Rendering artifact on VA-API HEVC AMD Linux

[Gitez-Spaghetti]

Is there an existing issue for this?

• I have searched the existing issues

Is your issue described in the documentation?

• I have read the documentation

Is your issue present in the latest beta/pre-release?

This issue is present in the latest pre-release

Describe the Bug

On both the latest version and the pre-release version, using HEVC hardware encoding on my AMD GPU (with VA-API) causes the display to be slightly scaled down, showing a green line at the bottom and black bars on the side of the screen.
This happened after updating sunshine to 2025.924.154138 from the official LizardByte repo.

This issue does not occur when using software encoding, or when using H264 on VA-API.

Downgrading to an older version of sunshine (2025.628.4510-7 in the screenshot) instantly solves the issue:

Running Sunshine on my laptop (also running Arch Linux) shows the exact same issue.

Expected Behavior

Correct encoding.

Additional Context

No response

Host Operating System

Linux

Operating System Version

Latest Arch Linux

Architecture

amd64/x86_64

Sunshine commit or version

2025.929.5023 commit: c16f0ad

Package

Linux - pkg.tar.zst

GPU Type

AMD

GPU Model

XFX AMD Radeon RX 580 8GB

GPU Driver/Mesa Version

1:25.2.3-2

Capture Method

KMS (Linux)

Config

encoder = vaapi
hevc_mode = 0
upnp = enabled

Apps

Relevant log output

[2025-09-30 10:27:58.151]: Info: Found H.264 encoder: h264_vaapi [vaapi]
[2025-09-30 10:27:58.151]: Info: Found HEVC encoder: hevc_vaapi [vaapi]
[2025-09-30 10:27:58.427]: Info: Video encryption enabled
[2025-09-30 10:27:58.427]: Info: New streaming session started [active sessions: 1]
[2025-09-30 10:27:58.535]: Info: CLIENT CONNECTED
[2025-09-30 10:27:58.536]: Info: /dev/dri/card1 -> amdgpu
[2025-09-30 10:27:58.537]: Info: Screencasting with KMS
[2025-09-30 10:27:58.537]: Info: /dev/dri/card1 -> amdgpu
[2025-09-30 10:27:58.537]: Info: Found monitor for DRM screencasting
[2025-09-30 10:27:58.537]: Info: Found connector ID [97]
[2025-09-30 10:27:58.538]: Info: Found cursor plane [59]
[2025-09-30 10:27:58.545]: Info: Creating encoder [hevc_vaapi]
[2025-09-30 10:27:58.545]: Info: Color coding: SDR (Rec. 601)
[2025-09-30 10:27:58.545]: Info: Color depth: 8-bit
[2025-09-30 10:27:58.545]: Info: Color range: MPEG
[2025-09-30 10:27:58.563]: Info: vaapi vendor: Mesa Gallium driver 25.2.3-arch1.2 for AMD Radeon RX 580 Series (radeonsi, polaris10, ACO, DRM 3.64, 6.16.8-zen3-1-zen)
[2025-09-30 10:27:58.563]: Info: Streaming bitrate is 24588000
[2025-09-30 10:27:58.563]: Info: Using normal encoding mode
[2025-09-30 10:27:58.563]: Info: Using default rate control
[2025-09-30 10:27:58.577]: Info: Minimum FPS target set to ~30fps (33.3333ms)
[2025-09-30 10:27:58.834]: Info: Setting default sink to: [sink-sunshine-stereo]
[2025-09-30 10:27:58.835]: Info: Found default monitor by name: sink-sunshine-stereo.monitor
[2025-09-30 10:27:58.877]: Info: Opus initialized: 48 kHz, 2 channels, 512 kbps (total), LOWDELAY

[ReenigneArcher]

Likely due to a change in ffmpeg

[javierfurus]

For me even the posted version causes the same issue on AMD.

[jyggen]

I can confirm that this started happening to me after upgrading to 2025.924.154138, built from source through the AUR package. Arch Linux with AMD GPU.

[2025-09-30 22:37:30.473]: Info: vaapi vendor: Mesa Gallium driver 25.2.3-arch1.2 for AMD Radeon RX 9070 XT (radeonsi, gfx1201, LLVM 20.1.8, DRM 3.64, 6.16.8-arch3-1)

[Gitez-Spaghetti]

Likely due to a change in ffmpeg

Unlikely, ffmpeg version n7.1.1 does not show this issue, at least not in the nv12 format using the exact same GPU.
ffmpeg -hwaccel vaapi -vaapi_device /dev/dri/renderD128 -i Video_2025-09-25_11-43-00.mp4 -vf 'format=nv12,hwupload' -c:v hevc_vaapi output.mkv

[ReenigneArcher]

We're using FFmpeg 8.x now and don't use the system provided FFmpeg.

[askpng]

Experiencing the same green line here, also with AMD GPU, in the following situations:

• Streaming at 1080p to moonlight-android
• Streaming at 1080p to Moonlight Flatpak (screenshot)

The artifact does not show up for me in the following situations:

• Streaming at 1080p to moonlight-qt v6.1.0-1
• Streaming at 720p to moonlight-android
• Streaming at 720p to Moonlight Flatpak (screenshot)

[D0IP]

hi, I'm also experiencing this artifact when streaming to my steamdeck(running cachyos/arch) or my raspberry pi.

the PC i'm streaming from is also running Arch(EndevourOS) with a Ryzen 9 3900X and a Radeon RX 9070.

[polo817]

Confirming I've got the same issue for 1080p only on multiple clients. Host is amd 6700xt on Nobara OS.

[ThisIsQasim]

Experiencing the same with AMD 780m on Fedora 42 for specifically 1080p

[hanneshoch3]

Same here with 7900XT, Arch and 1080p, fine on 4K

[stompysan]

Also having this issue on Bazzite at 1080p. Rolling back package did work for the time being. 6900XT for video card

[shelterx]

Same here with 9070 XT with CachyOS. Streaming in 1080p to Moonlight running on AppleTV.
Sunshine 2025.628.4510-7 works.
Sunshine 2025.924.154138-1 shows the green line at the bottom.