YouTube gets HDR support

Google has added HDR support for YouTube. Starting today, content creators will be able to upload HDR videos to their channels and those with compatible devices will be able to watch them.

HDR or High Dynamic Range provides a wider dynamic range for your content, making the whites brighter and the darks darker while simultaneously increasing the detail in both areas. Along with that it also features richer colors due to 10-bit encoding. This results in a much more dynamic experience with richer, truer to life content.

Google has teamed up with some YouTubers who have uploaded some HDR videos right now, such as the one above, and more will be coming shortly.

As for hardware support, so far the Chromecast Ultra is the only device to support YouTube HDR. Soon all 2016 Samsung SUHD and UHD televisions are also expected to get this feature. There is still no word on support for other HDR enabled televisions that have YouTube player from other manufacturers, as well as for devices such as Xbox One S, PlayStation 4, and Google’s own Android TV devices.

If you don’t have an HDR enabled television with the supported player then you can still watch the HDR videos on your existing devices but it will automatically be scaled back to standard dynamic range and color.

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