HDR Video on Instagram & YouTube: Fix Washed-Out Clips

HDR video looks wrong on social media for one of two reasons: an app or editor treats it as ordinary SDR video, which makes it look flat and washed out, or a phone shows it in full HDR next to SDR posts, which makes it look far brighter than everything around it. YouTube and Instagram both accept HDR and create an SDR version for screens that can't show it; TikTok publishes nothing about HDR uploads that we could find. If you want predictable results everywhere, export SDR (Rec. 709); if you want HDR, upload it where the platform documents support.

Everything below was checked on 1 November 2026 on YouTube Help, Apple Support, Vimeo Help and Meta's engineering blog, and we say where a platform publishes nothing. More in our video formats, codecs and numbers guides.

The short answer

Phones such as iPhone record HDR video by default (Dolby Vision, 10-bit HEVC with HLG). YouTube accepts HDR if the file is tagged Rec. 2020 with PQ or HLG at 10 or 12-bit, and makes an SDR copy itself. Instagram and Facebook Reels keep HDR and send SDR to devices without HDR, but tone-mapped copies can look too bright or too dark. TikTok doesn't document HDR. For consistent results, turn off HDR Video (iPhone: Settings > Camera > Record Video) or export SDR Rec. 709 before posting.

Key takeaways

Washed out = HDR shown as if it were SDR. Too bright = HDR shown as HDR next to dimmer SDR content.
YouTube HDR needs Rec. 2020 primaries, PQ or HLG, 10 or 12-bit, and HDR metadata; YouTube makes the SDR version.
Meta says Instagram and Facebook Reels keep HDR uploads and deliver SDR to devices without HDR; since June 2025 Instagram keeps iPhone Dolby Vision metadata.
TikTok, X and LinkedIn publish no HDR upload guidance that we could find, so treat SDR as the safe export.
To convert, tone map: switch HDR off in iMovie's share options, use an SDR Rec. 709 timeline in your editor, or FFmpeg's zscale and tonemap filters.

Why does HDR video look washed out or too bright?

HDR video stores brightness with a different curve (PQ or HLG) and wider colours (Rec. 2020) than SDR video (Rec. 709). When software reads it correctly on an HDR screen, highlights are much brighter than SDR. When it doesn't, the picture is wrong in a predictable way:

What you see	Likely cause	Fix
Flat, grey, washed-out colour	The HDR file is displayed or converted as if it were SDR, without tone mapping	Export SDR with tone mapping, or turn HDR off when recording
Much brighter than other posts	The phone shows HDR in full while the rest of the feed is SDR; Meta notes iOS dims SDR content when HDR is on screen	Expected behaviour for HDR; post SDR if you want it to match
Too dark or oddly coloured after posting	The platform's automatic tone mapping to SDR; Meta's blog says tone-mapped videos may be too bright or too dark	Do the SDR conversion yourself so you control it
Soft or blurry on Instagram	Usually bitrate and size, sometimes the HDR conversion	See why is my Instagram video blurry

How do YouTube, Instagram and TikTok handle HDR?

Platform	HDR uploads	Viewers without HDR	Source
YouTube	Yes, with requirements (below)	Get an SDR version YouTube makes automatically; you can supply a LUT to guide it	YouTube Help
Instagram Reels	Yes, from the phone's camera roll	Get an SDR encode made on Meta's servers	Meta Engineering, 2023
Instagram on iPhone	Dolby Vision metadata kept since June 2025 (AV1 delivery)	SDR version for devices without HDR	Meta Engineering, 2025
Facebook Reels	Yes (2023); Dolby Vision support in progress	SDR encode	Meta Engineering, 2023 and 2025
Vimeo	HDR10, HLG (converted to PQ), Dolby Vision profile 8.4	Get an SDR rendition	Vimeo Help
TikTok, X, LinkedIn	Not documented	Not documented	No public page found

Meta's 2023 post explains what used to go wrong: before its pipeline handled 10-bit colour, HDR uploads showed overexposed colours, and early Android HDR Reels looked washed out because Android phones record PQ or HLG with no standard tone mapping. Its 2025 post says Instagram for iOS was Meta's first app to keep iPhone Dolby Vision metadata from capture to playback; it doesn't describe the same for Android.

For TikTok we found no help page on HDR uploads, so we can't say what it does with an HDR file; test a private post, or export SDR. The same goes for X and LinkedIn. Sizes for Reels are in Instagram Reels size.

