vkGetPhysicalDeviceOpticalFlowImageFormatsNV(3)

# vkGetPhysicalDeviceOpticalFlowImageFormatsNV(3) Manual Page

## Name

vkGetPhysicalDeviceOpticalFlowImageFormatsNV - Query image formats for optical flow

## C Specification

To enumerate the supported image formats for a specific optical flow usage, call:

    // Provided by VK_NV_optical_flow
    VkResult vkGetPhysicalDeviceOpticalFlowImageFormatsNV(
        VkPhysicalDevice                            physicalDevice,
        const VkOpticalFlowImageFormatInfoNV*       pOpticalFlowImageFormatInfo,
        uint32_t*                                   pFormatCount,
        VkOpticalFlowImageFormatPropertiesNV*       pImageFormatProperties);

## Parameters

- `physicalDevice` is the physical device being queried.

- `pOpticalFlowImageFormatInfo` is a pointer to a VkOpticalFlowImageFormatInfoNV structure specifying the optical flow usage for which information is returned.

- `pFormatCount` is a pointer to an integer related to the number of optical flow properties available or queried, as described below.

- `pImageFormatProperties` is a pointer to an array of VkOpticalFlowImageFormatPropertiesNV structures in which supported formats and image parameters are returned.

## Description

If `pImageFormatProperties` is `NULL`, then the number of optical flow properties supported for the given `physicalDevice` is returned in `pFormatCount`. Otherwise, `pFormatCount` must point to a variable set by the application to the number of elements in the `pImageFormatProperties` array, and on return the variable is overwritten with the number of values actually written to `pImageFormatProperties`. If the value of `pFormatCount` is less than the number of optical flow properties supported, at most `pFormatCount` values will be written to `pImageFormatProperties`, and VK_INCOMPLETE will be returned instead of VK_SUCCESS, to indicate that not all the available values were returned.

Before creating an image to be used as an optical flow frame, obtain the supported image creation parameters by querying with vkGetPhysicalDeviceFormatProperties2 and vkGetPhysicalDeviceImageFormatProperties2 using one of the reported formats and adding VkOpticalFlowImageFormatInfoNV to the `pNext` chain of VkPhysicalDeviceImageFormatInfo2.

When querying the parameters with vkGetPhysicalDeviceImageFormatProperties2 for images used for optical flow operations, the VkOpticalFlowImageFormatInfoNV::`usage` field must contain one or more of the bits defined in VkOpticalFlowUsageFlagBitsNV.

Valid Usage (Implicit)

- VUID-vkGetPhysicalDeviceOpticalFlowImageFormatsNV-physicalDevice-parameter
  `physicalDevice` must be a valid VkPhysicalDevice handle

- VUID-vkGetPhysicalDeviceOpticalFlowImageFormatsNV-pOpticalFlowImageFormatInfo-parameter
  `pOpticalFlowImageFormatInfo` must be a valid pointer to a valid VkOpticalFlowImageFormatInfoNV structure

- VUID-vkGetPhysicalDeviceOpticalFlowImageFormatsNV-pFormatCount-parameter
  `pFormatCount` must be a valid pointer to a `uint32_t` value

- VUID-vkGetPhysicalDeviceOpticalFlowImageFormatsNV-pImageFormatProperties-parameter
  If the value referenced by `pFormatCount` is not `0`, and `pImageFormatProperties` is not `NULL`, `pImageFormatProperties` must be a valid pointer to an array of `pFormatCount` VkOpticalFlowImageFormatPropertiesNV structures

Return Codes

On success, this command returns

  - VK_INCOMPLETE

  - VK_SUCCESS

On failure, this command returns

  - VK_ERROR_EXTENSION_NOT_PRESENT

  - VK_ERROR_FORMAT_NOT_SUPPORTED

  - VK_ERROR_INITIALIZATION_FAILED

  - VK_ERROR_UNKNOWN

  - VK_ERROR_VALIDATION_FAILED

Note | VK_FORMAT_B8G8R8A8_UNORM, VK_FORMAT_R8_UNORM and VK_FORMAT_G8_B8R8_2PLANE_420_UNORM are initially supported for images with optical usage VK_OPTICAL_FLOW_USAGE_INPUT_BIT_NV. VK_FORMAT_R16G16_SFIXED5_NV is initially supported for images with optical flow usage VK_OPTICAL_FLOW_USAGE_OUTPUT_BIT_NV, VK_OPTICAL_FLOW_USAGE_HINT_BIT_NV and VK_OPTICAL_FLOW_USAGE_GLOBAL_FLOW_BIT_NV. VK_FORMAT_R8_UINT and VK_FORMAT_R32_UINT are initially supported for images with optical flow usage VK_OPTICAL_FLOW_USAGE_COST_BIT_NV. It is recommended to use VK_FORMAT_R8_UINT because of the lower bandwidth.

## See Also

VK_NV_optical_flow, VkOpticalFlowImageFormatInfoNV, VkOpticalFlowImageFormatPropertiesNV, VkPhysicalDevice

## Document Notes

For more information, see the Vulkan Specification.

This page is extracted from the Vulkan Specification. Fixes and changes should be made to the Specification, not directly.

## Copyright

Copyright 2014-2026 The Khronos Group Inc.

SPDX-License-Identifier: CC-BY-4.0