diff --git a/services/surfaceflinger/Android.mk b/services/surfaceflinger/Android.mk
index d325e4d..3aab4cf 100644
--- a/services/surfaceflinger/Android.mk
+++ b/services/surfaceflinger/Android.mk
@@ -65,10 +65,6 @@
         DisplayHardware/HWComposer_hwc1.cpp
 endif
 
-ifeq ($(TARGET_FORCE_HWC_FOR_VIRTUAL_DISPLAYS),true)
-    LOCAL_CFLAGS += -DFORCE_HWC_COPY_FOR_VIRTUAL_DISPLAYS
-endif
-
 ifneq ($(NUM_FRAMEBUFFER_SURFACE_BUFFERS),)
     LOCAL_CFLAGS += -DNUM_FRAMEBUFFER_SURFACE_BUFFERS=$(NUM_FRAMEBUFFER_SURFACE_BUFFERS)
 endif
diff --git a/services/surfaceflinger/DisplayHardware/VirtualDisplaySurface.cpp b/services/surfaceflinger/DisplayHardware/VirtualDisplaySurface.cpp
index 6f253ab..8217540 100644
--- a/services/surfaceflinger/DisplayHardware/VirtualDisplaySurface.cpp
+++ b/services/surfaceflinger/DisplayHardware/VirtualDisplaySurface.cpp
@@ -17,6 +17,7 @@
 // #define LOG_NDEBUG 0
 #include "VirtualDisplaySurface.h"
 #include "HWComposer.h"
+#include "SurfaceFlinger.h"
 
 #include <gui/BufferItem.h>
 #include <gui/BufferQueue.h>
@@ -26,12 +27,6 @@
 namespace android {
 // ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
 
-#if defined(FORCE_HWC_COPY_FOR_VIRTUAL_DISPLAYS)
-static const bool sForceHwcCopy = true;
-#else
-static const bool sForceHwcCopy = false;
-#endif
-
 #define VDS_LOGE(msg, ...) ALOGE("[%s] " msg, \
         mDisplayName.string(), ##__VA_ARGS__)
 #define VDS_LOGW_IF(cond, msg, ...) ALOGW_IF(cond, "[%s] " msg, \
@@ -74,7 +69,8 @@
     mOutputProducerSlot(BufferQueue::INVALID_BUFFER_SLOT),
     mDbgState(DBG_STATE_IDLE),
     mDbgLastCompositionType(COMPOSITION_UNKNOWN),
-    mMustRecompose(false)
+    mMustRecompose(false),
+    mForceHwcCopy(SurfaceFlinger::useHwcForRgbToYuv)
 {
     mSource[SOURCE_SINK] = sink;
     mSource[SOURCE_SCRATCH] = bqProducer;
@@ -137,7 +133,7 @@
     mDbgState = DBG_STATE_PREPARED;
 
     mCompositionType = compositionType;
-    if (sForceHwcCopy && mCompositionType == COMPOSITION_GLES) {
+    if (mForceHwcCopy && mCompositionType == COMPOSITION_GLES) {
         // Some hardware can do RGB->YUV conversion more efficiently in hardware
         // controlled by HWC than in hardware controlled by the video encoder.
         // Forcing GLES-composed frames to go through an extra copy by the HWC
diff --git a/services/surfaceflinger/DisplayHardware/VirtualDisplaySurface.h b/services/surfaceflinger/DisplayHardware/VirtualDisplaySurface.h
index ee2772a..5c0e084 100644
--- a/services/surfaceflinger/DisplayHardware/VirtualDisplaySurface.h
+++ b/services/surfaceflinger/DisplayHardware/VirtualDisplaySurface.h
@@ -255,6 +255,9 @@
 #ifdef USE_HWC2
     HWComposerBufferCache mHwcBufferCache;
 #endif
+
+
+    bool mForceHwcCopy;
 };
 
 // ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
diff --git a/services/surfaceflinger/SurfaceFlinger.cpp b/services/surfaceflinger/SurfaceFlinger.cpp
index 2eb880a..5f1d16f 100644
--- a/services/surfaceflinger/SurfaceFlinger.cpp
+++ b/services/surfaceflinger/SurfaceFlinger.cpp
@@ -114,6 +114,7 @@
 int64_t SurfaceFlinger::sfVsyncPhaseOffsetNs;
 bool SurfaceFlinger::useContextPriority;
 int64_t SurfaceFlinger::dispSyncPresentTimeOffset;
+bool SurfaceFlinger::useHwcForRgbToYuv;
 
 SurfaceFlinger::SurfaceFlinger()
     :   BnSurfaceComposer(),
@@ -172,6 +173,9 @@
     dispSyncPresentTimeOffset = getInt64< ISurfaceFlingerConfigs,
             &ISurfaceFlingerConfigs::presentTimeOffsetFromVSyncNs>(0);
 
+    useHwcForRgbToYuv = getBool< ISurfaceFlingerConfigs,
+            &ISurfaceFlingerConfigs::useHwcForRGBtoYUV>(false);
+
     // debugging stuff...
     char value[PROPERTY_VALUE_MAX];
 
@@ -3238,6 +3242,7 @@
         result.append(" DISABLE_TRIPLE_BUFFERING");
 
     result.appendFormat(" PRESENT_TIME_OFFSET=%" PRId64 , dispSyncPresentTimeOffset);
+    result.appendFormat(" FORCE_HWC_FOR_RBG_TO_YUV=%d", useHwcForRgbToYuv);
     result.append("]");
 }
 
diff --git a/services/surfaceflinger/SurfaceFlinger.h b/services/surfaceflinger/SurfaceFlinger.h
index 0b4be4a..e6ccc41 100644
--- a/services/surfaceflinger/SurfaceFlinger.h
+++ b/services/surfaceflinger/SurfaceFlinger.h
@@ -136,6 +136,12 @@
     // signaling time.
     static int64_t dispSyncPresentTimeOffset;
 
+    // Some hardware can do RGB->YUV conversion more efficiently in hardware
+    // controlled by HWC than in hardware controlled by the video encoder.
+    // This instruct VirtualDisplaySurface to use HWC for such conversion on
+    // GL composition.
+    static bool useHwcForRgbToYuv;
+
     static char const* getServiceName() ANDROID_API {
         return "SurfaceFlinger";
     }
diff --git a/services/surfaceflinger/SurfaceFlinger_hwc1.cpp b/services/surfaceflinger/SurfaceFlinger_hwc1.cpp
index eee0a46..6f6c08b 100644
--- a/services/surfaceflinger/SurfaceFlinger_hwc1.cpp
+++ b/services/surfaceflinger/SurfaceFlinger_hwc1.cpp
@@ -113,6 +113,7 @@
 int64_t SurfaceFlinger::sfVsyncPhaseOffsetNs;
 bool SurfaceFlinger::useContextPriority;
 int64_t SurfaceFlinger::dispSyncPresentTimeOffset;
+bool SurfaceFlinger::useHwcForRgbToYuv;
 
 SurfaceFlinger::SurfaceFlinger()
     :   BnSurfaceComposer(),
@@ -163,6 +164,9 @@
     dispSyncPresentTimeOffset = getInt64< ISurfaceFlingerConfigs,
             &ISurfaceFlingerConfigs::presentTimeOffsetFromVSyncNs>(0);
 
+    useHwcForRgbToYuv = getBool< ISurfaceFlingerConfigs,
+            &ISurfaceFlingerConfigs::useHwcForRGBtoYUV>(false);
+
     char value[PROPERTY_VALUE_MAX];
 
     property_get("ro.bq.gpu_to_cpu_unsupported", value, "0");
@@ -3008,7 +3012,9 @@
 
     if (isLayerTripleBufferingDisabled())
         result.append(" DISABLE_TRIPLE_BUFFERING");
+
     result.appendFormat(" PRESENT_TIME_OFFSET=%" PRId64, dispSyncPresentTimeOffset);
+    result.appendFormat(" FORCE_HWC_FOR_RBG_TO_YUV=%d", useHwcForRgbToYuv);
     result.append("]");
 }