FFmpeg 9.0: Better Video Processing Using Your Graphics Card

FFmpeg 9.0 "Lei" arrived August 4, 2026, four months after 8.1. It now uses Vulkan, a tool that lets your graphics card decode APV and Apple ProRes RAW video. This continues a shift begun in version 8.x. Vulkan works across different brands of graphics cards, unlike older methods such as VAAPI, D3D12, and AMF tied to specific hardware.