HDR Clips

HDR clips

ShadePlay guide › Your clips

When a clip is recorded in HDR, what kind of HDR it is, and how to watch it.

When a clip is HDR

A clip is HDR when Windows HDR is on for the recorded monitor (Windows Settings > System > Display > HDR) and the advanced setting HDR is at its default, HDR when Windows HDR is on. Otherwise it is SDR.

• Always SDR (tone-mapped) in Video settings makes SDR clips from an HDR desktop: ShadePlay converts the picture to SDR while recording.
• H.264 clips are always SDR and 8-bit. AV1 and HEVC can do both.

An SDR game on an HDR desktop

With Windows HDR on, an SDR game is recorded through the same HDR path as everything else. That way, alt-tabbing between the game and the desktop, or between an SDR and an HDR game, never splits or breaks a clip.

Switching Windows HDR on or off, or changing the resolution, is different: ShadePlay starts a new recording session for the new picture. The replay before the switch stays separate: a clip holds one side of the switch, never both.

What kind of HDR

HDR clips are HDR10: BT.2020 colours, the PQ brightness curve, 10 bits per colour, with the brightness range of your monitor written into the file (mastering display metadata). The brightest-pixel values (content light level) are left out, because ShadePlay can't know them while recording.

SDR clips

SDR clips are 10-bit by default (10-bit SDR clips in the advanced Video settings), which gives smoother gradients in skies and dark scenes. Untick it for 8-bit SDR clips.

Watching HDR clips

• On an HDR screen: use a player that shows HDR video, such as VLC or the Windows Media Player app (with Microsoft's AV1 or HEVC Video Extension; see Playing, sharing and YouTube).
• On an SDR screen: a good player adapts the HDR picture to the screen (tone mapping). Players that can't do that show HDR clips washed out and grey. That is the player, not the clip.
• YouTube keeps HDR. The HDR version appears a few hours after the upload; until then YouTube shows an SDR version.

If you mostly share clips with people on SDR screens and players you don't control, Always SDR (tone-mapped) is the safe choice.

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Next: Playing, sharing and YouTube

See also: Video settings · Monitors and displays · Glossary