Accelerating video data decoding is described. In one aspect, hardware accelerated video decoding operations are configured to decode source video data in a first encoded data format. During video data processing operations, the source video data is evaluated to detect any change in the encoding format. Responsive to detecting a change in the source video data encoding, wherein the changed encoding is at least partially incompatible with the first encoded data format, the hardware accelerated video decoding operations are dynamically reconfigured. The reconfigured decoding operations decode the source video data content based on the changed encoded data format.