Configure H.264/AVC hardware encoding for Remote Desktop Connections: registry value AVCHardwareEncodePreferredComputerHKLM\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows NT\Terminal Services

Policy ID: TS_SERVER_AVC_HW_ENCODE_PREFERRED
Scope: Computer Configuration
Supported on: At least Windows Server 2016, Windows 10
Source: Administrative Templates (.admx) for Windows 11 2026 Update (26H2) (version 1.0)
Category: Windows Components › Remote Desktop Services › Remote Desktop Session Host › Remote Session Environment

Registry

AVCHardwareEncodePreferred

REG_DWORDComputer

HKLM\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows NT\Terminal Services Current key

Enabled value: 1
Disabled value: 0

Apply with .reg · CMD · PowerShell

.reg

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows NT\Terminal Services]

; Options (use only one)
; Enabled
"AVCHardwareEncodePreferred"=dword:00000001
; Disabled
"AVCHardwareEncodePreferred"=dword:00000000

CMD

:: Options (use only one)

:: Enabled
reg add "HKLM\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows NT\Terminal Services" /v "AVCHardwareEncodePreferred" /t REG_DWORD /d 1 /f
:: Disabled
reg add "HKLM\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows NT\Terminal Services" /v "AVCHardwareEncodePreferred" /t REG_DWORD /d 0 /f

PowerShell

# Common: create the key
New-Item -Path 'HKLM:\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows NT\Terminal Services' -Force | Out-Null

# Options (use only one)
# Enabled
New-ItemProperty -Path 'HKLM:\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows NT\Terminal Services' -Name 'AVCHardwareEncodePreferred' -PropertyType DWord -Value 1 -Force | Out-Null
# Disabled
New-ItemProperty -Path 'HKLM:\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows NT\Terminal Services' -Name 'AVCHardwareEncodePreferred' -PropertyType DWord -Value 0 -Force | Out-Null