Support matrix

Find your host desktop, GPU and client app, and read across.

LegendCopy Anchor Link

Most codec, 10-bit and 4:4:4 cells are probed at runtime: the backend supports it, but your GPU or driver can still say no. Features that need both ends are listed under Things both ends have to agree on.

Host platformsCopy Anchor Link

Punktfunk hosts on Linux and Windows. macOS, iOS, tvOS and Android are clients only.

Display and captureCopy Anchor Link

Each session gets its own display at the client's resolution and refresh rate — see Virtual displays.

1. Punktfunk's own display driver. Needs Windows 11 22H2 (build 22621); the installer refuses anything older. Each paired client gets its own monitor identity carrying its screen's HDR brightness, so Windows keeps per-client display settings and apps tone-map to your screen.
2. Windows lists your monitors but can't stream one. Streaming a physical monitor is Linux-only.
3. The host starts a gamescope at the client's mode, relaunches the box's Game Mode session at it (SteamOS, Bazzite), or attaches to one already running. An attached session on a box with a screen connected keeps its own mode, so the client gets a mirror. See gamescope.
4. Only while gamescope drives a real screen (Game Mode on a TV or handheld).
5. Driven over the compositor's IPC (swaymsg, scrollmsg). scroll hasn't been run on real hardware yet. See Sway.
6. The host writes the portal's output-chooser config, so a box with nobody at it can answer "which output?".
7. Needs biri, a niri fork that adds virtual outputs. Stock niri can stream only a monitor you pin. Driven over niri's IPC.
8. Run with every monitor switched off in niri; not yet on a box with none plugged in.
9. Cinnamon's compositor has no virtual-output API. A Mint or LMDE box can still stream games through a headless gamescope — see Requirements.
10. No host backend. River is detected and takes input, but has no video path.

Input, cursor and HDRCopy Anchor Link

1. The host must run in the signed-in console session, not session 0; the installed service starts it there. Over SSH you land in session 0 — see Windows host.
2. Needs the display driver's hardware-cursor channel, which the host probes once. Otherwise the pointer is drawn into the video.
3. The host turns on advanced colour for the session's display, so HDR works from an SDR desktop. Needs a 10-bit encoder and a client that asks for HDR — see HDR.
4. KWin grants its capture and input protocols to the host's installed .desktop entry, so a headless box needs nobody to click Allow.
5. Virtual outputs on these compositors are 8-bit.
6. Always on: GNOME can't reliably paint the pointer into a virtual stream, so the host carries it separately.
7. Virtual displays are SDR. Mirroring a real HDR monitor on GNOME 50+ carries HDR, on the Moonlight/GameStream plane only — see HDR.
8. Needs the patched punktfunk-gamescope (patch 2 or newer) and a session this host started or manages. Otherwise the host draws the pointer into the video.
9. Needs the patched punktfunk-gamescope and a session this host started or manages; an attached session streams SDR. See HDR on gamescope.
10. Their portals offer no separate cursor, so the pointer is always part of the video.
11. Mouse and keyboard reach Windows as a USB-style HID device, so games that refuse injected input take them. Text, touch and pen use SendInput and synthetic pointers. A seat host, and a point off the primary monitor, use SendInput too.
12. The host doesn't carry niri's pointer separately, so it is always part of the video.

Version floors worth knowingCopy Anchor Link

• Windows 11 22H2 (build 22621) — the display driver; the installer refuses anything older. Pen and touch injection need Windows 10 1809.
• KWin — a normal Plasma session (DRM backend) creates virtual outputs at any version; KWin's headless virtual backend needs 6.5.6. Refresh rates above 60 Hz on a virtual output need 6.6.
• sway 1.8 — removes headless outputs again on teardown.
• Hyprland — no version gate. With ecosystem.enforce_permissions on (0.49+, off by default), grant the host screencopy — see Hyprland.
• biri built 2026-09-04 or later — stock niri has no virtual outputs, and older biri builds crash niri when an off virtual output is removed. See niri.
• gamescope 3.16.22 — below it, headless capture deadlocks against PipeWire 1.6 and newer. 3.16.23 — below it, the Steam overlay never reaches the stream. The host warns but doesn't refuse.

