---
title: HDR Rendering
description: "Render compositions to HDR10 MP4 (BT.2020 PQ or HLG, 10-bit H.265) when sources contain HDR video or images."
---

Hyperframes can render to HDR10 MP4 (H.265 10-bit, BT.2020) when your composition references HDR video or HDR still images. HDR is auto-detected by default from your media sources and falls back to SDR when none are present.

<Note>
  By default, Hyperframes probes your media and enables HDR only when HDR sources are present. Use `--hdr` to force HDR even without HDR sources, or `--sdr` to force SDR even when HDR sources are present.
</Note>

## Quickstart

<Steps>
  <Step title="Add an HDR source to your composition">
    Hyperframes detects HDR from the source's color space metadata. The most reliable HDR sources are:

    - **HDR video** tagged BT.2020 with PQ (`smpte2084`) or HLG (`arib-std-b67`) transfer
    - **HDR still images** as 16-bit PNG with BT.2020 PQ encoding

    See [Source Media](#source-media-requirements) for full details.
  </Step>
  <Step title="Render normally">
    ```bash Terminal
    npx hyperframes render --output output.mp4
    ```

    HDR output requires `--format mp4`. If Hyperframes detects HDR sources, it renders HDR automatically. If you also pass `--format mov` or `--format webm`, Hyperframes logs a warning and falls back to SDR.
  </Step>
  <Step title="Verify the output is HDR">
    Use `ffprobe` to confirm the encoded stream carries HDR color tagging and HDR10 metadata:

    ```bash Terminal
    ffprobe -v error -show_streams output.mp4 | grep -E 'color_transfer|color_primaries|color_space'
    ```

    See [Verifying HDR output](#verifying-hdr-output) for what to look for.
  </Step>
</Steps>

## How HDR Mode Works

During render, the producer:

<Steps>
  <Step title="Probes every video and image source">
    Runs `ffprobe` on each `<video>` and `<img>` source to read its color space (primaries, transfer function, matrix). This probe drives the default auto-detect behavior and is skipped only when you explicitly force SDR with `--sdr`.
  </Step>
  <Step title="Picks the dominant HDR transfer">
    If any source uses PQ (`smpte2084`), the output uses **PQ**. Otherwise, if any source uses HLG (`arib-std-b67`), the output uses **HLG**. If no HDR sources are found, the render stays SDR.
  </Step>
  <Step title="Encodes to H.265 10-bit BT.2020">
    The video encoder switches to `libx265` with `-pix_fmt yuv420p10le`, color tagging `colorprim=bt2020:transfer=<smpte2084|arib-std-b67>:colormatrix=bt2020nc`, and HDR10 static metadata (`master-display` and `max-cll`). Without that metadata, players (QuickTime, YouTube, HDR TVs) tone-map the stream as if it were SDR BT.2020 — which looks wrong.
  </Step>
  <Step title="Composites HDR sources natively, converts SDR overlays">
    HDR videos and images are extracted as 16-bit linear-light pixels via FFmpeg, kept out of the DOM screenshot, and composited server-side at full bit depth. SDR DOM overlays (text, shapes, UI from your HTML) are converted from **sRGB** to **BT.2020** before being layered on top, so colors do not shift.
  </Step>
</Steps>

## Source Media Requirements

### HDR video

Hyperframes recognizes HDR video from its `ffprobe` color space metadata:

| Indicator | Recognized as HDR |
|-----------|-------------------|
| `color_primaries` contains `bt2020` | Yes |
| `color_space` contains `bt2020` | Yes |
| `color_transfer = smpte2084` (PQ) | Yes — PQ |
| `color_transfer = arib-std-b67` (HLG) | Yes — HLG |
| All else (e.g. `bt709`, `smpte170m`) | No — treated as SDR |

A valid HDR source is any MP4 whose stream metadata reports BT.2020 primaries plus PQ or HLG transfer. Hyperframes will detect it automatically:

```bash Terminal
ffprobe -v error -show_streams assets/clip.mp4 | grep color
# color_primaries=bt2020
# color_transfer=smpte2084
# color_space=bt2020nc
```

### HDR still images

Hyperframes supports HDR still images delivered as **16-bit PNGs** tagged with BT.2020 primaries and PQ transfer. Drop them into the composition as a normal `<img>`:

```html index.html
<img class="clip" data-start="0" data-duration="3"
     src="./assets/hdr-photo.png" />
```

When HDR is enabled, the image is decoded once to 16-bit linear-light RGB and composited natively into the HDR output.

<Note>
  HDR `<img>` decoding is limited to **16-bit PNG**. JPEG, WebP, AVIF, and APNG are not recognized as HDR sources — they load through the normal SDR DOM path. For HDR motion, use a `<video>` element.
</Note>

### SDR sources mixed with HDR

You can freely mix SDR and HDR media in the same composition:

- **SDR videos** stay in the DOM screenshot path and get the sRGB → BT.2020 conversion described above
- **HDR videos** are extracted natively at 16-bit and composited underneath the SDR DOM layer
- **SDR images and DOM elements** (text, shapes, gradients, GSAP animations) are converted from sRGB to BT.2020

This is the same pipeline that handles compositions where, for example, an HDR drone clip plays under an SDR lower-third with animated text.