YouTube HDR upload requirements

YouTube's HDR help page lists what an HDR upload needs:

Colour primaries and matrix: Rec. 2020 (non-constant luminance matrix).
Transfer function: PQ or HLG (Rec. 2100).
Bit depth: 10 or 12 bits.
Codec: VP9 Profile 2, AV1 or HEVC recommended; ProRes, DNxHR and H.264 10-bit work but need very high bitrates.
Container: MOV, MP4 or MKV.
Metadata: required in the codec or container; PQ files should also carry mastering display data (SMPTE ST 2086, MaxFALL, MaxCLL).

YouTube recommends 10 Mbps for 1080p HDR at 24 to 30 fps (15 at 48 to 60) and 44 to 56 Mbps for 4K (66 to 85 at high frame rates). Once it's processed, the quality menu shows labels such as 1080p HDR on HDR-capable devices. Apple's own advice for YouTube is to export an HLG master from Final Cut Pro and upload it in a web browser. SDR settings are in the best export settings for YouTube.

The iPhone HDR Video setting

Apple says supported iPhone models record video in Dolby Vision HDR by default. Meta and Vimeo both describe that format as HEVC 10-bit with HLG, Dolby Vision profile 8.4, which players without Dolby Vision read as HLG.

Open Settings > Camera > Record Video.
Turn off HDR Video (called HDR on some models) to record SDR.
Turn it back on for footage you'll grade or post as HDR on YouTube or Vimeo.

Turning it off is the simplest fix if most of your clips go to apps that don't document HDR, or if you edit on a computer that doesn't handle HDR well. On Android, HDR video is a camera setting on some models and named differently by each maker.

How to convert HDR to SDR

You convert HDR to SDR with tone mapping, which compresses the HDR brightness range into Rec. 709 instead of just relabelling the file. Pick the route that matches your tools:

On iPhone or iPad, in iMovie

Apple's support page says to tap Options when sharing and turn HDR off to export SDR. iMovie on Mac shares in SDR; to share HDR from a Mac, Apple says to send the project to Final Cut Pro.

In a desktop editor

Put the HDR clip on an SDR (Rec. 709) timeline and let the editor's colour management tone map it, then check skies and faces before export. Final Cut Pro, Premiere Pro and DaVinci Resolve all handle HDR, but the setting names differ, so follow your editor's colour-management help.

With FFmpeg

ffmpeg -i in.mov -vf "zscale=t=linear:npl=100,format=gbrpf32le,zscale=p=bt709,tonemap=tonemap=hable:desat=0,zscale=t=bt709:m=bt709:r=tv,format=yuv420p" -c:v libx264 -crf 18 -preset slow -c:a aac -b:a 192k out.mp4

FFmpeg's documentation explains why the chain looks like this: the tonemap filter only works on linear light, so zscale linearises the video first and converts it back to BT.709 afterwards. zscale is only present in builds compiled with libzimg; most full builds include it. The docs describe hable as keeping detail in brights and darks at the cost of slightly darker results, and mobius as better for colour accuracy; try both on a few seconds.

Frequently asked questions

Why does my HDR video look washed out on Instagram?

Usually because somewhere between camera and viewer, the HDR file was shown or converted as if it were SDR. Export SDR yourself, or turn off HDR Video before recording.

Why is my Instagram video too bright?

On an HDR phone, Instagram can show your HDR clip in full HDR while the rest of the feed is SDR, so it looks much brighter. Post SDR if you want it to match.

Does TikTok support HDR?

TikTok doesn't publish HDR upload guidance that we could find, so we can't confirm how it handles HDR. SDR is the safe export.

How do I turn off HDR video on iPhone?

Settings > Camera > Record Video, then turn off HDR Video (or HDR, depending on the model).

Does YouTube support HDR?

Yes. Upload a 10 or 12-bit file tagged Rec. 2020 with PQ or HLG and HDR metadata; YouTube makes the SDR version for other screens.

Should I post HDR or SDR?

SDR for consistent colour across apps and screens; HDR on YouTube or Vimeo when you've graded it and want HDR viewers to see the extra range.

Try it with your own video

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Sources

Competitor details in this post were checked against these public pages in November 2026. Products and prices change, so confirm with each vendor before you decide.

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