diff --git a/services/surfaceflinger/Android.mk b/services/surfaceflinger/Android.mk
index c3daa64d9..1a8f24375 100644
--- a/services/surfaceflinger/Android.mk
+++ b/services/surfaceflinger/Android.mk
@@ -51,6 +51,12 @@ ifeq ($(TARGET_DISABLE_TRIPLE_BUFFERING),true)
 	LOCAL_CFLAGS += -DTARGET_DISABLE_TRIPLE_BUFFERING
 endif
 
+ifneq ($(TARGET_FORCE_HWC_FOR_VIRTUAL_DISPLAYS),)
+    LOCAL_CFLAGS += -DFORCE_HWC_COPY_FOR_VIRTUAL_DISPLAYS=false
+else
+    LOCAL_CFLAGS += -DFORCE_HWC_COPY_FOR_VIRTUAL_DISPLAYS=true
+endif
+
 ifneq ($(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 29e9d4097..0d6cbb4c9 100644
--- a/services/surfaceflinger/DisplayHardware/VirtualDisplaySurface.cpp
+++ b/services/surfaceflinger/DisplayHardware/VirtualDisplaySurface.cpp
@@ -22,6 +22,8 @@
 namespace android {
 // ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
 
+static bool sForceHwcCopy = FORCE_HWC_COPY_FOR_VIRTUAL_DISPLAYS;
+
 #define VDS_LOGE(msg, ...) ALOGE("[%s] "msg, \
         mDisplayName.string(), ##__VA_ARGS__)
 #define VDS_LOGW_IF(cond, msg, ...) ALOGW_IF(cond, "[%s] "msg, \
@@ -96,6 +98,18 @@ status_t VirtualDisplaySurface::prepareFrame(CompositionType compositionType) {
     mDbgState = DBG_STATE_PREPARED;
 
     mCompositionType = compositionType;
+    if (sForceHwcCopy && 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
+        // allows the format conversion to happen there, rather than passing RGB
+        // directly to the consumer.
+        //
+        // On the other hand, when the consumer prefers RGB or can consume RGB
+        // inexpensively, this forces an unnecessary copy.
+        mCompositionType = COMPOSITION_MIXED;
+    }
+
     if (mCompositionType != mDbgLastCompositionType) {
         VDS_LOGV("prepareFrame: composition type changed to %s",
                 dbgCompositionTypeStr(mCompositionType));