Choosing the Right Video Renderer
[The feature associated with this page, DirectShow, is a legacy feature. It has been superseded by MediaPlayer, IMFMediaEngine, and Audio/Video Capture in Media Foundation. Those features have been optimized for Windows 10 and Windows 11. Microsoft strongly recommends that new code use MediaPlayer, IMFMediaEngine and Audio/Video Capture in Media Foundation instead of DirectShow, when possible. Microsoft suggests that existing code that uses the legacy APIs be rewritten to use the new APIs if possible.]
DirectShow provides several video renderer filters, summarized in the following table.
| Filter | Remarks |
|---|---|
| Enhanced Video Renderer (EVR) | Uses Direct3D 9. Requires Windows Vista or later. |
| Video Mixing Renderer 9 (VMR-9) | Uses Direct3D 9. Requires Windows XP or later. |
| Video Mixing Filter 7 (VMR-7) | Uses DirectDraw. Requires Windows XP or later. |
| Overlay Mixer | Supports hardware overlays through DirectDraw. |
| Legacy Video Renderer filter. | Uses DirectDraw or (rarely) GDI |
Which renderer to use depends largely on which versions of Windows you need to support.
- In Windows Vista and later, applications should use the EVR if the hardware supports it. Otherwise, fall back to the VMR-9 or VMR-7. The EVR offers better performance and better video quality than previous renderers. Also, it is designed to work with the Desktop Window Manager (DWM).
- Prior to Windows Vista, use the VMR-9 if the hardware supports it and video port functionality is not required. Otherwise, use the VMR-7.
- On older systems, you might need to use the Overlay Mixer (for video port or hardware overlay support) or the legacy Video Renderer filter.
The IGraphBuilder::Render and RenderFile methods use the VMR-7 by default. If the hardware does not support the VMR-7, these methods fall back to the legacy Video Renderer filter. The EVR and VMR-9 are never the default renderers.
Related topics