NVIDIA has made a quiet yet significant update to its consumer GeForce graphics processing units (GPUs) by removing video encoding limitations. These GPUs can now encode up to five simultaneous streams, an increase from the previous limitation of three NVENC encodes.

The new change applies to certain GeForce GPUs based on Maxwell 2nd Gen, Pascal, Turing, Ampere, and Ada Lovelace GPU architectures released over the last eight years. However, there is still a limitation on the number of streams that can be encoded, depending on the resolution of the stream and the codec used.

Although this update is good news for video enthusiasts, NVIDIA's professional and data center-grade GPUs still have an edge over consumer products as there is no limit to the number of concurrent sessions on them. Additionally, the encoding speed may be affected by more simultaneous encodes. NVIDIA's Video Encode and Decode GPU Support Matrix document confirms that the number of concurrent NVENC encodes on consumer GPUs has been increased from three to five. Meanwhile, the number of concurrent NVDEC decodes has always been unlimited, although there are limits to how many streams can be handled simultaneously for real-time decoding, depending on the GPU's capabilities and codec used.

The update does not affect the number of NVENC and NVDEC hardware units activated in NVIDIA's consumer GPUs. For instance, the latest AD102 graphics processor, based on the Ada Lovelace architecture, features three hardware NVENC encoders and three NVDEC decoders. All three are enabled on NVIDIA's RTX 6000 Ada and L40 boards for workstations and data centers, but only two are active on consumer-grade GeForce RTX 4090.

Previously, NVIDIA has restricted the number of concurrent encoding sessions on all of its graphics cards, but this update demonstrates a change in NVIDIA's stance on NVENC and NVDEC limitations. 

NVIDIA Removes Encoding Limitations on Consumer GPUs Allowing up to 5 Simultaneous Streams