EncodersCopy Anchor Link

1. Intersected with what your GPU and driver report. AV1 encode needs NVIDIA Ada, AMD RDNA3, Intel Arc or newer. If the NVENC probe can't run, the host advertises all three codecs.
2. HEVC only, where the GPU supports 4:4:4. On Windows it combines with HDR; on Linux 4:4:4 is 8-bit, so a session asking for both gets HDR at 4:2:0.
3. AMD's encoder never produces 4:4:4.
4. Picked when the GPU isn't NVIDIA, AMD or Intel but has a hardware encoder (an Adreno, say), and as the fallback when a native encoder won't open on an 8-bit 4:2:0 H.264 or HEVC session. Windows on ARM64 has only this backend.
5. Windows has no software encoder: a box with no usable GPU encoder can't stream.
6. HEVC and AV1 where the device opens that profile, 10-bit SDR included; anything else goes to VAAPI. Vulkan encoding in Host turns this backend off.
7. PyroWave runs only when the client picks it. Full chroma on any vendor; modes around 8K fall back to 4:2:0. 10-bit SDR on Linux, and on Windows 11 24H2 and later. Not in Windows ARM64 builds.
8. Only with PUNKTFUNK_ENCODER=software; auto never picks it on Linux.

HEVC 4:4:4 means an NVIDIA host, or pick PyroWave. Asking for 4:4:4 is a client setting, off by default, on the Linux, Windows and Apple clients; Android has none, and GameStream sessions are always 4:2:0. See Client settings.

How the host picks a backendCopy Anchor Link

• Linux — a GPU picked in the web console decides by vendor. NVIDIA needs the proprietary driver (/dev/nvidiactl or /dev/nvidia0); a nouveau card takes the AMD/Intel path. With no pick, a CUDA capture or an NVIDIA device node means NVENC, and anything else takes Vulkan Video for HEVC and AV1, with VAAPI as the fallback and for H.264. auto never picks software.
• Windows — the selected GPU's vendor decides: NVIDIA → NVENC, AMD → AMF, Intel → QSV. An unrecognised GPU falls through to the first one in the box with a known vendor, then to Media Foundation; with neither, the session fails. An encoder pin that contradicts the selected GPU is ignored, and the console flags it.
• Codec — the client's preferred codec wins if the host can encode it; otherwise HEVC → AV1 → H.264. PyroWave only when the client asks for it.

Zero-copy capture to encodeCopy Anchor Link

• Windows — the display driver encodes on the GPU and the host only packetises; no backend reads frames back to the CPU.
• Linux — VAAPI takes the captured buffer directly, NVIDIA imports it through an isolated worker process, and PyroWave imports it on any vendor. gamescope hands over tiled buffers only when it is the patched build this host started; any other gamescope offers linear ones. An import that keeps failing drops that capture to linear buffers, then to the CPU path.

What is in the build you installedCopy Anchor Link

• Windows installer — the encoders live in the display driver: NVENC, AMF, QSV, Media Foundation and PyroWave on x64; Media Foundation only on ARM64.
• Linux packages (Arch, RPM, deb, Nix) — NVENC, Vulkan Video, VAAPI, software and PyroWave.
• A hand cargo build on Linux — VAAPI, software and PyroWave. NVENC (nvenc) and Vulkan Video (vulkan-encode) are cargo features: without nvenc, an NVIDIA box takes the AMD/Intel path and fails there. See Build from source.

Client decodeCopy Anchor Link

No Punktfunk host or client contains FFmpeg. Every client decodes with the platform's own decoders, with openh264 and rav1d as the software floor on the desktop.

