Hardware-accelerated encoding is a method of processing video faster and more efficiently by using specialized hardware on your device, such as a graphics processing unit (GPU) or a dedicated encoder chip. This technology is widely used in video streaming, gaming, and video editing to handle complex tasks like compressing video files without overloading the main processor (CPU).When you record or stream a video, the raw footage needs to be compressed into a smaller file format (like MP4 or H.264) to make it easier to store or transmit. Normally, this compression, called encoding, is done by the CPU. However, encoding is a resource-heavy process that can slow down other tasks. Hardware-accelerated encoding steps in by offloading this job to specialized hardware, which is built to handle such tasks more efficiently.For example, modern GPUs come with built-in encoders like NVIDIA’s NVENC or AMD’s VCE, specifically designed for high-speed video encoding. These encoders can process video faster, using less power and freeing up the CPU for other work.