Sometimes, you find artifacts in the footage video that look like heavy color bands or sharp color bars. These are called color banding, or posterization. This banding issue affects backgrounds with gradients, making a video or image less smooth. In this article, we will discuss in detail what is color banding, what causes it, and how to get rid of banding in videos.
In this article, we'll explore the following key points about color banding in video production and editing:
What is color banding in video? A clear definition with visual examples.
What causes color banding? From bit depth and compression to display limitations and editing techniques.
How to fix banding in video. Practical solutions using noise, dithering, debanding filters, and AI-powered tools.
How to prevent color banding in future projects. Tips for shooting, editing, and exporting with high visual fidelity.
Whether you're a content creator, videographer, or video editor, this guide will help you eliminate color banding and achieve smooth, professional-looking results every time.
What Is Color Banding in Video?
Color banding refers to the appearance of visible stripes or “bands” where a smooth color gradient should exist. Instead of transitioning gradually from one color to another, the image or video displays abrupt steps between color levels—often in the form of concentric circles, blocky shadows, or unnatural sky gradients.
Key Characteristics of Color Banding
Occurs in low bit depth formats (such as 8-bit video), where limited color values are available to represent subtle transitions.
Common in scenes with soft gradients, like sunsets, blue skies, shadows, or studio backdrops.
More visible after color correction, compression, or denoising processes.
10-bit or higher formats can display over 1 billion colors, greatly reducing banding.
Example: A great example of color banding is the picture below. A sunset scene may look natural to the naked eye, but in video playback, the sky could appear as a series of blue and orange bands instead of a smooth blend.
Why It Matters
Visual Quality: Banding makes footage look digital and unrefined.
Professionalism: In commercial content, visible banding can reduce credibility or user engagement.
Compression Sensitivity: Banding often worsens after uploading to platforms like YouTube or Instagram due to further compression.
What Causes Banding in Video?
Color banding is usually the result of insufficient color information or processing limitations. It can occur during video capture, editing, compression, or playback. Below are the most common causes:
The bit depth of a video defines how many color shades each pixel can store.
8-bit video allows only 256 shades per RGB channel, which is often not enough for smooth gradients.
10-bit or higher formats can display over 1 billion colors, greatly reducing banding.
Example: An 8-bit image might show 3–4 obvious bands in a sky gradient; a 10-bit image would show none.
2. Lossy Compression
Video codecs like H.264, VP9, or JPEG reduce file size by discarding subtle color data.
Heavily compressed videos are more likely to exhibit banding, especially in flat or gradient backgrounds.
Tip: Compression artifacts and banding often appear together on streaming platforms like YouTube.
3. Excessive Color Grading
Aggressive changes to contrast, saturation, or brightness during editing can push color values beyond what the bit depth can handle.
This often introduces banding even in originally clean footage.
4. Noise Reduction Filters
Denoising tools may smooth over noise too aggressively, especially in flat areas, removing subtle gradient texture and causing visible steps.
Overuse of plug-ins like Neat Video or built-in filters can amplify banding unintentionally.
5. Underexposure and Poor Lighting
Footage shot in low light or underexposed scenes contains less color data.
When brightness is later increased in post-production, the lack of smooth tonal detail becomes visible as banding.
6. Rendering and Export Settings
Poor export settings or color space mismatches (e.g., exporting in Rec. 709 when editing in Rec. 2020) can degrade gradient smoothness.
Using low-bitrate export presets may also introduce visible banding.
7. Display Hardware Limitations
Even if your video is high-quality, a low-end or uncalibrated monitor may display banding due to its own bit depth or color gamut limits.
Standard 6-bit or 8-bit monitors are especially prone to this issue.
8. Faulty Cables or Ports (Rare)
Occasionally, HDMI cables or GPU drivers may introduce artifacts including banding due to incorrect signal processing.
How to Get Rid of Banding in Video?
Once banding appears in your footage, there are several effective ways to reduce or eliminate it. Some fixes involve subtle editing techniques, while others require dedicated tools or format changes. Here's what works:
1. Add Noise or Grain
Introducing a small amount of film grain or noise (1–2%) breaks up smooth areas and hides visible banding.
This technique creates the illusion of a smooth gradient and is widely used in professional editing.
Tools:
Adobe Premiere Pro: Noise or Grain effect
DaVinci Resolve: Film Grain FX
Final Cut Pro: Add Noise plug-in
2. Apply Dithering
Dithering is a controlled randomization of pixel colors that simulates smoother color transitions within limited bit depth.
Often built into image rendering, some video debanding filters also use it behind the scenes.
Technical Note: Dithering is especially effective when exporting to 8-bit formats.
