#s/w decoder

If you’ve used (or still using) MX Player for watching videos on your Android device, then chances are you’ve come across the H/W and S/W video decoders. Definition First of all let’s understand what a video decoder is and what purpose it serves. Video decoder, as its name implies, allows a device to process a video file in order to be viewed on that device. Although the video decoding is still handled by a hardware component – in this case the CPU – the process actually requires a software, thus being called Software Video Decoding or S/W. Playback Quality Just to set things clear, neither H/W nor S/W can magically turn a low quality video file in to a high definition clip. Now that’s out of the way, which of these video decoders provide better media playback? Thanks to advancements in both software and hardware segments, S/W video decoding is slowly catching up to H/W, albeit requires a powerful processor in order for the playback quality to be comparable to a file handled by the H/W decoder. Battery Life Since these video decoders utilize different hardware components when processing video files, the mileage of our device will vary depending on what decoder we’re using to process the video. Read more in our articles including "What are H/W and S/W Video Decoders?" and "Best Budget Tablets for Back-to-School 2026 | Under P10,000".