own HEVC decoder and doesn't rely on system codecs.

It's completely free and handles virtually any video format: VLC Media Player.

Option 3: Install a Codec Pack

For comprehensive format support across all Windows applications, a codec pack provides system-wide decoding capabilities: K-Lite Codec Pack.

The Bigger Picture: The Push Toward Royalty-Free Codecs

This development accelerates an existing industry trend toward royalty-free video codecs.

AV1, developed by the Alliance for Open Media (which includes Google, Netflix, Amazon, Apple, Microsoft, and others), offers comparable or better compression than HEVC with no licensing fees.

Major streaming platforms are increasingly adopting AV1:

• YouTube: Serves AV1 by default on supported devices.
• Netflix: Uses AV1 for many titles on Android and smart TVs.
• Twitch: Rolling out AV1 streaming support.
• Disney+, Amazon Prime: Testing AV1 delivery.

Modern hardware (Intel 11th gen+, AMD Ryzen 6000+, NVIDIA RTX 30/40 series) includes dedicated AV1 hardware decoders, and this support isn't subject to the same licensing restrictions as HEVC.

What Should You Do?

If you're shopping for a new laptop and video playback quality matters to you:

1. Check before buying: Ask specifically about HEVC hardware acceleration or test the display model.
2. Consider premium lines: Higher-end models typically retain full codec support.
3. Look for AV1 support: Newer chips with AV1 hardware decoding sidestep this issue entirely.
4. Plan for software solutions: Budget for using VLC or codec packs if needed.

The silver lining is that as AV1 adoption grows, the HEVC licensing issue becomes increasingly irrelevant.

Within a few years, most new content will likely be encoded in royalty-free formats, making this a transitional problem rather than a permanent limitation.