Some laptop owners are frustrated because their machines can’t play HEVC/H.265 videos in web browsers, despite having the necessary hardware support. This issue affects Dell and HP laptops with sixth-generation Intel Core processors or AMD chips that support the codec.
In fact, laptop manufacturers like HP disclose this limitation in their data sheets. For example, the HP ProBook 460 G11 has a note saying “Hardware acceleration for CODEC H.265/HEVC is disabled on this platform.” Despite this warning, users are still experiencing problems with modern laptops playing videos that work fine in media players.
This issue was reported by Reddit group members who upgraded to newer hardware. They found that their older machines didn’t have the problem, but those with newer machines had to disable HEVC acceleration in their web browser or remove it from Microsoft Media Foundation to avoid performance issues and feature degradations.
Dell laptops also struggle with playing HEVC videos in web browsers, despite having the necessary hardware support. The issue is not easily found on the laptop’s product page or owner’s manual, but a general support page explains that only specific computer configurations can stream HEVC content.
Note: I simplified the text by removing technical jargon and explaining complex concepts in simpler terms.
Source: https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2025/11/hp-and-dell-disable-hevc-support-built-into-their-laptops-cpus