## Output Format Requirements

| Output format | HDR supported |
|---------------|---------------|
| `mp4` | Yes — H.265 10-bit BT.2020, HDR10 metadata |
| `mov` | No — falls back to SDR |
| `webm` | No — falls back to SDR |
| `gif` | No — falls back to SDR |

If HDR is enabled and you also pass `--format mov`, `--format webm`, or `--format gif`, Hyperframes logs a message and produces the equivalent SDR render. There is no error — the render still completes — so check the logs (or your verification step) to confirm you got HDR.

## Verifying HDR Output

Use `ffprobe` to confirm both the color tagging and the HDR10 static metadata are present:

```bash Terminal
ffprobe -v error -show_streams -select_streams v:0 output.mp4 \
  | grep -E 'codec_name|pix_fmt|color_transfer|color_primaries|color_space'
```

For a PQ HDR10 render you should see:

```
codec_name=hevc
pix_fmt=yuv420p10le
color_space=bt2020nc
color_primaries=bt2020
color_transfer=smpte2084
```

Then check the HDR10 SEI / container boxes:

```bash Terminal
ffprobe -v error -show_frames -read_intervals "%+#1" \
  -show_entries frame=side_data_list output.mp4
```

You should see entries for **Mastering display metadata** and **Content light level metadata**. Without them, HDR-aware players will treat the file as SDR BT.2020 and the colors will look washed-out or wrong on an HDR display.

For HLG renders the only difference is `color_transfer=arib-std-b67` — the rest of the checks are the same.

## Docker Rendering

Docker uses the same auto-detect logic as local rendering, so you can produce HDR10 MP4 output from the containerized renderer without extra flags:

```bash Terminal
npx hyperframes render --docker --output output.mp4
```

The container runs the same probe → composite → encode pipeline as the local renderer. Verify the output with the same `ffprobe` checks described in [Verifying HDR output](#verifying-hdr-output).

<Note>
  Docker HDR rendering currently runs **CPU-side** for the SDR DOM layer (the container falls back to software WebGL because GPU passthrough is not configured by default). Frame capture is therefore slower than local headed Chrome — measure your own composition with `--quiet` off and compare wall-clock times before sizing CI runners. The encoded HDR10 metadata and pixel data are identical to a local render.
</Note>

## Limitations

- **MP4 only** — HDR output with `--format mov` or `--format webm` falls back to SDR
- **HDR images: 16-bit PNG only** — other formats (JPEG, WebP, AVIF, APNG) are not decoded as HDR and fall through the SDR DOM path
- **H.265 only — H.264 is stripped** — calling the encoder with `codec: "h264"` and `hdr: { transfer }` is rejected; the encoder logs a warning, drops `hdr`, and tags the output as SDR/BT.709. `libx264` cannot encode HDR, so the alternative would be a "half-HDR" file (BT.2020 container tags but a BT.709 VUI block in the bitstream) which confuses HDR-aware players.
- **GPU H.265 emits color tags but no static mastering metadata** — `useGpu: true` with HDR (nvenc, videotoolbox, amf, qsv, vaapi) tags the stream with BT.2020 + the correct transfer (smpte2084 / arib-std-b67) but does **not** embed `master-display` or `max-cll` SEI. ffmpeg does not let those flags pass through hardware encoders. The output is suitable for previews and authoring but not for HDR10-aware delivery (Apple TV, YouTube, Netflix). For spec-compliant HDR10 production output, leave `useGpu: false` so the SW `libx265` path embeds the mastering metadata.
- **Player support** — the [`<hyperframes-player>`](/packages/player) web component plays back the encoded MP4 in the browser and inherits whatever HDR support the host browser provides; it does not implement its own HDR pipeline
- **Headed Chrome HDR DOM capture** — the engine ships a separate WebGPU-based capture path for rendering CSS-animated DOM directly into HDR (`initHdrReadback`, `launchHdrBrowser`). It requires headed Chrome with `--enable-unsafe-webgpu` and is not used by the default render pipeline. See [Engine: HDR](/packages/engine#hdr-apis) if you are building a custom integration.

## Common Pitfalls

| Symptom | Likely cause |
|---------|--------------|
| Output looks identical to SDR | Source media is SDR, or SDR was forced with `--sdr`. Run `ffprobe` on your inputs and check the render logs |
| Output is "kind of HDR" but tone-mapped wrong on YouTube/QuickTime | Missing HDR10 static metadata on the encoded stream. Verify with the ffprobe snippet above |
| Docker render is much slower than local | Expected — the container falls back to software WebGL for SDR DOM capture. Pixel output is the same |
| Used `--format webm` and got SDR | Expected — HDR output is MP4 only |
| HDR `<img>` looks SDR / washed out | Source is not a 16-bit PNG. Re-export as 16-bit PNG (BT.2020 PQ) or use a `<video>` element instead |

## Next Steps

<CardGroup cols={2}>
  <Card title="Rendering" icon="film" href="/guides/rendering">
    Local vs Docker, quality presets, workers
  </Card>
  <Card title="CLI" icon="terminal" href="/packages/cli">
    Full `render` command reference including HDR auto-detect, `--hdr`, and `--sdr`
  </Card>
  <Card title="Engine: HDR APIs" icon="gear" href="/packages/engine#hdr-apis">
    Public HDR utilities exported from `@hyperframes/engine`
  </Card>
  <Card title="Common Mistakes" icon="triangle-exclamation" href="/guides/common-mistakes">
    Pitfalls that affect render output
  </Card>
</CardGroup>
