The GStreamer project has announced the release of GStreamer 1.26.8, marking the eighth maintenance update for the GStreamer 1.26 series, a renowned open-source multimedia framework. This release addresses significant improvements, particularly enhancing HDR video playback for GNOME’s Showtime video player by eliminating washed-out colors when subtitles are active. Additionally, it introduces Rust support for 32-bit (x86) Linux in the Cerbero package builder.
GStreamer 1.26.8 significantly enhances the encoder’s advertising latency, moving away from a fixed 5 frames setting for the x265 encoder. Performance is notably improved for elements supporting multiple source pads, and the AAC parser now accommodates streams with less frequent LOAS configurations.
The update also rectifies several issues, including eliminating duplicate frames in the AV1 parser, adjusting EAC3 data rate calculations and substream writing in the fmp4mux muxer, and enhancing ID3 tag handling within the mpegtsmux muxer. Fixes extend to glitches with padded buffers in the gtk4painablesink element, as well as the handling of DISCONT and RESYNC buffer flags in the rtpbaseaudiopay2 element, and improvements to the V4L2 device monitoring.
Other changes include updates to the splitmuxsink element for better compatibility with fmp4 muxer support and corrections to lock orders in the webrtcsink element to prevent deadlocks. An auto_plugin_features option has also been added to the gst-plugins-rs meson build.
For detailed insights, users can refer to the release notes. The GStreamer 1.26.8 source tarball is available for download from the official website for those interested in compiling from source, or users can install it through their distribution’s stable repositories.