diff --git a/tests/entrypoints/openai_api/test_video_server.py b/tests/entrypoints/openai_api/test_video_server.py
index 86757e56d..65d285217 100644
--- a/tests/entrypoints/openai_api/test_video_server.py
+++ b/tests/entrypoints/openai_api/test_video_server.py
@@ -548,6 +548,23 @@ def test_multi_video_generation_preserves_uploaded_files_until_generation(
     assert engine.captured_sampling_params_list[0].extra_args["duration"] == 15.0
 
 
+def test_decode_video_bytes_can_keep_first_frames():
+    from vllm_omni.entrypoints.openai.video_api_utils import _decode_video_bytes
+
+    frames = _decode_video_bytes(
+        _make_test_video_bytes((32, 24), num_frames=6),
+        source="input_reference",
+        max_frames=2,
+        keep="first",
+    )
+
+    assert len(frames) == 2
+    assert frames.fps == pytest.approx(8.0)
+    red_means = [np.asarray(frame)[:, :, 0].mean() for frame in frames]
+    assert red_means[0] < red_means[1]
+    assert red_means[1] < 100
+
+
 def test_decode_video_bytes_can_keep_last_frames():
     from vllm_omni.entrypoints.openai.video_api_utils import _decode_video_bytes
 
diff --git a/vllm_omni/entrypoints/openai/video_api_utils.py b/vllm_omni/entrypoints/openai/video_api_utils.py
index f0d2a59f2..4421d74a2 100644
--- a/vllm_omni/entrypoints/openai/video_api_utils.py
+++ b/vllm_omni/entrypoints/openai/video_api_utils.py
@@ -8,7 +8,6 @@ from __future__ import annotations
 
 import base64
 import binascii
-from collections import deque
 from io import BytesIO
 from typing import Any, Literal
 
@@ -16,6 +15,12 @@ import httpx
 import numpy as np
 import torch
 from PIL import Image, UnidentifiedImageError
+from vllm.multimodal.video import (
+    VIDEO_LOADER_REGISTRY,
+    VideoBackend,
+    VideoSourceMetadata,
+    VideoTargetMetadata,
+)
 
 from vllm_omni.entrypoints.openai.errors import InvalidInputReferenceError
 from vllm_omni.entrypoints.openai.protocol.videos import (
@@ -58,6 +63,30 @@ def _decode_image_bytes(image_bytes: bytes, *, source: str) -> Image.Image:
         raise InvalidInputReferenceError(f"Invalid {source}: provided content is not a valid image.") from exc
 
 
+@VIDEO_LOADER_REGISTRY.register("omni")
+class OmniVideoBackend(VideoBackend):
+    """Video backend that selects sequential first-N or last-N frames."""
+
+    @classmethod
+    def compute_frames_index_to_sample(
+        cls,
+        source: VideoSourceMetadata,
+        target: VideoTargetMetadata,
+        *,
+        keep: Literal["first", "last"] = "first",
+        **kwargs,
+    ) -> list[int]:
+        num_frames_to_sample = source.total_frames_num
+        if target.num_frames > 0:
+            num_frames_to_sample = min(num_frames_to_sample, target.num_frames)
+        num_frames_to_sample = max(1, num_frames_to_sample)
+        if num_frames_to_sample >= source.total_frames_num:
+            return list(range(source.total_frames_num))
+        if keep == "last":
+            return list(range(source.total_frames_num - num_frames_to_sample, source.total_frames_num))
+        return list(range(num_frames_to_sample))
+
+
 def _decode_video_bytes(
     video_bytes: bytes,
     *,
@@ -65,45 +94,29 @@ def _decode_video_bytes(
     max_frames: int | None = None,
     keep: Literal["first", "last"] = "first",
 ) -> VideoFrames:
-    try:
-        import av
-    except ImportError as exc:  # pragma: no cover - av is a serving dependency via media_utils
-        raise InvalidInputReferenceError(f"Invalid {source}: video decoding requires PyAV.") from exc
-
     if keep not in {"first", "last"}:
         raise InvalidInputReferenceError(f"Invalid {source}: video frame selection must be 'first' or 'last'.")
     if max_frames is not None and max_frames <= 0:
         raise InvalidInputReferenceError(f"Invalid {source}: max video frames must be positive.")
 
-    frames: list[Image.Image] = []
-    tail_frames: deque[Image.Image] | None = (
-        deque(maxlen=max_frames) if keep == "last" and max_frames is not None else None
-    )
-    fps: float | None = None
+    loader = VIDEO_LOADER_REGISTRY.load("omni")
+    num_frames = max_frames if max_frames is not None else -1
     try:
-        with av.open(BytesIO(video_bytes)) as container:
-            video_stream = container.streams.video[0] if container.streams.video else None
-            if video_stream is not None:
-                fps = (
-                    positive_float(getattr(video_stream, "average_rate", None))
-                    or positive_float(getattr(video_stream, "base_rate", None))
-                    or positive_float(getattr(video_stream, "guessed_rate", None))
-                )
-            for frame in container.decode(video=0):
-                image = frame.to_image().convert("RGB")
-                if tail_frames is not None:
-                    tail_frames.append(image)
-                else:
-                    frames.append(image)
-                if keep == "first" and max_frames is not None and len(frames) >= max_frames:
-                    break
+        frames_array, metadata = loader.load_bytes(
+            video_bytes,
+            num_frames=num_frames,
+            backend="pyav",
+            keep=keep,
+        )
     except Exception as exc:
         raise InvalidInputReferenceError(f"Invalid {source}: provided content is not a valid video.") from exc
 
-    if tail_frames is not None:
-        frames = list(tail_frames)
+    fps: float | None = positive_float(metadata.get("fps"))
+
+    frames = [Image.fromarray(f, "RGB") for f in frames_array]
     if not frames:
         raise InvalidInputReferenceError(f"Invalid {source}: provided content is not a valid video.")
+
     return VideoFrames(frames, fps=fps)