Windows 10: How to get HDR video on your Windows 10 PC

Brink · Aug 27, 2018

When you’re watching high dynamic range (HDR) video on your PC, colors are more vivid. You find more details in the darkest and brightest parts of a scene, such as dimly lit rooms or a blazing fire. You notice more contrast, with a pronounced difference between lights and shadows.

To see how HDR video compares to traditional content (SDR), look at the images below. The SDR version, in general, is more flat and washed out. With an actual video on an HDR-capable PC, the difference is like night and day – literally.

HDR video still

SDR video still

Simulation of HDR content vs. SDR content

Windows HD Color is a set of features bringing HDR content to Windows PCs. Our team works hard to improve the quality of every pixel on your display, including better colors and more vivid scenes. The goal is to help you get ultra-realistic movie, gaming and creative experiences in Windows 10.

To enjoy HDR video, you need the right content, hardware and software. As more HDR hardware and content come to market, we’re committed to giving you the best HDR experiences.

How to Change Video Playback Settings in Windows 10

How to Calibrate Display for HDR Video in Windows 10

How to Turn On or Off Auto Adjust Video Based on Lighting in Windows 10

In settings, you’ll be able to choose “Stream HDR Video” in the Video Playback if your display supports HDR video

HDR is a dramatic improvement over traditional SDR (standard dynamic range) content in two ways: light and color.

When it comes to light, HDR video takes advantage of new hardware that can show much higher contrast between the brightest whites and the darkest blacks on your screen. HDR video encodes additional information into your content (and allows for a much higher peak brightness) so you can see much more detail across the entire spectrum of display capabilities. For example, in a single frame of HDR video, the sun will appear distinctly brighter, details on the brightest surfaces will be sharper, and the darkest shadows will appear with terrific detail.

With respect to color, HDR video also improves over traditional content in two ways. First, it typically uses wider color gamut (WCG) when encoding information, meaning that it shows a wider range of colors compared to traditional SDR content. This results in, for example, increasingly saturated hues of color. Second, color is more precise with HDR. This is because it can represent many more unique shades even within the same range of color. On new HDR-capable hardware, these two color-related improvements result in much deeper and more vivid reds, greens, and blues, and allows for more gradations of color in-between.

How can I get HDR video?

With Windows HD Color, our goal is to make HDR video look as good as possible using the fullest extent of your PC’s capabilities. Since fully HDR-capable, built-in displays aren’t on laptops today, our efforts are focused on:

1. Playing HDR video on external HDR10 displays

In the Windows 10 Fall Creators update, Windows supports external HDR TVs and monitors. Among other features, this allows Windows to consume HDR video and show full HDR quality (i.e., HDR features described above like higher peak brightness, wider color gamut, and more accurate color). You will also need a modern graphics card and updated drivers.

To get HDR, go to Settings > System > Display, and turn on “HDR and WCG.”

Display settings for HDR-capable external monitor

For more info on HDR on external monitors, see Display requirements for HDR video in Windows 10.

2. Improving video on current generation built-in displays (i.e., laptops)

Currently, most laptop displays don’t truly support HDR content, particularly when it comes to color (they do not have wider color gamuts nor higher color precision). Nevertheless, medium- to high-end models tend to have bright screens. We can combine these bright screens with the expanded range of brightness information available in HDR video formats so that Windows plays HDR video at its best for that display.

Playback quality of HDR content on these devices is noticeably better than the SDR version of the same content. This is particularly apparent in scenes where movie creators have mastered their content to fully exploit new HDR technologies.

While this update for built-in displays focused on the better brightness of HDR content, in the future we are working on bringing you better color.

Only devices that meet certain hardware requirements will be capable of playing HDR video.
Click to expand...

Read more: Windows 10 Tip: Find out how to get HDR video on your PC - Windows Experience Blog

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Eric Ber · Aug 27, 2018

can not turn on 10-bit video decoding for enabiling HDR mode

Hi tahmid alam fahim,

To play streaming high dynamic range (HDR) video in Windows 10 (version 1803), the built-in display for your laptop, tablet, or 2-in-1 PC needs to support HDR. To find the specifications for a specific laptop or tablet, visit the device manufacturer’s website.

Here are the requirements:

The built-in display needs to have a resolution of 1080p or more, and a recommended max brightness of 300 nits or more.

The Windows 10 device needs to have an integrated graphics card that supports PlayReady hardware digital rights management (for protected HDR content), and it must have the required codecs installed for 10-bit video decoding. (For example, devices that
have a 7th Generation Intel Core processor, code-named Kaby Lake, support this.)

To check if your Windows 10 PC has the required hardware to display HDR, and to find out if your display supports HDR10, yo ucan follow the steps below:

Press the Windows logo key + R, type
dxdiag, and then select OK.

Select Yes at the prompt.

In the DirectX Diagnostic Tool, on the System
tab, look in the System Information area.

To save the information to a file, select Save all
information, and then name and save the text file.

Open the text file, and look at the value for HDR Support. If it says
Supported, this indicates that your display supports HDR10.

Upon researching, I have checked that your device does not support HDR mode. You can check this

link for more information.

Should you have further queries, feel free to post it.

R-T-B · Aug 27, 2018

HDR Washed out on Windows 10

I believe I've finally found something that works for HDR on Windows 10.

When on the desktop and in games that do not have an in-game option to activate HDR, got to Nvidia Control Panel then to Change Resolution.

After that, scroll to the bottom to option 3 and select Use Nvidia color settings. It should be set 32-bit RGB 8bpc Limited by default. Simply change the Output dynamic range from Limited to Full.

I definitely noticed a color change after doing this despite the TV not saying HDR in Info section.

Only do this for desktop or games that do not have an ingame option to activate HDR. If you do, it will look overly bright.

Also, make sure you have HDR on on your TV. In my case it was in Settings - General - External Device Manager - HDMI UHD Color then just select whichever input you have the PC plugged into.

My TV model is a Samsung UN40MU6300 and am now running on the latest Windows 10 build (1803), hope this helps someone!
Click to expand...

That was suggested in post number 3 I thought?

Lex Arsitov · Aug 27, 2018

Windows 10 on Sony XD800 4k HDR are missing setting HDR on/off

Hello Lex,

The missing HDR settings might be due to a driver incompatibility. It would be great if you can tell us more about your concern. Please verify the following information:

When did the issue start?

Did you notice any system setting changes prior to the issue?

Are you getting any error messages?

What troubleshooting steps have you tried so far?

Have you installed the latest updates for Windows 10?

What is the Version and OS Build of your Windows 10 PC?

To verify the Version and OS Build of your Windows 10 PC, click the Start button, type About
your PC, and then press Enter.
Click to expand...

Hello Devlin,

The issue start after buy new TV (Sony XD800) and update to "creaters update" on "win 10" which support hdr.

If stream 4k hdr content from from WMP to TV, all work is well.

Now use Win 10 - 10.0.16299 build 16299.

For troubleshooting I change resolution\color depth\video driver. On TV setup "enchanced mode" on hdmi.

Windows 10: How to get HDR video on your Windows 10 PC

How to get HDR video on your Windows 10 PC

How to get HDR video on your Windows 10 PC

How to get HDR video on your Windows 10 PC

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