Included in the update was streamlining the X11 application manager (assists with multiple displays and input devices), removing some of the code to allow the DRM Render-Nodes to process more efficiently, Android support adjustments, Meson compiler system additions, and newer ray tracing enhancements. In the newest update, the Intel team has added 245 files and deleted 41 to improve the VA-API library. However, it is still available in the current VA-API. Its 2D integration has been covered in several struggles and inconsistencies, and it was reported two years ago that the company would remove any support.

Poulsbo was Intel’s initial Atom processor that offered “GMA 500” graphics. VA-API is also used as a “state tracker” for the Gallium3D and the Poulsbo driver. It is part of the Mesa 3D Graphics Library, a small amount of the complete open-source Mesa Project. Gallium3D’s architecture is created to assist in developing 3D graphics drivers. The library provides AV1 video encoders created by Intel and other video codec formats. Intel Arc GPUs offer support of VA-API but also oneVPL, a single library that is part of the oneAPI suite.

Intel designed the library to help with the company’s graphics hardware acceleration, especially when encoding and decoding video on Intel’s graphics hardware platforms. VA-API combines an API specification and an open-source library, consisting of the primary library source and supported graphics backends to assist every compatible hardware vendor’s driver-specific acceleration.

Intel assistant driver