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This is a compatibility test rather than a guaranteed picture-quality upgrade. Steam says the result depends on the graphics card; software encoding can fix a vendor-specific black screen or corruption, but it can also increase CPU use or reduce performance.
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What hardware encoding controls
Remote Play has two separate video operations. The host renders the game and encodes those frames into a stream. The client receives the stream and decodes it for display. The Enable hardware encoding checkboxes control only the first operation: which encoder Steam uses on the host computer.
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1Scan for outdated or missing drivers - takes under a minute2Repair Windows errors before they cause bigger problems3Fix the driver behind crashes, sound loss and screen glitchesDisabling a host checkbox tells Steam to fall back from that vendor’s GPU encoder to software encoding. It does not disable the client’s hardware decoder. If a client can play audio while showing a black or corrupted picture, either side can be involved, so change one control at a time and test between changes.
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Steam’s support guidance describes this as a graphics-card-dependent setting. Its published rule of thumb is that NVIDIA hardware encoding usually performs better than software encoding, while software encoding usually performs better than AMD hardware encoding. “Usually” matters: driver versions, the particular game, the host’s CPU, and the client’s decoder can change the outcome.
Disable hardware encoding in the desktop Steam client
- On the computer that is running the game, launch Steam. This is the host; changing the setting on the device receiving the stream will not disable the host encoder.
- Open Steam > Settings. On older Steam builds, the equivalent menu may be labeled Preferences.
- Select Remote Play. If your installation still uses the older terminology, open In-Home Streaming instead.
- Open Advanced Host Options. The host controls are in this section, not in the ordinary client display settings.
- Find the checkbox labeled Enable hardware encoding for the relevant GPU vendor. Steam presents separate options for NVIDIA, AMD, and Intel. Clear the option for the encoder you are testing.
- Close the settings window and stop the current Remote Play connection. Start the connection again before judging the change; restarting forces Steam to renegotiate the encoder.
If the host contains more than one graphics adapter, do not assume that the first vendor listed is the active encoder. Clear the checkbox associated with the vendor whose hardware encoder Steam is using, or clear the applicable vendor option while diagnosing the problem and then re-enable unused options after the test.
Change the option while a game is streaming
You can test without leaving the game. With Remote Play running, open the Steam overlay with Shift+Tab on a keyboard or the Guide button on a controller. Choose In-Home Streaming, select Modify Settings, open Advanced Host Options, and change the hardware-encoding checkbox.
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Repair common Windows errors and clear accumulated junk for a smoother, more stable PC - no reinstall needed.Free scan · no reinstallThe overlay route is useful for a quick A/B test, but the stream may not switch cleanly until the session is restarted. After changing the checkbox, disconnect and reconnect Remote Play. If the overlay shows the older “In-Home Streaming” wording while the main settings page says “Remote Play,” that is a naming difference, not a different encoder control.
Which checkbox should you clear?
| Host GPU encoder | Checkbox to test | What clearing it does |
|---|---|---|
| NVIDIA | Enable hardware encoding under NVIDIA | Prevents Steam from using NVIDIA hardware encoding for the host stream and tests software encoding instead. |
| AMD | Enable hardware encoding under AMD | Prevents Steam from using AMD hardware encoding for the host stream and tests software encoding instead. |
| Intel | Enable hardware encoding under Intel | Prevents Steam from using Intel hardware encoding for the host stream and tests software encoding instead. |
The controls are independent. A system with multiple GPUs can expose more than one vendor option, so record which box was changed. The purpose of the test is to identify whether a particular hardware encoder or driver is producing the fault, not to turn off every acceleration feature permanently.
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Host encoding versus client decoding
Hardware encoding belongs to the host. Hardware decoding belongs to the client, such as a Steam Link, laptop, phone, or another PC. Steam’s troubleshooting FAQ recommends disabling host hardware encoding in Advanced Host Options when diagnosing black screens, smearing, or other stream-compatibility problems. It separately recommends testing client hardware decoding when the receiver may be unable to decode the video correctly.
These controls have different symptoms and costs. A host-encoding change affects every client connected to that host and increases work on the host CPU when software encoding is selected. A client-decoding change affects only the receiving device and may increase that device’s CPU use. Do not treat a client decoding toggle as a substitute for the host checkbox described above.
For a sound-only or black-screen problem, test the host first because the host encoder creates the video that the client receives. If the host-side test does not change the picture, restore the host setting if necessary and test the client’s hardware-decoding option separately. Make only one change per test so you can identify which side fixed or caused the problem.
What to expect after switching to software encoding
Software encoding uses the host processor rather than the selected GPU encoder. The visible result can improve when a GPU encoder, driver, overlay, or game-rendering path is incompatible with Remote Play. The same change can make the stream less smooth if the CPU cannot encode frames quickly enough while the game is running.
Steam does not publish one universal latency, quality, or frame-rate improvement for this switch. Judge the change on the host and client combination you actually use. During a repeatable test, compare the following:
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- Visual correctness: whether the client shows a complete picture instead of a black screen, missing surfaces, smearing, or block artifacts.
