HDR from DJI on iPhone: Share It Right

High Dynamic Range video represents one of the most significant advances in consumer videography in recent years. HDR footage captures a wider range of brightness and color than standard video, resulting in images that feel more lifelike and immersive. When viewed on a device that supports HDR—like a modern iPhone, iPad, or Mac—HDR footage looks stunning, with deep blacks, bright highlights, and colors that pop off the screen. However, this same footage can look completely wrong when viewed on devices that don't support HDR, appearing washed out, overly dark, or strangely colored.

The challenge with HDR footage is that it requires both capture and display devices to support the format. Your DJI drone can capture HDR footage beautifully, and your iPhone can display it perfectly, but the moment you share that footage with someone using an older device or post it to a platform that doesn't support HDR, the magic disappears. Understanding when to keep HDR and when to convert to standard dynamic range (SDR) is essential for creating content that looks great for everyone, regardless of their viewing device.

This guide will help you navigate the HDR landscape, from understanding different HDR formats to making decisions about when to convert, and finally compressing your footage with settings that preserve quality while ensuring compatibility. You'll learn how to create versions that look perfect on HDR displays while also having SDR versions that work everywhere.

Understanding HDR Formats and Compatibility

HDR video comes in several formats, each with different characteristics and compatibility levels. Your DJI drone likely captures in HLG (Hybrid Log-Gamma), which is designed to work reasonably well on both HDR and SDR displays. However, "reasonably well" isn't the same as "perfect," and understanding the differences helps you make informed decisions about when to convert.

HLG is a broadcast-standard HDR format that's designed to be backward compatible with SDR displays. When you view HLG footage on an HDR display, you get the full HDR experience with expanded brightness and color. When you view the same footage on an SDR display, it should still look acceptable, though not as impressive as true HDR. This backward compatibility makes HLG a good choice for content that needs to work across different devices.

However, HLG's backward compatibility isn't perfect. On some SDR displays, HLG footage can appear slightly washed out or have colors that don't look quite right. The conversion from HDR to SDR happens automatically by the display device, and different devices handle this conversion differently. Some do it well, while others produce results that are noticeably off.

HDR10 is another common HDR format that provides excellent quality on HDR displays but has no backward compatibility with SDR displays. HDR10 footage viewed on an SDR display typically looks very dark and desaturated, making it essentially unusable for viewers without HDR-capable devices. This format is common in professional workflows but less practical for consumer content that needs to work across different devices.

Dolby Vision is a premium HDR format that includes dynamic metadata, allowing the display to optimize the image scene by scene. It provides the best possible HDR experience but requires both capture and display devices to support it, and it's less common in consumer workflows.

For most DJI users working with iPhone, HLG is what you're dealing with, and the question becomes: do you keep it as HLG and accept that some viewers might see slightly imperfect results, or do you convert to SDR to ensure perfect results for everyone?

Decision Framework: When to Keep HDR vs. Convert to SDR

The decision of whether to keep HDR or convert to SDR depends on your audience and distribution platform. There's no single right answer—the best choice varies based on where and how you're sharing your content.

If all your viewers are using iPhones, iPads, or Macs from the last few years, keeping HDR makes sense. Apple devices have excellent HDR support, and your footage will look its absolute best when viewed on these devices. For personal sharing with friends and family who all use modern Apple devices, or for content you're only viewing yourself, HDR is the way to go. You'll want to preserve the HLG format and use 10-bit HEVC encoding at 24 to 40 Mbps to maintain the HDR quality.

When you're posting to platforms that flatten HDR—which includes most social media platforms—converting to SDR before uploading is the right choice. Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, and most YouTube uploads don't properly support HDR, and they'll convert your HDR footage to SDR automatically, often with poor results. By converting to SDR yourself using professional tools, you maintain control over how the conversion happens, ensuring your footage looks its best even after platform processing.

For mixed audiences—some viewers with HDR devices, some without—the best approach is to create both versions. Keep an HDR version for viewers with capable devices, and create an SDR version for everyone else. You can share both, letting viewers choose which version works for their device, or you can default to SDR to ensure everyone gets a good experience.

