Forum Discussion
Win11 Low Quality HDR. A Widespread Issue.
Problem: HDR Games and Desktop images display a gamma curve that shifts too much toward white, resulting in washed out images.
Where: Win11 23H2
Why:
"Windows 11 uses what's called the piecewise sRGB transfer function, originally intended for computer/web use. This curve is technically the tone response that gamma 2.2 approximates, but for various reasons it wasn't commonly used as an actual display EOTF. Gamma 2.2 took over as the pseudo-standard, and almost every computer monitor still uses it to this day.
Because it's so prolific, almost all web content and computer games are color graded using a gamma-2.2 outputting monitor, intentionally or not. For Microsoft to decide using piecewise sRGB as the virtual SDR curve was a mistake; it forcibly renders almost all apps and web content to look incorrect, some more than others." https://github.com/dylanraga/win11hdr-srgb-to-gamma2.2-icm#transform-windows-11s-virtual-sdr-in-hdr-curve-from-piecewise-srgb-to-gamma-22
Comments: The Windows HDR Calibration Tool tries to correct for this, but the calibration is overridden in many monitor, graphics card configurations.
3 Replies
Since this appears to be a widespread problem, consider providing feedback to Microsoft through the Windows Feedback Hub. The more users report the issue, the more likely it becomes that it will be addressed in future updates.
Any updates on this Microsoft?
- Bump, we need options for the HDR-to-SDR tone curve!
