5 Best HDR Video Enhancer Tools of 2025 (Tested & Compared)

Using an HDR video enhancer, you can upgrade videos from SDR to HDR, and achieve a higher level of visual fidelity and realism. In this article, we've compared 5 HDR video enhancers in features, performance, pricing, pros and cons to facilitate your decision-making process.

What is HDR Video?

HDR video, short for High Dynamic Range videos, signifies advanced entertainment that delivers an engaging visual experience marked by vibrant colors, increased contrast, and improved brightness. This technology enables the ability to keep subjects and backgrounds in sharp focus while dynamically adjusting brightness levels. Common HDR standards include HDR10, HDR10+, Dolby Vision and HLG.

HDR vs SDR: What's the Difference?

Even if SDR content is shot in high resolution, it lacks the dynamic range and vivid color reproduction that HDR provides.

hdr-sdr.png

HDR significantly enhances your viewing experience by offering greater detail and richer colors, especially in scenes with a high dynamic range. Unlike SDR, which has limited color depth and contrast, HDR provides a more vivid, lifelike image, allowing you to see nuances and details that are often lost in SDR content.

Take a look at the comparison table below:

FeatureSDRHDR
Color RangeLimitedWide and vivid
Contrast RatioLowerHigher, deeper blacks & brighter whites
Detail in Shadows/HighlightsPoorEnhanced
Visual ImpactBasic viewingMore immersive and lifelike

As HDR content becomes increasingly ubiquitous, the demand for HDR playback escalates. While some high-end SDR videos can deliver extremely high picture quality, this still can't match the high contrast offered by HDR.

Why You Need an HDR Video Enhancer?

An HDR video enhancer is a powerful tool that utilizes advanced AI algorithms or manual adjustments to upgrade SDR videos to HDR. This transformation elevates your video’s visual appeal, offering a more lifelike and immersive viewing experience. Here's why you should consider using one:

hdr effect
  • Enhance Visual Realism with Deeper Contrast and Color Richness

HDR brings a noticeable enhancement to the visual experience, providing richer colors, deeper contrasts, and more realistic images. HDR enriches the contrast and intricacy of the image, thereby enhancing its overall quality. This makes action scenes more dynamic and landscapes more breathtaking.

  • Reveal More Details in Dark and Bright Areas

HDR technology allows viewers to see fine details in both bright and dark areas of the image. For example, in a sunset scene, you can see the vibrant oranges in the sky without losing details in the darker foreground.

  • Upgrade Older or Lower-Quality Footage to Meet Modern Display Standards

Older SDR videos can look outdated on modern HDR displays. An HDR enhancer can bring these videos up to today's standards, making them appear sharper and more vibrant.

Top 5 HDR Video Enhancer Software

1. UniFab HDR Upconverter

UniFab HDR Upconverter is the first AI-powered solution for SDR to HDR conversion. It utilizes a vast library of cinematic pictures for training. It intelligently fine-tunes color and luminance to enrich detail, contrast, and dimensionality, rendering videos with heightened realism.

UniFab HDR Upconverter AI

  • Supports both HDR10 & Dolby Vision for true Native HDR quality.
  • 30-day free trial with full feature access, without watermark.
Free Download
sdr to hdr-dolby vision

OS: Windows

Free Trial: 30-day full-feature access, without watermark

Price: $119.99 (Lifetime)

Best For: beginners or semi-professionals

Key Features of UniFab

  • Supports both HDR10 and Dolby Vision for true Native HDR quality.
  • Support both DCI-P3 and Rec.2020 color spaces for exceptional color accuracy.
  • Offers Four Models: Fast, FHD (1080P), QHD, 4K UHD Models to match user preference.

How to Use UniFab HDR Upconverter AI 

Step 1: Select 'HDR Upconverter' and Import Video

Open UniFab, select the mode, and then Import your video file into UniFab.

how to use unifab hdr video enhancer - step1

Step 2: Customize Your Video

Choose HDR 10 or Dolby Vision, and select the color space, model, format, and other parameters as required.

how to use unifab hdr video enhancer - step2

Step 3: Start to Process the Video

Click the start button to upgrade videos from SDR to HDR10/Dolby Vision.

2. Topaz Video AI

The Topaz Video AI converts SDR to HDR by “Up Mapping”. This process uses the luminance values within the limited/clamped SDR imagery to “add” values or push more range to create a larger scope of color data, making the result viewable on an HDR screen.

You can find the SDR-to-HDR mode on the upper screen right side of the application. The “Hyperion - HDR (ALPHA)” is the model that does the inverse tone-mapping that increases color depth, contrast and increased peak brightness.

屏幕截图 2024-12-17 171211.png

Pros

  • AI Adjust Exposure: AI Model will intelligently choose the areas to brighten based on the video content.

  • Clear Output Effect: The brightness adjustment is intuitively noticeable

  • HDR Identification Support: Capable of displaying HDR indicators on TVs

cons

  • Video with very muddy and dark imagery may not work so well

  • The final effect similar to native SDR video

  • Overall visual saturation is too high

  • The processing speed is slow, about 14-15hours.

