Hardware Transcoding
Hardware transcoding uses your GPU when Norri needs to convert video for a device or connection. Direct playback does not need video encoding. Which codecs and resolutions can be accelerated depends on your GPU and its driver.
Give Docker GPU access
Choose the hardware option in the installation guide. The complete configuration includes the GPU settings in the right place.
| GPU | Host requirement |
|---|---|
| Intel integrated graphics or Intel Arc | A Linux or NAS host with a working graphics driver and /dev/dri available to Docker. |
| AMD graphics | A Linux or NAS host with a working graphics driver and /dev/dri available to Docker. |
| NVIDIA | On Linux, the NVIDIA driver and NVIDIA Container Toolkit. On Windows, use WSL 2 GPU setup, with Docker Desktop or Docker Engine inside WSL 2. |
Docker Desktop on macOS cannot pass the Mac’s GPU to this Linux container. Norri can still serve compatible media directly and use software transcoding when conversion is needed. See Mac installation.
For Intel Arc HDR tone mapping, enable Resizable BAR for the card in your computer’s BIOS. If Norri cannot use that tone-mapping path, it can combine CPU tone mapping with supported hardware encoding.
Choose the GPU
- Open Settings → Transcoding as an administrator.
- Under Hardware Acceleration, keep Auto-detect, or choose a detected GPU by name.
- Save your settings. If you changed the GPU selection, restart the Norri container for it to take effect.
Use CPU (software transcoding) when you want software encoding.
Check hardware use
Play a file that needs video conversion, then open Settings → Active Sessions. The session details show its playback method and video encoder. A direct-play session may use very little GPU even when hardware acceleration is configured correctly.
Decoding and encoding can use different paths. Some source formats need CPU decoding while the GPU handles encoding; CPU activity alone does not mean acceleration has failed.
HDR and subtitles
Keep Enable HDR Tone Mapping on to convert HDR video for an SDR display when necessary. The client must support the source HDR format to display it directly.
Compatible clients can render ASS/SSA subtitles with their styling. Other clients may need Burn In Styled Subtitles to preserve fonts and positioning. Image subtitles such as PGS can also require burn-in, which converts the video even when it would otherwise play directly.
See Transcoding and Audio & Subtitles for playback choices.
If the GPU is missing
Check that Docker has access to the selected device and that the host driver is installed. Recreate the container after changing its GPU configuration, then check Hardware Acceleration again. If a particular file still fails, include its codec, your GPU model, and the relevant server logs when asking for help in Discord.