Build and install rocDecode from source

Build and install rocDecode from source#

2026-10-23

3 min read time

Applies to Linux and Windows

To build rocDecode as part of the ROCm Core SDK, see TheRock build instructions. TheRock is the recommended way to build ROCm components from source.

Alternatively, you can build rocDecode standalone using the following instructions.

Note

To use the rocDecode samples and tutorials, the ROCM_PATH environment variable needs to point to the location of your ROCm installation:

export ROCM_PATH=path_to_your_ROCm_installation

Set this variable after installation.

Prerequisites#

rocDecode requires a supported AMD GPU. For more information, see ROCm Core SDK components.

Linux prerequisites#

  • HIP runtime and development libraries

  • AMD Clang++ compiler (C++17 required)

  • Libva and VA-API drivers

  • Libdrm (amdgpu)

  • CMake and pkg-config

To build and run samples and extended tests, FFmpeg development libraries must be installed separately. For example, on Ubuntu:

sudo apt install libavcodec-dev libavformat-dev libavutil-dev

Windows prerequisites#

  • HIP runtime from TheRock for Windows

  • vaon12 — VA-API on D3D12 libraries (Mesa’s vaon12_drv_video.dll plus libva), provided by TheRock for Windows under %ROCM_PATH%\lib\rocm_sysdeps. No separate download is required

  • Visual Studio 2022 version 17.13 or later with the C++ desktop workload (MSVC 19.43+, C++17). Earlier toolsets fail at link time because ROCm’s prebuilt libraries reference C++ standard library internals introduced in MSVC 19.43. See TheRock Windows support.

  • CMake 3.21 or later (the Visual Studio 17 2022 generator requires 3.21)

  • Windows SDK (provides D3D12 and DXGI headers/libraries)

  • FFmpeg (optional) — pre-built libraries or built from source, required for FFmpeg-based samples and the host decoder library

Build and install#

rocDecode is delivered as part of TheRock on both Linux and Windows. For TheRock installation details, refer to the TheRock documentation.

To build standalone from source, follow the instructions for your platform below.

Clone the repository#

  1. The rocDecode source code is available from the ROCm systems GitHub repository. Use sparse checkout when cloning the rocDecode project.

    git clone --no-checkout --filter=blob:none https://github.com/ROCm/rocm-systems.git
cd rocm-systems
git sparse-checkout init --cone
git sparse-checkout set projects/rocdecode

  2. Then use git checkout to check out the branch you need.

    git checkout develop
cd projects/rocdecode

Build on Linux#

Build and install rocDecode using the following commands:

mkdir build && cd build
cmake ../
make -j8
sudo make install

After installation, the rocDecode libraries will be copied to /opt/rocm/lib and the rocDecode header files will be copied to /opt/rocm/include/rocdecode.

To run the installed CTest-based verification:

mkdir rocdecode-test && cd rocdecode-test
cmake /opt/rocm/share/rocdecode/test/
ctest -VV

Run make test to test your build. To run the test with the verbose option, run make test ARGS="-VV".

Build on Windows#

Build and install rocDecode using the following commands:

mkdir build && cd build
set ROCM_PATH=<path-to-TheRock-build>
cmake ..
cmake --build . --config Release
cmake --install . --config Release

Note

  • Set ROCM_PATH as an environment variable and use the same command prompt for the steps below. CMake reads it from the environment, so no -DROCM_PATH is needed. Keep it set: the VA-API headers and import libraries are found there at build time, libva reads it at run time to locate the VA-API driver, and the verification commands below expand %ROCM_PATH%.

  • FFmpeg, needed for the samples and the host decoder, is detected automatically when it is installed in a common location: on PATH, under Chocolatey or scoop, in %ProgramFiles%\ffmpeg, or in C:\ffmpeg. Set FFMPEG_ROOT=<path-to-ffmpeg> the same way as ROCM_PATH only if it lives elsewhere, or to pin a specific build; CMake reads that from the environment too.

To verify the build, build and run a sample from the installed location:

mkdir rocdecode-sample && cd rocdecode-sample
cmake "%ROCM_PATH%\share\rocdecode\samples\videoDecodeRaw"
cmake --build . --config Release
set PATH=%ROCM_PATH%\bin;%PATH%
Release\videodecoderaw.exe -i "%ROCM_PATH%\share\rocdecode\video\AMD_driving_virtual_20-H265.265"
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