Netflix is doing Samsung TV owners a massive favour by adding support for the HDR10+ high dynamic range format, enabling a better quality viewing experience for hundreds of its most popular movies and TV shows.
HDR10+ content encoded in the AV1 codec is being made available on compatible devices from today, and comes almost nine years after the company first announced support for HDR streaming with the launch of its original series Marco Polo in Dolby Vision.
By using dynamic metadata, HDR10+ is able to optimise the on-screen picture quality on a scene-by-scene basis to make it appear as accurate as possible, based on the TV or device’s capabilities. It’s similar to the Dolby Vision HDR format, which has been supported on Netflix for several years already. Both formats are widely regarded as being superior to regular HDR, which applies a more static approach, treating all scenes uniformly.
Netflix’s decision to add support for HDR10+ is primarily a nod to Samsung TV owners, as the world’s leading TV manufacturer has stubbornly refused to embrace the Dolby Vision format. As one of the co-developers of the HDR10+ format, it has gone all-in on that technology. It stance sets it apart from other top TV brands, such as LG Electronics, Panasonic, Sony, Philips, TCL and Hisense, which all support both Dolby Vision and HDR10+.
Some media players, including the Apple TV 4K (3rd Gen) and Google TV Streamer set-top boxes, also support Netflix’s HDR10+ content.
The company said the move will result in enhanced viewing experiences for any certified HDR10+ device that was previously limited to only HDR10 content on Netflix.
“The dynamic metadata included in our HDR10+ content improves the quality and accuracy of the picture when viewed on these devices," the company promised.
According to Netflix, all of its HDR10+ content is encoded in AV1-HDR10+, which means that televisions and other devices such as set-top boxes must also be compatible with the AV1 codec. That is not likely to be a concern for owners of newer mid-range and high-end TVs, which basically all support AV1, but it could cause problems for those with older screens and streaming dongles.
Users should note that any TV or device that supports Dolby Vision will automatically default to that format, so they won’t be able to view HDR10+ content, though given the similarities between the two formats any difference in quality is likely to be negligible. Also, to access HDR10+ content on Netflix, you’ll need to be a premium subscriber.
Netflix previously used the AV1 code exclusively for its SDR content, and today stressed that it has become one of the most efficient codecs in use by the media industry.
“We previously enabled AV1 encoding for SDR content, and saw tremendous value for our members, including higher and more consistent visual quality, lower play delay and increased streaming at the highest resolution,” the company said. “AV1-SDR is already the second most streamed codec at Netflix, behind H.264/AVC, which has been around for over 20 years! With the addition of HDR10+ streams to AV1, we expect the day is not far when AV1 will be the most streamed codec at Netflix," said Netflix.
At present, HDR10+ is available on roughly 50% of the company’s most-watched content, so you won’t find it supported on every movie or series just yet. However, Netflix has promised to accelerate adoption of the new format, making a pledge to bring it to its entire library of HDR content by the end of the year.
In its announcement, Netflix also shared some data, saying that HDR streaming has grown by more than 300% in the last five years, while growing its HDR library to more than 11,000 hours’ worth of content. Over the same period, more than double the number of HDR-capable devices are now using Netflix.
For content producers, it’s important to note that Netflix still only accepts Dolby Vision masters from studios. It then downconverts these into the HDR10+, HDR10 and SDR formats.
As a reminder, Amazon Prime Video has long supported HDR10+ content as the earliest adopter of the format, adding it even before it embraced Dolby Vision. Apple TV added support for HDR10+ in late 2022, while Disney+ is planning to do so later this year.
