HDR settings in Windows

1. Select the Start  button, then enter settings. Select Settings  > System  > Display .

2. Select an HDR-capable display at the top of the screen.

3. Select HDR.

4. Select the Use HDR section to expand it, then deselect the Turn off HDR with my PC is running on battery check box or the Turn off HDR video streaming when my PC is running on battery check box.
   
   If HDR was already turned on when your laptop is plugged in, HDR will now stay on if you unplug it and run on battery power.

1. Select the Start button, then enter settings.

2. Select Settings > System > Display .

3. Select an HDR-capable display at the top of the screen.

4. Select Use HDR.

5. Expand the Use HDR toggle section and deselect the Use Dolby Vision mode check box. This option is only available on Dolby Vision certified monitors.

• Make sure your display or TV has HDR turned on. The way you get to the on-screen menu on your HDR TV, or display varies by make and model. Check out the documentation for your display or TV by visiting the manufacturer’s website.

• Go to Settings > System > Display and make sure Use HDR is turned on.

• Make sure your Windows PC has the required hardware to display HDR and find out if your display supports HDR10. Here’s how to do that:

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

  2. Select Yes at the prompt.

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

  4. To save the information to a file, select Save All Information, and then name and save the text file.

  5. Open the text file and look at the value for Advanced Color. This provides info about your display's HDR configuration and the status of it. Look for these values:

     • AdvancedColorSupported. This indicates that your installed display driver and display support HDR10.

     • AdvancedColorEnabled. This indicates that HDR is currently turned on for your display.

  6. Look at the value for Monitor Capabilities. This provides more detailed info about the display's capabilities.

     • If the value is HDR Supported, that indicates that your display supports HDR10. You might see additional values in parentheses.

       • BT2020RGB or BT2020YCC. One of these color spaces must appear for the display to be considered as an HDR10-capable display.

       • Eotf2084Supported. This value must appear for the display to be considered as an HDR-capable display.

     • If the value is HDR Not Supported, that indicates that the display is missing one or more requirements for HDR10.

On HDR-capable laptops, the default power settings will turn off HDR when running on battery power. To have HDR turn on, do one of the following:

• Plug in your laptop (recommended).

• Allow HDR video streaming when your PC is running on battery.

Note that allowing HDR when running on battery power will reduce battery life.

When you first connect an external display to a laptop, Windows will duplicate your desktop on both displays by default. However, HDR isn’t supported in this configuration. To view HDR content on the external HDR monitor or TV, extend your desktop across both displays:

1. Select the Start button, then enter settings. Select Settings > System > Display.

2. Near the top of the screen, select Extend these displays.

You might need to adjust the relative brightness of SDR and HDR content for your HDR-capable display. This is because a display interprets an HDR and SDR signal differently, and the results will vary by make and model.

1. Select the Start button, then enter settings. Select Settings > System > Display.

2. If you have multiple displays connected to your PC, select the HDR-capable display near the top of the screen, and then move the Settings app window to the HDR display that you’re adjusting

3. On the Display settings screen, select Use HDR.

4. Under SDR content brightness or HDR content brightness, drag the slider to get the right balance for brightness between HDR and SDR content.

Notes:

• When you change the SDR content brightness setting for an external HDR display or HDR content brightness setting for a built-in HDR display, the effect it has on SDR content depends on whether it’s an external or built-in HDR-capable display:

  • On an external HDR display, this setting will change the brightness of SDR content relative to HDR content.

  • On a built-in HDR display, the brightness of SDR content is controlled by a separate brightness setting, or it might be controlled automatically. (For more info, see Change screen brightness in Windows.) Since the brightness of SDR content is already set, the HDR content brightness setting will change the brightness of HDR content relative to the brightness of SDR content.

• For built-in HDR displays, such as on HDR-capable laptops, both the brightness setting and HDR content brightness setting will affect the appearance of HDR content.

  • Brightness setting. When viewing HDR content in a bright area, you might need to increase the brightness setting to see the display. However, this will reduce both the effective dynamic range for HDR content in apps and the overall contrast because the darker pixels will appear brighter. To improve the appearance of HDR content, view HDR content in a darker area and use a fairly low brightness setting. If the brightness is set to a very low level, that will increase the overall contrast between the brightest and darkest parts of the content. However, there will be less details in the darker parts of the content. For example, if you have a scene in a movie that shows a dimly lit room at night, you might see less details in that scene.