3. Use Gaussian Blur (Targeted)
Applying a slight blur to areas where banding is visible can help smooth transitions.
Use masking to limit the blur only to affected regions, avoiding softening of the entire image.
Don’t over-blur — too much can ruin detail and clarity.
4. Work in Higher Bit Depth
If your footage is 10-bit or RAW, always edit in a 16-bit timeline if possible.
Export in high-bit-depth formats like ProRes 422 HQ, DNxHR, or 10-bit H.265 to preserve smooth gradients.
5. Use Debanding Plug-ins and Filters
Several tools offer dedicated banding reduction algorithms or filters:
ReShade Dband Shader: For real-time or gaming displays
AE Deband Plugin: For After Effects users
6. Re-export with Higher Bitrate and Lossless Codecs
When possible, avoid exporting with extreme compression.
Use a higher bitrate, lossless or visually lossless settings to reduce encoding-induced banding.
7. Try AI-Powered Tools (Next Section)
Some modern tools use AI enhancement to detect and correct gradient artifacts automatically, with minimal manual adjustment.
Pro Tip:
Always monitor your final output on a calibrated, high-bit-depth display. Some banding may not be visible on your editing screen but can show up on consumer TVs or mobile devices.
Best AI Tool to Fix Banding In Video
While manual methods can be effective, they often require multiple software tools, technical skills, and time-consuming trial and error. If you're looking for a faster, smarter solution to fix color banding automatically, UniFab Deinterlace AI is a highly recommended tool. UniFab offers a 30-day free trial with access to all features, allowing you to test banding correction results before committing.
UniFab has many frames to showcase fine details. Every frame has a smooth and natural look. This AI Video Enhancer Software is easy to use because it provides 100% automatic improvements for beginners and experts. You can easily adjust codec, frame rate, resolution, trimming, bit rate, and other settings without experience. It uses AI and matting technology to quickly reduce gradient tracks and unwanted background color banding.
UniFab has fantastic features such as AI-powered denoising and HDR conversion. These features help smooth out gradients and enhance overall color quality without hassle. This tool also helps you manage complex scenes, blurred edges, and banding in videos.
Why Use AI for Color Banding Fix?
Modern AI models can analyze gradients, color depth, and artifacts in each frame of a video, then intelligently reconstruct smoother transitions—all with minimal user input. Compared to manual editing, AI tools offer:
Faster Processing (no masking or manual grain tweaking)
Consistent Results across entire videos
Automatic Enhancement of other aspects like sharpness or contrast
Beginner-Friendly Interface
Conclusion
Color banding can make even high-quality videos look unnatural, but it’s both fixable and preventable. By working in higher bit depth, avoiding heavy compression, adding subtle noise or dithering, and using debanding filters, you can keep gradients smooth and professional. For a quick, automated solution, UniFab Deinterlace AI removes banding, enhances resolution, and improves color quality in just one click.
FAQs About Color Banding
What is color banding in video?
Color banding is a visual defect where smooth gradients appear as distinct bands or steps, rather than blending smoothly. It typically occurs in areas like skies, shadows, or backgrounds with subtle color transitions, especially in 8-bit video formats.
What causes color banding?
Color banding is primarily caused by:
Low bit depth (e.g., 8-bit footage)
Compression artifacts from lossy codecs
Over-editing during color grading
Noise reduction or over-smoothing
Poor lighting and underexposure
Display limitations (e.g., 6-bit monitors)
How do I fix banding in a video?
To fix banding, you can:
Add a small amount of noise or grain
Use dithering techniques
Apply Gaussian blur selectively
Export with a higher bit depth or bitrate
Use debanding plug-ins or AI tools like UniFab
Can AI tools really fix color banding?
Yes. AI tools like UniFab Deinterlace AI use deep learning to identify and smooth color gradients, remove noise, and upscale resolution. They are particularly useful for users who want high-quality output without manual editing.
Does color banding always mean poor video quality?
Not always—but visible banding can reduce perceived quality. It makes videos appear less realistic and less professional. High-end displays may reveal more banding, especially with poorly compressed or edited footage.
Is 8-bit video always affected by color banding?
Not necessarily, but 8-bit video is much more prone to banding than 10-bit or RAW formats—especially after compression or heavy post-processing.
How do I prevent color banding?
To prevent color banding:
Shoot with high-bit-depth cameras (10-bit or higher)
Avoid over-editing gradients
Use high-bitrate codecs during export
Calibrate your display to properly monitor gradients
As a passionate software tester, AI enthusiast, and tech lover, I bring precision and innovation to my writing. Or perhaps I'm off on a new adventure. My articles are your go-to guide for navigating the fast-paced tech landscape.
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