# Unity : Rendering YUV 4k Camera Stream
**URL:** https://forum.magicleap.cloud/t/unity-rendering-yuv-4k-camera-stream/5612
**Category:** Unity Development
**Tags:** camera-api, performance, official, camera
**Created:** [April 27, 2025, 5:20pm UTC](https://forum.magicleap.cloud/t/unity-rendering-yuv-4k-camera-stream/5612 "2025-04-27T17:20:10Z")
**Posts on this page:** 2
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@kbabilinski](https://forum.magicleap.cloud/u/kbabilinski)
#### Post date: [April 27, 2025, 5:20pm UTC](https://forum.magicleap.cloud/t/unity-rendering-yuv-4k-camera-stream/5612/1 "2025-04-27T17:20:10Z")
Hey everyone! I wanted to share a little project I put together to solve the problem of rendering a 4K camera feed on Magic Leap 2 without tanking performance or running into crashes. I initially tried pushing out full RGBA frames, but that overwhelmed the device’s bandwidth. YUV turned out to be **much** more efficient—especially using the NV12 format, which is how ML2’s camera feed is typically provided.
**NOTE: In this example I used `unsafe` code to improve performance**
_Note the stream I am referring to is specifically the `YUV_420_888` format provided by the ML Camera Capture not the Camera Preview texture._
I am also going to update the developer documentation on our portal to reflect this information.
### Quick primer on the YUV 420 (“YUV\_420\_888”) format Magic Leap’s camera returns
| Concept | What it means in practice |
| --- | --- |
| **Y (luma) plane** | Holds brightness for every pixel at full resolution. In the API this is **`planes[0]`**. Each byte is one pixel (`PixelStride == 1`). |
| **U & V (chroma) planes** | Contain colour‐difference information, subsampled 2 × 2 (4:2:0). In **NV12** the U and V bytes are **interleaved** : 1 byte U, 1 byte V, repeating. The API still exposes two plane records:
• **`planes[1]`** – start of the interleaved UV buffer
• **`planes[2]`** – _same_ buffer, offset by one byte so it “looks” like a pure-V plane.
Because they point into the same memory you only need `planes[0]` and `planes[1]`. |
| **`PixelStride` vs `Stride`** | `PixelStride` = bytes between horizontally adjacent samples inside a row (1 for Y, 2 for interleaved UV).
`Stride` = bytes from the start of one row to the start of the next (may be ≥ width×PixelStride if the driver pads each row). Use both values when copying to avoid tearing. |
So, when you request **`YUV_420_888`** from the ML camera:
1. Read **`planes[0]`** for Y.
2. Read **`planes[1]`** for the interleaved UV.
_**`planes[2]`** provides VU which can be ignored in our instance_
Below you’ll find:
1. An **AsyncCameraCapture** script that starts the camera, subscribes to the ML Camera events, and passes frames to our visualizer.
2. A **YUVCameraVisualizer** script (the main worker) that takes the Y, U, and V planes and converts them into textures on the GPU, supporting both the main thread callback and a faster native callback path.
3. A **YUV RG16 Shader** that samples the luma (Y) plane and interleaved chroma (UV) plane to produce an RGB output.
By relying on the **YUV** format, we avoid pushing full RGBA frames around, which is a huge performance win—especially at 4K. I also learned that while the ML camera feed might conceptually have three planes (Y, U, V), in **NV12** the second and third planes overlap in memory, so you only actually need to read the Y plane and the single interleaved UV plane.
Below are the scripts you can simply drag and drop into your ML2 Unity project. Then follow these steps:
1. **Import the attached scripts** (place them in your Assets folder).
2. **Attach the AsyncCameraCapture script** to any GameObject in your scene (e.g., an empty GameObject).
3. **Create a Quad** (or a plane) to display the camera feed. Position it in front of your camera.
4. **Attach the YUVCameraVisualizer script** to that Quad (the same GameObject with the MeshRenderer).
5. **Assign the YUV RG16 Shader** to the Visualizer’s Shader field (or set it in the inspector).
6. **Assign the YUVCameraVisualizer** reference inside the AsyncCamera component (the “Visualizer” field).
7. **Run** your scene on device: you should see the camera feed rendered on your Quad, at high resolution!
[AsyncCameraCapture.cs](https://forum.magicleap.cloud/uploads/short-url/qhlUM15K1jQh6mVIdR0YtJgnuBM.cs) (11.7 KB)
[YUVVisualizerNative.cs](https://forum.magicleap.cloud/uploads/short-url/kHQPBd6YICJH4IDlkaFy5nKsRQY.cs) (10.3 KB)
[YUV\_RG16\_Shader.shader](https://forum.magicleap.cloud/uploads/short-url/96CDxcD7dav05JmamE95yQbtMRd.shader) (2.9 KB)
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### Author:  [@kbabilinski](https://forum.magicleap.cloud/u/kbabilinski)
#### Post date: [April 27, 2025, 5:42pm UTC](https://forum.magicleap.cloud/t/unity-rendering-yuv-4k-camera-stream/5612/2 "2025-04-27T17:42:14Z")
Here is a **managed version** of the visualizer that does not require enabling the `unsafe` flag in the project settings. Note the scripts are named the same so only one can be in your project at a time unless you rename the script and it’s reference in the AsyncCameraCapture script.
> ****
>
> [YUVCameraVisualizer.cs](https://forum.magicleap.cloud/uploads/short-url/khcvjzN5VXZT2NWIOSN9SJoXwq1.cs) (6.4 KB)