---
title: "Lesson 2.2 - Hardware Encoding"
description: "Hardware encoding (NVENC on NVIDIA cards, AV1 on RTX 4000 series and newer, AMD VCE on AMD cards) offloads stream encoding from your CPU to your GPU's dedicated encoding hardware. The result: zero..."
url: https://thestreameragency.com/courses/stream-quality-system/lessons/quality-2-2-hw-encoding/
date: 2026-05-07
modified: 2026-05-07
author: "The Streamer Agency"
type: lp_lesson
lang: en
---

# Lesson 2.2 - Hardware Encoding

Hardware encoding (NVENC on NVIDIA cards, AV1 on RTX 4000 series and newer, AMD VCE on AMD cards) offloads stream encoding from your CPU to your GPU's dedicated encoding hardware. The result: zero CPU load from encoding, no encoder-induced frame drops, and a noticeably cleaner stream image at the same bitrate.

The mistake to avoid: leaving OBS set to x264 (CPU encoding) when you have a modern GPU. The default OBS install does not always pick the best encoder for your hardware. Open OBS settings, output, encoder, and select NVENC HEVC, NVENC H.264, or AV1 (whichever your GPU supports). Save and restart OBS.

The visible improvement is immediate. Your CPU usage during stream drops materially. The stream image becomes cleaner, especially in motion-heavy content. Your frame-drop rate falls. AV1 specifically delivers higher quality at lower bitrate than older encoders, so AV1-capable GPUs unlock additional bandwidth headroom.

Hardware encoding is free. Use it.