Export HDR

An HDR (HLG) project can leave Frame Job as an HLG master, as an HDR10 file, or as an SDR version for everywhere HDR won’t play. You choose on the export sheet’s Dynamic Range: row.

Menu: File ▸ Export…
Keys: ⌘E
Where: Export sheet ▸ Dynamic Range
Needs: An HDR (HLG) project.
Agent tools: exportexport_status

Export an HDR file

Choose File ▸ Export… (⌘E).
In Format:, choose one of the six formats that carry HDR.
In Dynamic Range:, choose HDR (HLG), HDR10 (PQ) or SDR version.
Finish the rest of the export sheet as usual.

The Dynamic Range row

The row sits under Format:, and it only appears in an HDR (HLG) project. An SDR project’s sheet doesn’t have it. To make a project HDR, see A project’s dynamic range.

The choice lasts while the sheet is open. If you switch to a format that can’t carry HDR and back, your choice returns. It isn’t remembered for the next export, and an export preset doesn’t save it.

HDR (HLG)

The BT.2100 HLG master, tagged with BT.2020 primaries and matrix and the HLG transfer. It’s first on the row and the default.

HDR10 (PQ)

An HDR10 file: BT.2100 PQ, mastered at 1,000 cd/m², with fixed metadata. It’s available on the same six formats as HLG.

SDR version

The project’s SDR version, in Rec. 709. It’s the same picture as Show SDR Version. White titles stay near white, and highlights above reference white are rolled off.

Which formats carry HDR

Six formats can carry an HDR picture, each at 10 bits or more:

HEVC 10-bit (MP4)
AV1 (MP4)
AV1 (WebM)
VP9 (WebM)
ProRes 422 (MOV)
ProRes 4444 (MOV)

On every other format the Dynamic Range: row is disabled and shows SDR version. H.264 (MP4), HEVC (MP4), HEVC with Alpha (MOV), VP9 with Alpha (WebM), Animated GIF and Animated PNG always write the SDR version. The audio-only formats have no picture, so the row does nothing there.

VP9 and HDR

VP9 (WebM) writes HLG and HDR10 as 10-bit VP9 Profile 2, and the SDR version as 8-bit Profile 0. VP9 itself can’t say which transfer it uses, so the WebM file’s colour information is what tells a player it’s HLG or PQ.

Fixed HDR10 metadata

Every HDR10 file carries the same metadata:

Field	Value
Mastering display	P3 D65, 0.005–1,000 cd/m²
MaxCLL	1,000
MaxFALL	0

The picture never goes above 1,000 cd/m², so this metadata is always accurate. The HDR10 peak in the Media tab describes a source file and doesn’t change it.

HDR frames

File ▸ Save Frame… (⌥⌘E) in an HDR (HLG) project writes the HLG picture as a 16-bit PNG or a 10-bit HEIC, labelled BT.2100 HLG. A JPEG writes the SDR version, labelled BT.709. See Save Frame.

Good to know

There’s no Dolby Vision or HDR10+ output. Neither is added to an HLG or HDR10 file.
One export writes one picture, so an HDR master and its SDR version are two exports. The Export Queue can run them one after the other.
Show SDR Version changes the preview only. It never reaches an export or a saved frame, so the file is whatever the sheet says.

With an agent

export takes the same three choices as dynamic_range: hlg, pq or sdr. Where the sheet disables the row, the tool fails with a message instead. Asking for HLG or HDR10 on a format that can’t carry it, vp9_alpha_webm included, names the six formats that can. Asking for either in an SDR project says to make the project HDR first. Asking for the SDR version in an SDR project changes nothing, and an audio-only format ignores the choice.

export returns an id for the job straight away. Once export_status reports a video job done in an HDR (HLG) project, its dynamic_range names the picture that was written. See Export: start, then poll and Tools: rendering and export.

render_frame writes the same bytes as Save Frame, and sdr_version draws the SDR version in any image format. See Check the picture: render_frame.