- Responsiveness: whether input-to-picture delay feels higher after the host starts doing more CPU work.
- Host load: whether CPU usage, game frame rate, fan noise, or temperature rises enough to affect play.
- Stability: whether the session remains connected and free of encoder errors over several minutes, not just on the first frame.
- Decoder compatibility: whether the receiving device can decode the resulting stream reliably.
Steam’s documented guidance is conditional: enabling or disabling hardware encoding can improve stream quality depending on the graphics card. Treat the change as a diagnostic choice, not as a guaranteed upgrade.
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A practical hardware-versus-software test
- Write down the current host GPU vendor checkbox state and the client device you will use.
- Run the game for a few minutes with the existing setting. Note whether the failure is a black screen, smeared image, block corruption, dropped frames, or excessive delay.
- Stop Remote Play, clear the relevant host hardware-encoding checkbox, and reconnect.
- Repeat the same scene or movement. Compare visual correctness, responsiveness, host CPU/GPU load, and stability.
- If software encoding is worse or does not change the fault, restore the checkbox and test the client hardware-decoding setting separately.
Use the same game scene and network conditions for both passes. A network fluctuation can resemble an encoder problem, so a single brief observation is not enough to establish that the checkbox caused the improvement.
Fixing a black screen with audio
When sound arrives but the picture is black, first verify that you changed the setting on the host computer. Then clear the relevant vendor’s Enable hardware encoding checkbox, end the session, and reconnect. This forces Steam to send frames produced by software encoding.
If the black screen remains, test the client’s hardware decoding separately. The client may be receiving a valid stream but failing to render it through its own decoder. Because host encoding and client decoding are independent, changing both at once hides which component was responsible.
Also check for software that captures the desktop, injects an overlay, or otherwise competes with Steam’s capture path. Steam’s support material lists conflicting capture, overlay, and background programs as possible streaming factors. Close such programs temporarily, reconnect, and retest. Restore them one by one after the stream works so the conflicting process can be identified.
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Fixing smearing, block artifacts, or an unstable picture
Smearing and block artifacts can be caused by an encoder compatibility problem, a decoder problem, or insufficient processing time. Start with the host checkbox test because it changes the encoder while leaving the network and game settings alone. If the artifacts disappear with software encoding, the original GPU encoder or its driver is a likely compatibility factor for that setup.
If software encoding introduces stutter, watch the host while the game is running. The CPU now has to encode frames in addition to running the game and other services. Re-enable hardware encoding if the extra CPU work makes the game or stream unusable, then investigate driver updates or the client decoder instead.
There is no Steam-published numeric threshold that predicts which option will win. The useful result is the repeatable behavior on your specific GPU, driver, game, and client.
Restarting and restoring the setting
Remote Play chooses an encoder when the session is established. For that reason, stopping and restarting the stream is part of the procedure, not an optional cleanup step. If you changed the setting from the overlay, leave the game or disconnect the client, then reconnect after the new checkbox state is saved.
To undo the test, return to Steam > Settings > Remote Play > Advanced Host Options (or the older In-Home Streaming path) and select Enable hardware encoding for the vendor you want to use again. Reconnect the client afterward. If several vendor boxes were changed during diagnosis, restore the original state one vendor at a time.
Linux and VA-API
Valve’s Steam Client release notes describe VA-API hardware-encoding support on Linux. They also state that it can be disabled by turning off AMD and Intel hardware encoding in the Remote Play advanced host settings. Therefore, on a Linux host, use the same Remote Play > Advanced Host Options controls and clear the AMD or Intel checkbox when testing software encoding.
The Linux note specifically names AMD and Intel VA-API encoding. Do not infer from that note that every Linux GPU or every driver has identical behavior. The available checkboxes and the result can depend on the installed Steam build, graphics stack, and driver. Reconnect the session after making the change, just as on Windows.
Drivers, Steam updates, and competing software
Encoder compatibility depends on more than the checkbox. Keep Steam and the host GPU driver current when possible, because fixes in the graphics stack can change whether hardware encoding works. If a problem began immediately after a driver or Steam update, record that timing; it helps distinguish a persistent configuration issue from a newly introduced compatibility issue.
Temporarily close screen-capture utilities, overlays, and background programs that hook into games or desktop video. Steam identifies conflicting capture, overlay, and background software as possible streaming factors. Test with the smallest practical set of programs, then reopen them individually. This approach avoids permanently disabling software that is not actually involved.
Choosing the setting after troubleshooting
Keep hardware encoding enabled when it gives you a stable, responsive stream without visual errors and the host remains performant. Hardware encoding is generally the lower-CPU choice, but Steam’s own comparison says outcomes vary by GPU and that NVIDIA hardware encoding commonly outperforms software encoding while AMD hardware encoding commonly trails software encoding.
Keep software encoding enabled when it is the only configuration that produces a correct picture on your host and client and the host CPU has enough capacity to maintain the game’s frame rate. If neither option works, the remaining fault may be on the client decoder, a capture or overlay conflict, the driver, or the network rather than the encoder checkbox itself.
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