diff --git a/services/surfaceflinger/DisplayUtils.cpp b/services/surfaceflinger/DisplayUtils.cpp
index b2ca16630..a07e69eda 100644
--- a/services/surfaceflinger/DisplayUtils.cpp
+++ b/services/surfaceflinger/DisplayUtils.cpp
@@ -175,8 +175,14 @@ bool DisplayUtils::canAllocateHwcDisplayIdForVDS(int usage) {
     int flag_mask = 0xffffffff;
 
 #ifdef QTI_BSP
+#ifdef FORCE_HWC_COPY_FOR_VIRTUAL_DISPLAYS
     // Reserve hardware acceleration for WFD use-case
     flag_mask = GRALLOC_USAGE_PRIVATE_WFD;
+#else
+    // Don't allocate HWC display unless we force HWC copy, otherwise
+    // incompatible buffers are sent to the media stack
+    flag_mask = 0;
+#endif
 #endif
 
     return (usage & flag_mask);