Asahi Linux builds custom firmware for Apple Silicon video decoding

Native hardware video acceleration is the final hurdle for Linux to provide a competitive media experience on Apple Silicon. By building open-source, stateless firmware, Asahi eliminates a major maintenance risk: the need to track shifting firmware offsets inside Apple’s proprietary kernel extensions. This architectural shift provides a stable path for upstreaming drivers to the mainline Linux kernel, eventually allowing browsers like Firefox and Chromium to use the AVD block via VA-API. As macOS 27 drops Intel support entirely, Asahi’s role as the primary alternative OS for Apple hardware becomes critical, especially for streamers and developers requiring low-level hardware access without macOS overhead. Watch for the extension of this custom firmware to support HEVC and AV1 codecs in late 2026.

The release of macOS 27 'Golden Gate' marks a definitive end to the Intel era, as it is the first version to drop all legacy x86 Mac support, per Apple's June 2026 announcement. This transition coincides with the upstreaming of Linux kernel 7.1, which Linus Torvalds released in mid-June 2026. According to Linux Foundation reports, version 7.1 includes approximately 13,000 changesets and significantly improves ARM64 infrastructure, providing the necessary foundation for the Asahi project’s latest driver breakthroughs.

The industry shift toward stateless video decoding via V4L2 and Vulkan Video is gaining momentum as an alternative to the aging VA-API and VDPAU standards. Per Phoronix and Arch Linux documentation from early 2026, major software suites including GStreamer and PipeWire have recently updated their handle-passing logic to better support the specific memory layouts used by mobile-derived SoCs like the M-series. This ecosystem-wide movement toward hardware-agnostic interfaces validates Asahi’s decision to write custom firmware rather than relying on vendor-specific code.

Furthermore, the hardware stability between the M2 and M3 architectures has allowed Asahi to accelerate its bring-up process. Reports from Linuxiac in July 2026 indicate that because Apple maintained the same I2S bus and speaker-safety controllers across these generations, the project achieved functional M3 audio and sensors primarily through Device Tree updates rather than new driver engineering. This consistency suggests that future M4 support may arrive even faster as the project's upstreamed codebase matures.