# "Use hardware acceleration when available" Optimize **URL:** \ **Category:** General Discussions\ **Created:** [November 15, 2017, 4:34am UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/use-hardware-acceleration-when-available-optimize/214210 "2017-11-15T04:34:07Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 3\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![nickwebha](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/plex/user_avatar/forums.plex.tv/nickwebha/32/84436_2.png) [@nickwebha](https://forums.plex.tv/u/nickwebha)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2017, 4:34am UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/use-hardware-acceleration-when-available-optimize/214210/1 "2017-11-15T04:34:07Z")
Does Plex Media Server use “Use hardware acceleration when available” for the Optimize feature or is it just the real-time, on-the-fly transcoding? ---
**Author:** ![asjmcguireplex](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/plex/user_avatar/forums.plex.tv/asjmcguireplex/32/10187_2.png) [@asjmcguireplex](https://forums.plex.tv/u/asjmcguireplex)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2017, 12:56pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/use-hardware-acceleration-when-available-optimize/214210/2 "2017-11-15T12:56:30Z")
It absolutely does use Hardware acceleration when optimising. It’s become really handy for me - because I can now drop TS files (MPEG2 Video) that I have taken from my Freeview box and chopped the adverts out. Tell Plex to optimise and about 10-15 minutes later, I have a Chromecast ready MP4. If I do the same thing with CPU encoding - it takes between 45mins and 1hr 30mins. ---
**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/plex/original/3X/2/a/2acb9765406f63293d357b4ec509ec39aa28f2ad.png) [@system](https://forums.plex.tv/u/system)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2020, 12:08am UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/use-hardware-acceleration-when-available-optimize/214210/3 "2020-01-08T00:08:41Z")