  • SDR content brightness or HDR content brightness setting. For most times, using the default SDR or HDR content brightness setting or one close to it should work well. You could set the SDR or HDR content brightness setting higher to help improve the overall contrast between the brightest and darkest parts of the content. However, this would reduce the details in the darker parts of the content, such as a scene in a dark room at night.

Some SDR apps appear darker on an HDR display compared to other SDR apps shown on the same display. This can happen with apps that don’t work with the SDR content brightness or HDR content brightness setting. Here are some things to try to fix this:

• If you have multiple displays set up with both SDR and HDR displays, move the app to the SDR display.

• If you’re using an external HDR display, move the SDR content brightness slider to a lower setting. This will make the brighter SDR content appear darker, so all the SDR content appears at a similar brightness level. Afterwards, use the on-screen menu on your HDR TV or display to increase the brightness to the level you want.
  
  Note: If you adjust the SDR or HDR content brightness setting but the brightness of SDR content in some apps doesn’t change, try restarting the app.

• If you’re using a laptop with an HDR-capable built-in display, move the HDR content brightness slider to a lower setting. This will make the app that appears too dark brighter, so all SDR apps have a similar brightness level.
  
  Note: If you change the SDR content brightness or HDR content brightness setting but the brightness of some apps doesn’t change, or if the SDR content appears too bright and desaturated, try restarting the app.

• Make sure you have the latest graphics drivers (WDDM) installed. To get the latest drivers, go to Windows Update in Settings, or check your PC manufacturer's website.

• If you’re using an HDMI connection and your display supports HDR over a DisplayPort connection, use DisplayPort instead to connect your PC and display.

• If HDMI is your only option, use that, and then do one of the following:

Reduce the refresh rate

1. In Settings, select System > Display > Advanced display.

2. In Advanced display settings, for Choose a refresh rate, select 30 Hz (if it’s available).

- OR -

Reduce the resolution

1. In Settings, Select System > Display > Advanced display, and then select Display adapter properties.

2. On the Adapter tab, select List All Modes.

3. In List All Modes, select the setting that includes 1920 by 1080, 60 Hertz, then select OK.

On HDR-capable laptops, the default power settings will turn off HDR when running on battery power. This can cause under-saturated colors after restarting your PC. To avoid this, plug in your laptop before restarting it, or change the power settings to keep HDR on when running on battery.

When night light is turned on, the coloring on your display might have a red tint and content might not be readable on it. This depends on the strength that’s set for night light. Here is how you can work around this problem.

Workaround:

1. Go to Settings > System > Display > Night light.

2. In Night light settings, do one of the following:

   • If night light is on, drag the Strength slider to the left to reduce the red-tinted coloring on your display.

   • Select Turn off now to turn off night light.

For more info about night light, see Set your display for night time in Windows.

Many HDR-capable displays support a wider color gamut than sRGB. When HDR is turned on, the HDR display should correctly reproduce the sRGB colors used in desktop apps. However, some HDR-capable displays don’t do this correctly. When shopping for an HDR-capable display, look for displays that are certified for HDR and read reviews that discuss color accuracy.

We are closely monitoring HDR-related customer feedback and are aware of the reports of new monitors that support both VESA DisplayHDR and DolbyVision but are apparently delivering differing color reproduction experiences, which is not expected. DolbyVision can be considered to provide a superset of the certification guarantees provided by DisplayHDR, and that is the primary reason why Windows will automatically choose DolbyVision when it is available. 

HDR10 content on Windows should be displayed accurately independent of whether the PC monitor is configured in a certified DisplayHDR or DolbyVision mode. In both monitor modes, tone mapping occurs on the GPU, using color information retrieved from the monitor, prior to compositing the final desktop image which may combine the content of multiple application windows rendered in different color spaces. Windows uses the GPU to apply this tone mapping using the associated content specific metadata. This tone mapping is always done on the source content prior to composition and no additional content-based tone mapping is expected from the monitor in either DisplayHDR or DolbyVision mode. This is true whether the content is displayed in a maximized window or not. Note that on non-Windows platforms, tone mapping may be implemented differently and may rely on the monitor to perform content-based tone mapping.

We are aware of monitors that may limit max brightness to around 450 nits in both DolbyVision and DisplayHDR modes, but on some cases, there may exist a configuration option available via the monitor’s on-screen display (OSD) menu to enable a non-certified HDR10 mode that unlocks max brightness levels up to 1000 nits.

We recognize that some customers may prefer to run their monitor in this non-certified mode, for example to trade off color accuracy for additional brightness, and you can access the non-certified mode by disabling Dolby Vision mode.