HDR10, Dolby Vision, and HLG: What Changes Between HDR Formats

HDR is neither a resolution nor a single format. The term describes systems capable of representing a wider range between shadows and highlights, usually alongside a larger color volume. HDR10, HDR10+, Dolby Vision and HLG organize and transport that information in different ways. The visible result, however, depends on the entire chain: mastering, file or broadcast, app, playback device, connection and the display’s actual capabilities.

The fundamental split: PQ and HLG

The International Telecommunication Union’s BT.2100 recommendation, whose third version was approved in February 2025 and remains in force, specifies two paths for HDR television: Perceptual Quantization, or PQ, and Hybrid Log-Gamma, or HLG. They are not equivalent commercial brands. They are different ways of relating coded signal values to the light that will be produced or perceived.

PQ uses an absolute luminance reference. That suits works mastered in a controlled environment, where creators define an intent for shadows, midtones and highlights. HDR10, HDR10+ and Dolby Vision use PQ as their foundation. HLG uses a more flexible, relative relationship designed for television production and distribution, especially when a broadcaster must handle live signals and displays with different capabilities.

HDR10 is the common baseline, not the quality ceiling

HDR10 combines PQ with static metadata. In practical terms, the television receives general information about a program and uses the same basic guidance when adapting very dark, medium and very bright scenes. That simplifies compatibility and has made HDR10 the most widespread reference layer across televisions, consoles, discs and services.

“Static” does not mean poor image quality. A well-mastered film can work extremely well in HDR10, particularly on a display with strong tone mapping. Nor does it mean every scene has identical brightness: pixel values still change from shot to shot. What remains general is the auxiliary information supplied to the television about how to interpret the program as a whole.

HDR10+ and Dolby Vision add dynamic guidance

The HDR10+ Technologies specification overview explains that HDR10+ retains the HDR10 foundation and adds dynamic metadata capable of supplying tone-mapping instructions by scene or, for live broadcasts, by frame. A display without support can ignore that extra layer and use the static HDR10 version, preserving compatibility.

Dolby Vision also uses dynamic metadata, but it belongs to a licensed ecosystem connecting creation, distribution and playback tools. Dolby’s comparison with HDR10 emphasizes its ability to adapt brightness and color with more information than basic HDR10. That does not establish that every Dolby Vision presentation is automatically better than every HDR10+ presentation: both depend on the available master and the television’s implementation.

HLG solves the broadcast problem

HLG is not simply a streaming alternative to HDR10. Its value becomes clear when a broadcaster must produce sports, concerts, news or another live event without preparing metadata for every scene. The signal is interpreted according to the compatible display’s capability, and the workflow fits broadcast operations that also need to serve SDR environments.

That distinction explains why a platform may deliver films in Dolby Vision or HDR10+ while a live transmission uses HLG. The format follows the distribution problem. There is no universal hierarchy in which HLG is “inferior” merely because it carries no dynamic metadata; it was designed for a different production task.

Tone mapping is where the format meets the real display

Films can be mastered for light levels that most home televisions cannot reproduce in full. Tone mapping compresses or reorganizes that range to preserve detail without turning every highlight white or every shadow black. Static or dynamic metadata informs that decision, but it cannot physically increase the panel’s brightness, contrast or color volume.

This is why two televisions supporting the same format can produce very different results. Sustained brightness, local light control, black level, color accuracy and processing algorithms matter as much as the badge. A capable HDR10 display can outperform a limited display that merely accepts Dolby Vision in its menu.

How to check the chain before blaming the content

First, confirm the format available for the title and within the service tier. Then check whether the app, playback device and television share support for that option; an intermediary device or incorrectly configured input can cause a fallback to HDR10 or SDR. Finally, use the appropriate HDR picture mode and complete any calibration offered by a console or operating system, without assuming that maximum brightness and aggressive smoothing preserve the original intent.

The same principle applies to other image characteristics. As the guide explaining why black bars can preserve a movie’s aspect ratio shows, a visual element should not be judged separately from the format and the work. In HDR, the best badge is the one the whole chain can reproduce correctly; the best picture appears when content, metadata, processing and panel work within their actual limits.