If you're unsure about your audience's devices or the platform's HDR support, default to SDR. It's better to have footage that looks good for everyone than to have footage that looks amazing for some viewers and terrible for others. SDR is the safe choice that works everywhere, and modern SDR footage can still look excellent when properly compressed.

Compression Settings for HDR Content

When you're keeping HDR footage, your compression settings need to preserve the HDR information while still reducing file size. This means using 10-bit HEVC encoding, which maintains the expanded color and brightness range that makes HDR special.

For HLG HDR content at 4K30, aim for 24 to 40 Mbps. The lower end works for simpler scenes, while the higher end handles complex scenes with lots of detail and movement. Since HDR contains more information than SDR, you need slightly higher bitrates to maintain quality, but the difference isn't dramatic—HDR is more about color and brightness range than raw detail.

4K60 HDR content needs 40 to 55 Mbps to maintain quality at the higher frame rate. Again, the increased frame rate requires proportionally more data, and HDR adds additional information that needs to be preserved. Action footage or scenes with rapid movement should use the higher end of this range.

The key is ensuring your compression tool supports 10-bit HEVC encoding. Not all compression tools maintain HDR information—some will convert to 8-bit SDR automatically, which defeats the purpose of keeping HDR. Verify that your compressed files still contain HDR metadata by checking them on an HDR-capable device after compression.

Compression Settings for SDR Conversion

When converting HDR to SDR, you're essentially mapping the wider HDR brightness and color range into the narrower SDR range. This conversion, called tone mapping, determines how your HDR footage will look as SDR. Professional conversion tools handle this automatically, but understanding the process helps you get better results.

For SDR content converted from HDR, use similar bitrates to native SDR footage: 20 to 35 Mbps for 4K30, and 35 to 50 Mbps for 4K60. The conversion process itself doesn't require higher bitrates—you're just encoding SDR content, even though it originated from HDR source material.

The quality of the SDR conversion depends largely on the tool you're using. Professional conversion tools analyze the HDR content and intelligently map it to SDR, preserving as much detail and color accuracy as possible. Automatic conversions done by social media platforms are often less sophisticated, which is why converting yourself before uploading typically produces better results.

Test your SDR conversion by viewing it on a standard SDR display before sharing. What looks good on your iPhone's HDR display might look different on a standard computer monitor or television. A quick check ensures your conversion worked correctly and that your footage will look good for all viewers.

Testing and Validation

Before committing to a workflow, test how your HDR footage looks after compression and conversion. Export a 10 to 20 second test clip, compress it with your chosen settings, and view it on both HDR and SDR displays if possible. This quick test confirms that your settings produce the results you want before processing entire batches of footage.

If you're creating both HDR and SDR versions, compare them side by side to ensure the SDR version maintains the look and feel of the original, even if it doesn't have the same dynamic range. A good SDR conversion should feel like the same footage, just without the extreme highlights and shadows that HDR provides.

Check how your footage looks on the actual platform where you'll be sharing it. Upload a test clip to Instagram, TikTok, or wherever you plan to post, and view it on different devices. This real-world testing reveals how platform compression affects your footage and helps you optimize your settings accordingly.

The Complete HDR Workflow

Putting it all together, here's a complete workflow for HDR footage from DJI. Start by determining your audience and distribution platform. If everyone has HDR-capable devices and you're sharing directly (not through social media), keep HDR and compress with 10-bit HEVC at 24 to 40 Mbps for 4K30 or 40 to 55 Mbps for 4K60.

If you're posting to social media or have mixed audiences, convert to SDR using professional conversion tools, then compress the SDR version at 20 to 35 Mbps for 4K30 or 35 to 50 Mbps for 4K60. Test your conversion on an SDR display to ensure it looks good.

For maximum flexibility, create both versions. Keep an HDR master for viewers with capable devices, and create an SDR version for universal compatibility. Share both, or default to SDR for the widest compatibility.

The result is footage that looks its absolute best for every viewer, regardless of their device capabilities. HDR viewers get the full HDR experience, while SDR viewers get a perfectly converted version that maintains the look and feel of your original footage. This approach ensures your content always looks professional, no matter where or how it's viewed.