Google Introduces Eclipsa Video, a New Open HDR Standard
Google, together with Apple and NBCUniversal, has developed a new open HDR standard called Eclipsa Video, aimed at making HDR content look consistent and predictable across different devices and lighting conditions.
Google has introduced a new open HDR standard called Eclipsa Video, designed to address the issues of HDR content reproduction across different devices. This format is Google's branded version of the SMPTE ST 2094-50 standard, developed in collaboration with Apple and NBCUniversal.
Eclipsa Video aims to make HDR content look 'consistent, balanced and comfortable on every screen,' regardless of device type or ambient lighting. The standard uses a set of dynamic metadata, including a white reference anchor and headroom-adaptive gain curves. This metadata allows the content to automatically adapt to the screen's capabilities and, on compatible devices, to the surrounding light.
Compared to existing HDR formats, Eclipsa Video is similar to Dolby Vision, as both use dynamic metadata to adjust the picture as the video changes. However, Dolby Vision is a proprietary format, while Eclipsa and HDR10 are built around open standards. HDR10 uses static metadata, while the newer HDR10+ variant does use dynamic metadata.
Platform-wide support for Eclipsa Video (playback and capture) is coming to Android 17. The format will eventually be available on phones, tablets, and TVs, but its wider availability will depend on support from device makers, streaming apps, and content providers.
