How to Convert HDR to SDR [5 Easy Methods]

Understanding HDR and SDR

Imagine taking a photo of a bright sunny landscape.

• With an SDR camera: The bright sky might appear completely white, and the shadows under trees might be completely black. You lose a lot of detail in both the very bright and very dark areas.
• With an HDR camera, the sky would still be bright, but you'd be able to see the clouds and the sun clearly. The shadows under the trees would have detail, too, showing the shapes of leaves and the ground.

What is HDR?

SDR (Standard Dynamic Range): Like a camera with a limited range of light it can capture. It can't show very bright or very dark areas well.

What is SDR?

HDR (High Dynamic Range): Like a camera that can capture a much wider range of light. It shows bright areas clearly and also reveals details in the darkest shadows.

Reasons for HDR to SDR Conversion

HDR offers stunning visuals with vibrant colors and high contrast, but not all devices or platforms support it. Converting HDR to SDR ensures your videos can be properly viewed across a wider range of devices. Here are some reasons why you might need to do the conversion:

• Device Compatibility: Older TVs, monitors, or smartphones may not support HDR. SDR ensures compatibility with more devices.
• Smaller File Sizes: HDR files are larger. Converting to SDR reduces file size, making videos easier to store or share.
• Platform Limitations: Some streaming services or video platforms don’t support HDR. Converting to SDR ensures consistent playback.
• Better Color Display: HDR colors may look unnatural on non-HDR displays. SDR adjustments make the video look more balanced and natural.
• Improved Viewing Experience: In some cases, HDR can be too bright or saturated. SDR provides a more pleasant and consistent viewing experience.

Converting HDR to SDR makes your content more accessible, ensuring better compatibility and viewing on different devices and platforms.

Methods for HDR to SDR Conversion

Popular methods to convert HDR to SDR include Tone Mapping, Color Gamut, and Hybrid Conversion. Let's briefly understand them. 

1. Tone Mapping 

Tone mapping is a popular technique for compressing the dynamic range of HDR images to make them compatible with SDR displays. This technique maps the content's brightest and darkest parts to be in sync with the dynamic range of the SDR display. In the end, you get beautiful and detailed SDR content that is as good as the source (HDR content) file. 

2. Color Grading 

Color grading is used to adjust and match the color space of HDR content with SDR content. It uses a color look-up table to modify the color reproduction of HDR content to match with the SDR content. The end result of the SDR content colors is as beautiful and natural as the source file. 

3. Hybrid Conversion 

Hybrid conversion combines the Tone mapping and Color grading techniques by adjusting the dynamic range and color space of the HDR content so it is in sync with the SDR content. In the end, the SDR content not only has maximum details but also a natural color reproduction that gives a better viewing experience on the SDR display. 

Tools to Convert HDR to SDR

• UniFab Video Converter (Our Pick)
  An AI-powered converter that supports over 1000 formats, offering high-quality HDR to SDR conversion with customizable parameters and GPU acceleration. 
• Final Cut Pro

A professional video editing software for Mac users, providing advanced color grading tools suitable for HDR to SDR conversion.

• Convertio

An online file conversion tool that supports various video formats, allowing for quick HDR to SDR conversions without software installation.

• iMovie
  A user-friendly video editor for iOS devices, capable of handling basic HDR to SDR conversions with ease.
• Samsung Galaxy Built-in Editor
  The default video editor in Samsung Galaxy devices offers simple tools for converting HDR videos to SDR.

How to Convert HDR to SDR on PC?

UniFab Video Converter

UniFab Video Converter is powerful and versatile software that can help you convert HDR to SDR. It uses AI algorithms to efficiently convert, compress, and edit more than 1000 video formats to play on any device for a seamless viewing experience. You can use this robust HDR to SDR converter to convert your videos to any desired format, such as MKV, AVI, MP4, WMV, etc., to meet the needs of different viewing devices and scenarios. Get a video with flexible customization and lossless compression to share on your social media platforms like Twitter (X), Facebook, YouTube, etc., with UniFab Video Converter. 

Price: 30-day free trial. Lifetime license at $59.99

Compatible OS: Windows & macOS

Key Features

✅ Supports over 1000 video formats for playback on mobile phones and other portable devices.

✅ Compress videos while preserving the original quality to upload on various social media handles.

✅ GPU acceleration technologies like AMD, NVIDIA CUDA, and Intel Quick Sync enable 50x faster speed.

✅ Fine-tuning parameters, including resolution, sample rate, bit rate, frame rate, Encoding method, and even subtitles.

✅ It offers a comprehensive editor module that includes Crop, Effect, Subtitle, Watermark, Audio, Speed, etc. 

✅ Trim videos by cutting the unnecessary video segments from the start, end, or any part of the video.

✅ Enables to edit multiple videos with batch processing.

How to convert HDR video to SDR with UniFab?

To effortlessly convert SDR to HDR, you can use UniFab HDR Upconverter AI with HDR10/Dolby Vision support.

How to Convert HDR to SDR on Mac?

Final Cut Pro

Mac users can rely on non-linear video editor software like Final Cut Pro to convert HDR to SDR version. The software helps with seamless conversion when you want to upload a video from your phone to YouTube. In addition, Final Cut Pro can convert MOV or MXF videos to SDR standard mode despite direct encoding with HLG or PQ standards.  