1. Linux tries Vulkan Video first wherever it decodes the codec, then VAAPI (skipped on NVIDIA), then a V4L2 decoder node (the hardware path on ARM devices, where the other two don't exist), then software. Windows tries Vulkan Video first on NVIDIA and AMD, D3D11VA first on Intel and others. Pin one in the client's decoder setting or with PUNKTFUNK_DECODER; a pinned decoder that fails still falls through. Mid-session, three decode errors spread over at least a second move to the next decoder, and the session log names the one in use.
2. The software floor covers H.264 (openh264) and AV1 (rav1d), 8-bit only, with no HEVC. AV1 is offered only where hardware decodes it, and so is HEVC; 10-bit needs a hardware decoder too. If every HEVC decoder fails, the client reconnects on a codec with a software floor. PyroWave is offered when the GPU passes its probe.
3. HDR is on by default. Linux presents HDR10 where the desktop offers it and tone-maps otherwise; Windows asks for HDR only when the selected output is in HDR mode. The software decoder refuses 10-bit. 10-bit SDR is a client setting the host must allow.
4. Opt-in Full chroma, off by default. The client asks for 4:4:4 only when its GPU hardware-decodes 4:4:4 HEVC, in practice NVIDIA; PyroWave needs no probe. There is no software fallback. The Detailed stats overlay shows 4:4:4→4:2:0 when the host declined.
5. The plugin launches the Linux client, so decoding is identical.
6. AV1 only where VideoToolbox hardware-decodes it (M3-class Macs, A17 Pro-class iPhones). PyroWave decodes on Metal on A13-class chips and newer, when you pick it.
7. Probed against the display: EDR headroom on Mac, iPhone and iPad, HDR eligibility on Apple TV, HDR capabilities on Android. An SDR screen advertises no HDR.
8. Opt-in, and offered only where VideoToolbox hardware-decodes 4:4:4. HEVC 4:4:4 needs an NVIDIA host.
9. A ranked list that prefers hardware, low-latency decoders and blocks known-bad ones; there is no software rung. PyroWave needs a 64-bit device with Vulkan 1.3, and you pick it.
10. H.264 and HEVC are assumed; AV1 is probed.
11. The host offers HDR to Moonlight only when it can deliver it. See Moonlight.
12. Separate repositories; ask those projects.

Clients and featuresCopy Anchor Link

Linux, Windows, the Decky plugin and the punktfunk CLI stream through the same session binary. Apple is one app across macOS, iOS/iPadOS and tvOS. Android TV is the Android app.

Before you connectCopy Anchor Link

1. On any paired host. See Game library.
2. System packages update through a packaged helper; a Flatpak updates with flatpak update (the Decky plugin runs it for you); other installs show the command. See Keeping a client up to date.
3. Through the store or installer you got it from.
4. Made in the Apple TV's Settings. Presets don't sync between devices, and tvOS leaves out the settings it has no input for.
5. Streams with the presets pinned to a host in a client on the same device; it has no preset editor of its own.
6. Paired hosts' libraries appear in Steam's Play from menu and in the client's console home.
7. Updates itself and, where the install allows, the client it launches.
8. Follows links; the graphical apps register the URL scheme.
9. As ordinary GameStream apps. Moonlight's own features depend on your Moonlight app.

Input while you streamCopy Anchor Link

1. Several controllers, each on a stable slot. The pad-type picker on Linux, Windows and the console home offers Automatic, Xbox 360, Xbox One, DualSense, DualShock 4, Steam Deck and Steam Controller 2; Apple and Android offer the first six, with Steam Controller 2 as its own switch. A 2015 Steam Controller on its cable, its dongle or Bluetooth reaches a Linux or Windows host as itself: from the Linux, Windows and Android clients with nothing to set, and from Apple devices with the Steam Controller 2 switch on (iPhone, iPad and Apple TV over Bluetooth).
2. DualSense and DualShock 4 touchpad and motion are forwarded, and adaptive triggers and the lightbar play back on a real DualSense. Any pad with a gyro sends motion. The host's virtual pad needs a gyro to use it: Xbox pads have none, and Automatic picks Xbox for pads it doesn't recognise. Pick a DualSense-class Controller type for motion; Apple and Android say so on screen. See Client settings.
3. The desktop clients send no pen input.
4. Touchscreens only, and not yet tried on a Windows touchscreen.
5. A gamescope host takes relative mouse input only, so the desktop mouse mode isn't available there. See Mouse modes.
6. Apple Pencil with pressure, tilt, azimuth and hover, plus barrel roll from Pencil Pro on iOS 17.5+. Needs a host that injects pen — see Pen and stylus.
7. iPad captures the pointer only in a full-screen front window — not in Stage Manager, Slide Over or on iPhone. Capture pointer for games turns it off.
8. The Siri Remote is a relative trackpad.
9. Uses the controller's motor where the phone exposes it. A setting also plays player 1's rumble on the phone's own motor (the iPhone has the same with the Taptic Engine).
10. Full motion and touchpad need the pad on USB (claimed by default); over Bluetooth, Android 12+ forwards the gyro only. Adaptive triggers are dropped — Android has no API for them.
11. Stylus with eraser, both barrel buttons and hover.
12. Not on Android TV.
13. The host's GameStream plane takes controller events, not the motion, touchpad or trigger extensions.
14. The host takes Moonlight's pen and touch extensions; whether your Moonlight app sends them is up to it.
15. Pressure and contact area are dropped.

