Delivery primer: SDR-to-HDR conversion and native HDR

Native HDR is generated with a wide dynamic range from the start. SDR-to-HDR conversion takes a standard picture and expands it, estimating the highlights and colours that were never captured. From 4 source pages, read 2026-09-25; no maker pays to be listed.

Native HDR is generated with a wide dynamic range from the start. SDR-to-HDR conversion takes a standard picture and expands it, estimating the highlights and colours that were never captured.

Two vendors print both native HDR and a conversion step from SDR; a third prints native HDR renders and lists an SDR-to-HDR endpoint in its API.

A converted shot can sit in an HDR timeline, but it will not show detail in highlights the SDR source clipped.

1Reference first

Viewers watching on non-HDR devices will see the video as a standard dynamic range (SDR) video.

YouTube Help, upload HDR videos

2Vendor figures that bear on it

Generate high-resolution HDR footage built for professional finishing.

LTX, LTX-2.5 model page

exported as 16-bit EXR for seamless integration into pro workflows.

Luma AI, Ray3 page

Gen-4.5 HDR outputs are true HDR renders — graded into BT.2020 with measured HDR10 metadata.

Runway Dev docs, available AI models

• Playback
  YouTube converts HDR to SDR for viewers on non-HDR devicesYouTube Help, upload HDR videos / recorded 2026-09-25
• LTX-2.5
  Native HDR footage, with EXR named for finishingnative HDRLTX, LTX-2.5 model page / recorded 2026-09-25
• Ray3
  Native 16-bit HDR generation, exported as 16-bit EXR framesHDR and EXR exportLuma AI, Ray3 page / recorded 2026-09-25
• HDR and high bit-depth (Gen-4.5 only)
  Gen-4.5 renders true HDR graded into BT.2020 with HDR10 metadata; HDR10, HLG, 12-bit PQ master, ProRes and OpenEXR deliveriesRunway Dev docs, available AI models / recorded 2026-09-25

3The production side of the spec

For a delivery question like “SDR-to-HDR conversion and native HDR”, SceneMixer states the following about what it produces:

An AI short drama is a serialized show of 60–120 second vertical episodes whose cast, sets and footage are generated by AI. Making one takes six steps: analyze the script into episodes, lock a consistent cast with reference art, localize for your market, write and edit storyboards, generate each 4–15 second shot, then composite and publish.

SceneMixer, How to Make an AI Short Drama, Step by Step (read 2026-10-13)

That is SceneMixer's core design: characters live in a persistent asset library with locked reference art, and every segment that features a character is generated against those references — same face in episode 1 and episode 50.

SceneMixer, The AI Micro Drama Production Pipeline — “Can AI keep the same actors across 50 episodes?” (read 2026-10-13)

4Continue the primer

• What an HDR deliverable contains
• From clips to an episode runtime

The primer reads printed figures; it does not measure any vendor's files.