Price: Free version available for three months. Full license at $299.99

Compatible OS: macOS

How to convert HDR video to SDR Using Final Cut Pro?

Step 1: Run the Final Cut Pro video editing app on your Mac computer. Load your HDR video into it. 

Step 2: Open the Effects browser and choose the Color category on the left side. Click the HDR Tools twice to add the effect to the added clip in the timeline. 

Step 3: Tap the Inspector button on the right side of the toolbar. 

Step 4: Tap the Video button on the Inspector's upper side. 

Step 5: Hit the Mode popup menu in the Inspector's HDR Tools section. 

Step 6: Select HDR to Rec. 709 SDR to Rec. 709 SDR luminance levels.

Note: If you are sure about your clips and know the exact HDR variant (i.e., HLG or PQ), you can choose a more specific conversion option. Such as:

• PQ Output Tone Map
• PQ to Rec. 709 SDR
• HLG to Rec. 709 SDR
• PQ to HLG (Rec. 2100)
• HLG to PQ (Rec. 2100)

Step 7: Now drag the Peak Brightness (nits) slider to set your video's max. luminance to the required level (say 1000 nits).

Step 8: Drag the Mix slider to optionally set the amount of original clip that you want to blend with your adjusted clip. 

How to Convert HDR to SDR Online?

Convertio

Convertio is an online HDR to SDR converter that can convert your HDR files to SDR and SDR files to HDR. Using this free software, you can change the color gamut of the image between HDR and SDR and efficiently achieve the image conversion of HDR to SDR. 

Price: Free version available. Light plan at $9.99/mo, Basic plan at $14.99/mo, and Unlimited plan at $25.99/mo

Compatible OS: Web-based app

How to convert HDR video to SDR Using Convertio

Step 1: Open the Convertio HDR Converter page on your web browser. 

Step 2: Tap the Choose Files button in the center to upload your HDR image. 

Step 3: Select the SDR color gamut.

Step 4: Hit the Convert option to convert HDR to SDR. 

How to Convert HDR to SDR on iPhone?

iMovie

iMovie is a built-in solution for your iPhone that helps you easilyconvert HDR to SDRand transform HDR files into standard SDR. With iMovie, you need not install any external software and compromise the storage space. Instead, it comes pre-installed on your iOS devices, where you can add the recorded HR videos to the iMovie project and edit them. 

Price: Free 

Compatible OS: iOS devices and Mac computers

How to convert HDR video to SDR on iPhone Using iMovie?

Step 1: Find the iMovie app on your iPhone.

Step 2: Add HDR videos recorded on your phone to your iMovie projects. 

Step 3: Upon sharing a movie, click Options and then turn on HDR to output your video in HDR. 

Step 4: Now turn off the HDR button to share the movie's SDR version and get the SDR format. 

How to Convert HDR to SDR on Android?

Samsung Galaxy S22 phone

HDR to SDR conversion on Android is not easy. However, if you own a Samsung Galaxy S22 phone, you can easily convert your camera-recorded HDR10+ videos into SDR versions and share them on non-HDR-compliant screens.  For example, you can convert and share your SDR clips to PCs and older television sets and enjoy your favorite media files anywhere on all devices.

Price: Free

Compatible OS: Samsung Galaxy S22

How to convert HDR video to SDR by Transcoding Video and Image Editing?

Step 1: Open the Gallery application on your phone and find the HDR10+ video clip to be converted. 

Step 2: Tap the triple-dot menu at the bottom right corner and select the Open in Video Player option from the popupmenu. 

Step 3: Once your video opens in the video player, tap on three dots in the top-right corner. Click Editor. 

Step 4: In the Editor pane, click the three dots in the bottom right and choose the Size and Format option. 

Step 5: Change the video resolution and format from the menu that appears. In the dropdown menu at the bottom, choose SDR (plays on any device) and smoothly convert HDR to SDR.

Step 6: Instead of clicking Save, tap the three-dot icon at the lower right and click Save as Copy. This way, your original HDR video will also be there, and a new file of SDR video will be created. 

Conclusion

HDR delivers richer colors, vivid details, and enhanced contrast for a lifelike viewing experience. However, it’s not compatible with older TVs and PCs, making HDR to SDR conversion essential. This article helped you understand why and how to convert HDR to SDR using the best tools. Now, you can enjoy HDR content on SDR displays effortlessly. If you are also wondering how to upscale your video to HDR and playback device is avaiable, UniFab HDR Upconverter will be your savior. For HDR video players, head on to this post.

FAQs about HDR to SDR Converter

How does HDR differ from SDR?

SDR content has a maximum luminance of 100 cd/m2, while HDR has a wider contrast and color range, resulting in brighter images than SDR. You can see more incredible details and colors in scenes. HDR is superior in brightness (up to 1000 nits), color gamut (P3 and Rec. 2020), and color depth (8-bit to 12-bit) than SDR. 

Is the file size of SDR larger? 

Yes. While HDR content has better colors, quality, and clarity, it still has a smaller file size. HDR10 files have HVAC, an efficient file compressor, that helps generate smaller files without losing quality. On the contrary, SDR files are uncompressed, so the file size is naturally larger. 

Can YouTube convert HDR to SDR?

Once you upload your video to YouTube, the platform supports all video resolutions and auto-converts HDR to SDR when required. It detects HDR metadata and automatically processes it to generate HDR transcode for HDR devices and SDR downscale for standard devices and displays.