# Does "Optomized Conversion" use hardware transcoding?

**URL:** <https://forums.plex.tv/t/does-optomized-conversion-use-hardware-transcoding/577565>\
**Category:** Plex Media Server\
**Tags:** server-windows\
**Created:** [April 20, 2020, 1:25am UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/does-optomized-conversion-use-hardware-transcoding/577565 "2020-04-20T01:25:32Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Kickbut101](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/8dc957/32.png) [@Kickbut101](https://forums.plex.tv/u/Kickbut101)\
**Post date:** [April 20, 2020, 1:25am UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/does-optomized-conversion-use-hardware-transcoding/577565/1 "2020-04-20T01:25:32Z")

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Server Version#: 1.19.1.2645

I was curious to know if using the “Optomize” option on a file (that then tells the server to convert it to specified format and quality) utilizes the hardware transcoding on my server?

I ask because when doing the conversion my CPU spikes pretty hard.

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**Author:** ![OttoKerner](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/plex/user_avatar/forums.plex.tv/ottokerner/32/10079_2.png) [@OttoKerner](https://forums.plex.tv/u/OttoKerner)\
**Post date:** [April 20, 2020, 5:11am UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/does-optomized-conversion-use-hardware-transcoding/577565/2 "2020-04-20T05:11:17Z")

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It does. But transcoding audio format and burning in subtitles cannot be done with hardware support.  
It also depends on the source format of your file if the video can be transcoded with hardware support.

The CPU “spiking” is normal and no reason for concern. After all, the server doesn’t need to [throttle down the conversion](https://support.plex.tv/articles/203064726-if-a-transcode-is-throttled-is-that-bad/), because it knows that it’s going to convert the whole file anyway.

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**Author:** ![Kickbut101](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/8dc957/32.png) [@Kickbut101](https://forums.plex.tv/u/Kickbut101)\
**Post date:** [April 20, 2020, 5:32pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/does-optomized-conversion-use-hardware-transcoding/577565/3 "2020-04-20T17:32:44Z")

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Thank you for the quick and succinct reply! That makes sense, I was just surprised by how much CPU it was using!

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**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/plex/original/3X/2/a/2acb9765406f63293d357b4ec509ec39aa28f2ad.png) [@system](https://forums.plex.tv/u/system)\
**Post date:** [July 19, 2020, 5:32pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/does-optomized-conversion-use-hardware-transcoding/577565/4 "2020-07-19T17:32:46Z")

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