YouTube is still renowned for being the platform behind many videos on the web. In order to bring better experience for its users, the video-sharing platform has brought features including supports for various formats: from HD to 4K videos, 3D and 360-videos as well as spatial audio.
In November 7th, 2016, YouTube announces a support for High Dynamic Range (HDR) videos. The format enables supported devices to showoff more vivid and eye-catching visuals.
By supporting HDR videos, YouTube is having a major quality update. HDR isn't about resolution (users won't see the differences seen from 1080p to 4K resolution, for example). But it enables videos to take a better advantage of the given resolution to show better pronounced visuals.
HDR videos have a higher contrast for more detailed colors and better clarity. Supporting a wider color gamut, HDR videos can be more vibrant.
Simply put, according to YouTube, "HDR unlocks the most spectacular image quality we've ever streamed."
As a start, YouTube is working with creators like MysteryGuitarMan, Jacob + Katie Schwarz, and Abandon Visuals to bring contents in HDR. And starting at the moment of announcement, video creators can upload HDR videos to YouTube.
And to make things easier for users, YouTube has also worked with the DaVinci Resolve team to make uploading HDR videos as simple as SDR.
The above picture is an example of SDR and the picture below is HDR. We can see the contrast difference as well as brightness. HDR can display a more eye-catching colors with better clarity. This is because HDR videos allow a greater range of colors between the brightest parts and the darkest parts.
HDR videos are similar to HDR photos. The difference between the two is that HDR videos require HDR panel to display the full range of tones. The panel also needs to be set bright enough in order for users to see the difference.
Starting at the day of the announcement, users can watch YouTube videos in HDR format on supported devices. Using Google's Chromecast Ultra, HDR TVs, SUHD or UHD TVs, for example. If users don't have the supported devices, videos will still play, but in its dynamic range.
While HDR has potentials, the moment sees a problem: high-resolution TVs like those that support 4K aren't yet in everyone's home (let alone those with HDR). There also aren't that many computers with proper HDR support yet, and the only phone with official HDR implementation was the Galaxy Note 7.
Having support for HDR means that YouTube is just getting ready for the future. So when the future it predicts to happen, happens, it's ready to embrace it.
Other platforms such as Netflix and Amazon also support HDR, but they generally covers their own exclusive contents. YouTube on the other hand, is bringing the support for a wider audience. So it's putting itself much ahead of the competition, although there won't be that many people using it at the moment of release.
But as more HDR devices become available, YouTube wants to partner with more vendors to enable streaming of HDR videos on more devices.