Distributed Codec Engine
title: "Distributed Codec Engine" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["application-programming-interfaces", "application-layer-protocols", "video-acceleration-apis-available-on-linux"] topic_path: "technology/networking" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Distributed_Codec_Engine" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0
::data[format=table title="Infobox software"]
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| name | libdce |
| title | libdce |
| logo | |
| screenshot | |
| released | |
| latest release date | |
| latest preview date | |
| programming language | C |
| operating system | Unix-like |
| genre | Library |
| license | Revised BSD License and some additional terms |
| website | |
| :: |
| name = libdce | title = libdce | logo = | screenshot = | caption = | collapsible = | author = | developer = | released = | discontinued = | latest release version = | latest release date = | latest preview version = | latest preview date = | programming language = C | operating system = Unix-like | platform = | size = | language = | status = | genre = Library | license = Revised BSD License and some additional terms | website = ::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/29/Texas_Instruments_Ducati.svg" caption="shim]]''' to interface with the subsystem."] ::
Distributed Codec Engine (DCE) is an API and its implementation as software library ("libdce") by Texas Instruments. The library was released under the Revised BSD License and some additional terms.
It enables and provides remote access to hardware acceleration for audio and video decoding on the IVA-HD in OMAP4-based platforms via a syslink/rcm shim layer accessing the OMAP's Codec Engine API codec interface on the co-processor (Ducati/M3) from the host under Linux without needing OpenMAX. The "Ducati subsystem" comprises two ARM Cortex-M3 processors (CPUs), and the ASICs IVA-HD and ISS.
Software supporting DCE
::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/7d/GStreamer_and_TI_DMAI.svg" caption="[[GStreamer]] uses the ASICs of Ducati"] ::
- gst-ducati, a GStreamer plugin for OMAP4 using libdce
- omapfbplay, a video player for OMAP using Video4Linux (V4L)
License
It uses a custom vanity license. It does not use an established free open source software license.
References
References
- (2012-01-03). "libdce: The Distributed Codec Engine". [[Phoronix]].
- (2010-11-27). "Announcing libdce and gst-ducati". Rob Clark.
- http://pandaboard.org/content/libdce libdce
- "The Ducati subsystem – Introcution".
- "gst-ducati on github".
- "Video player for OMAP framebuffer".
- "VideoToolbox - Apple Developer Documentation".
- http://developer.amd.com/gpu/AMDAPPSDK/assets/OpenVideo_Decode_API.PDF {{Webarchive. link. (2011-04-09 OpenVideo Decode (OVD) API)
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