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0 pointsposix_me_less6y ago0 comments

In a browser, gpu acceleration is a security risk, cf.

https://security.stackexchange.com/questions/13799/is-webgl-...

TLDR: if js gets direct control of GPU, it can read/modify present and past screens.

Maybe after Wayland implementations get good enough, distributions will make hw acceleration work securely with wayland compositors, probably years? Just guessing.

Playing video on youtube is easy, but performance sucks due to bloated youtube website. Performance of the same video URL in empty page with video player is much better, close to that in video player with CPU only.

If you need GPU acceleration, you can use something like youtube-dl or mpv to play videos on a URL in a video player.

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megous6y ago

GPU != video acceleration.

The question is about whether FF is finally using va-api to accelerate video codec decoding.

mxmilkb6y ago

I do wonder how much could be saved on energy bills for one of the most common uses of the net (watching videos), especially for folk in developing nations.

posix_me_lessOP6y ago

Oh dear. Video acceleration means GPU is doing what CPU would be else doing. Which means user threads get less indirect access to GPU. Which is a potential security risk, because GPUs and GL are designed to perform, not to secure data.

VA-API is not mentioned in the question at all. It is the most common api for video acceleration, but there are others - direct vdpau, or nvdec.

megous6y ago

Anyway: https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1210726

j / k navigate · click thread line to collapse

0 pointsposix_me_less6y ago0 comments

In a browser, gpu acceleration is a security risk, cf.

https://security.stackexchange.com/questions/13799/is-webgl-...

TLDR: if js gets direct control of GPU, it can read/modify present and past screens.

Maybe after Wayland implementations get good enough, distributions will make hw acceleration work securely with wayland compositors, probably years? Just guessing.

If you need GPU acceleration, you can use something like youtube-dl or mpv to play videos on a URL in a video player.

0 comments

megous6y ago

GPU != video acceleration.

The question is about whether FF is finally using va-api to accelerate video codec decoding.

mxmilkb6y ago

I do wonder how much could be saved on energy bills for one of the most common uses of the net (watching videos), especially for folk in developing nations.

posix_me_lessOP6y ago

VA-API is not mentioned in the question at all. It is the most common api for video acceleration, but there are others - direct vdpau, or nvdec.

megous6y ago

Anyway: https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1210726

j / k navigate · click thread line to collapse