Keyboard chords, and what each host can type, are in Input.

Picture and sound while you streamCopy Anchor Link

1. On by default, where the presenter can show it; Windows also needs the output in HDR mode.
2. Opt-in Full chroma, offered where the GPU hardware-decodes 4:4:4 HEVC, or on any GPU for PyroWave. HEVC 4:4:4 needs an NVIDIA host. A Windows host combines it with HDR; a Linux host keeps HDR and drops to 4:2:0, except with PyroWave. The stats overlay shows what you got.
3. The host rounds the request to stereo, 5.1 or 7.1 and says so before the first frame.
4. The switch is there, but the Linux client's side of the clipboard isn't built: nothing crosses.
5. Text and PNG images; an incoming image over 4 MiB is skipped.
6. Probed against your display — see note 7 under Client decode.
7. Opt-in and probed. HEVC 4:4:4 needs an NVIDIA host; PyroWave works on any.
8. Text, RTF, HTML and images, fetched on paste in both directions. On iOS an unpasted host copy (up to 8 MiB) is pulled across when the session ends.
9. tvOS gives apps no microphone and no pasteboard.
10. Text only.
11. Decided by the host.
12. Moonlight has its own overlay; stats covers Punktfunk's.

No client offers file transfer through the clipboard yet. See Shared clipboard.

Things both ends have to agree onCopy Anchor Link

Either side can be the reason one of these didn't happen:

• Shared clipboard — off on the host until an operator turns it on, and a per-host switch on the client. Only the Apple app greys Share Clipboard out when the host hasn't offered it.
• Pen input — the host offers it only with a usable /dev/uinput (Linux) or Windows 10 1809+. Without it, clients turn pen into touch.
• Committed text (IME) — the Windows host and the wlroots backend (sway, scroll, Hyprland, niri) type any text. KDE, GNOME and gamescope fall back to key presses, which can't express every character.
• Client-drawn cursor — needs the client in desktop mouse mode and a host that carries the cursor separately (table). Then the host stops drawing the pointer into the video.
• 10-bit, HDR and 4:4:4 — see HDR.

How finished each part isCopy Anchor Link

Mixing versionsCopy Anchor Link

Update the host first, then its clients; paired devices stay paired. A feature one end doesn't know is not offered, and the session goes ahead without it — see Things both ends have to agree on.

Where it has been runCopy Anchor Link

Development and testing run on Linux hosts under KWin, Mutter, gamescope, wlroots, Hyprland and niri (biri) on NVIDIA and AMD GPUs, and on Windows hosts on NVIDIA, AMD and Intel, with the macOS, Linux, Windows and Android clients and stock Moonlight. HDR on gamescope has been run end to end on Bazzite and SteamOS.

What is not verifiedCopy Anchor Link

• scroll as a host — detected and driven like sway, not yet run on real hardware.
• niri (biri) on AMD and Intel — run on NVIDIA only.
• gamescope headless capture on the proprietary NVIDIA driver — plausible, not well trodden, and no probe would catch it failing.
• Touch input from a Windows client — the same code as Linux, not run on a Windows touchscreen.
• AV1 10-bit SDR on a Windows AMD or Intel host — the same encoder settings as HEVC, not yet run on an RDNA3 or Arc card.
• Re-applying your resolution after an Omarchy theme switch — unit-tested, not tried during a live stream. If a theme switch costs you your resolution, report it.
• pf-webos and the browser client — separate repositories.
• Moonlight's client-side features — Wake-on-LAN, overlays and updates differ per Moonlight app.

For what is planned rather than shipped, see the Roadmap.