OS: Win/Mac

Price: $299 (Lifetime)

3. Wondershare Filmora

Wondershare Filmora is a video editing software supporting SDR to HDR conversion. Upgrades are visible under BorisFX effects, like the improved split mode function, Denoise effects, etc. What's more, it offers a lot of tools allowing easy customization and editing of the HDR video.

You can choose among the newer options like BCC Optical Diffusion, BCC Warp, and BCC Grads and Tints to upconvert to HDR quality. When exporting, the color space is set at SDR by default.

屏幕截图 2024-12-17 174845.png

Pros

  • Clean, simple, and dark interface, with intuitive icons

  • Processing the video while displaying a live histogram

  • The converting speed is fast

Cons

  • The Brightness will be too high

  • Some AI tools can't achieve the expected effects.

OS: Win/Mac

Price: $79.99 (Lifetime)

4. Tekno3d 

Tekno3d.com aka VISIONPLUSHDR Team is a UHD HDR tracker.  This advanced software solution converts SDR media content into stunning HDR format. The converter employs cutting-edge algorithms to analyze SDR content and apply intelligent HDR enhancements, resulting in vivid colors, improved contrast, and enhanced details.

屏幕截图 2024-12-19 161511.png

Pros

  • Achieves Dolby Vision with official tools

  • Supports options to choose even A.I. Upscaling using Nvidia, AV1 Encoding

  • Fast processing speed, 1h takes about 40s

Cons

  • Relatively difficult to use with complicated settings

  • Higher equipment requirements

  • Severe color deviation may occur in some modes

OS: Win

Price: $749.99 (1 year)

5. EncodeGUI

convert-sdr-to-hdr-WKnH.jpeg

EncodeGUI is an open-source and free video encoder that works with AI integration to optimize overall video encoding and decoding functions. It delivers a video transcoding enhanced by AI. This tool not only boasts sophisticated encoding capabilities but also includes various filters like SDR to HDR conversion, frame rate upscaling, noise reduction, and more.

Pros

  • Supports around 10 formats like MKV, Mp4, FLV, etc

  • Explore the live-encoding process with a preview option

  • Retrieve the advanced metadata for the source video

Cons

  • The SDR to HDR conversion process is complicated and slow

  • No color-correction or special effect-adding options

  • No video customization or editing option

  • No available on Mac

OS: Win

Price: free

Best HDR Video Enhancer Comparison

Feature Comparison Table

ProductAI-PoweredHDR Formats SupportedFree TrialPriceEase of UseOS
UniFab HDR Upconverter AIHDR10, Dolby Vision✅ 30-day free trial for full features, without watermark$119.99 (Lifetime)EasyWindows
Topaz Video AISimulated HDR✅ Exports will have a watermark in Trial Mode$299(Lifetime)ModerateWin/Mac
Wondershare FilmoraBasic HDR Effect✅ Exported videos will have a watermark.$79.99(Lifetime)EasyWin/Mac
Tekno3D VisionPlusHDRDolby Vision$749.99 (1 year)DifficultWindows
EncodeGUIHDR FilterFree (Open-Source)DifficultWindows

Performance Test Summary

I tested the actual effectiveness of these programs:

performance
  • UniFab: Best overall HDR conversion with results closest to native HDR10 video, though slightly dim in brightness.
  • Topaz: The effectis a bit stiff, causing the red color overflow. 
  • Wondershare: The brightnessis higher than the original image. 
  • Tekno3d: It boosts the contrast too much. 
  • EncodeGUI: Itcaused an overexposure effect.

It can be clearly seen that UniFab has the best effect, which is the closest to the original HDR10 video.

Conclusion

If you're looking for a user-friendly, powerful HDR enhancer with great AI capabilities, UniFab HDR Upconverter is the best choice. It offers a balance of quality, ease of use, and support for Dolby Vision and HDR10, making it suitable for both beginners and semi-professionals. If you need more advanced features and have a higher budget, Tekno3D VisionPlusHDR is an alternative.

FAQs about HDR Video Enhancer

Is HDR Video Better Than 4K?

While 4K UHD offers increased resolution and detail, HDR provides better color and contrast. 

HDR can make a video brighter, delivering a higher contrast—or larger color and brightness range—than Standard Dynamic Range (SDR), and is more visually impactful than 4K.

Which is better: HDR10 or Dolby Vision?

The choice between HDR10 and Dolby Vision depends on your devices and personal preferences. HDR10 is widely compatible and commonly used in mainstream content and gaming, offering broad support across various devices. Dolby Vision provides a superior, cinema-like experience with enhanced color and detail but is supported by fewer devices.

What is the best HDR video enhancer?

UniFab HDR Upconverter AI is the best HDR software in 2025. It uses advanced AI to convert SDR to HDR10 or Dolby Vision, supports wide color gamuts like DCI-P3 and Rec.2020, and delivers stunning visual upgrades with deep contrast and vibrant colors. It’s easy to use, compatible with most formats, and optimized for both speed and quality—making it the top choice for professionals and casual users alike.

I love crafting stories through cinematography and exploring the latest tools to enhance video quality. In my spare time, I capture nature's beauty or experiment with new editing tricks.