rocDecode samples

2026-10-23

1 min read time

Applies to Linux and Windows

rocDecode samples are available in the rocDecode GitHub repository.

Linux setup

The ROCM_PATH environment variable must point to the location of your ROCm installation to use the samples.

export ROCM_PATH=path_to_rocm_installation

FFmpeg development libraries must be installed to build and run samples that use FFmpeg for either demultiplexing or decoding:

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

Windows setup

To build and run samples on Windows:

set ROCM_PATH=<path-to-rocm-installation>
set FFMPEG_ROOT=<path-to-ffmpeg>
set PATH=%ROCM_PATH%\bin;%FFMPEG_ROOT%\bin;%PATH%
mkdir rocdecode-sample && cd rocdecode-sample
cmake "%ROCM_PATH%\share\rocdecode\samples\videoDecode"
cmake --build . --config Release
Release\videodecode.exe -i "%ROCM_PATH%\share\rocdecode\video\AMD_driving_virtual_20-H265.mp4"

Note

PATH must include the rocDecode and FFmpeg DLL directories so the executable can load them at run time. rocDecode loads the VA-API DLLs from %ROCM_PATH%\lib\rocm_sysdeps\bin itself, so that directory does not need to be on PATH. ROCM_PATH must stay set at run time as well: libva uses it to locate the VA-API driver in %ROCM_PATH%\lib\rocm_sysdeps\bin.

videoDecode demultiplexes the container with FFmpeg, so FFmpeg must be present when CMake configures the sample. FFMPEG_ROOT is only needed if FFmpeg is not in one of the locations CMake probes automatically; the recipe sets it because the PATH line uses it to name the DLL directory. For a sample with no FFmpeg dependency at all, use videoDecodeRaw.

You can find a walkthrough of the videodecode.cpp sample at Understanding the videodecode.cpp sample.