iPhone 12 Uploading HDR Videos to Facebook/Instagram Washes the Picture Out

[mnsportsgeek]

I’m not sure if this is just me or if everyone is noticing this. When recording videos in HDR on an iPhone 12 and uploading them to FaceBook or Instagram, the picture is washed out making it nearly unwatchable because FaceBook and Instagram don’t support HDR videos. I don’t know if the same condition exists on Twitter, TikTok, etc.

I don’t see a way to make a copy in SDR in the Photos app. So you’re pretty much forced to decide between taking social media compatible videos or HDR videos.

Easy decision for me as I don’t use either platform very much, but I imagine the “influencers” will not be happy.

 

[Lobwedgephil]

It only appears "washed out" on your phone, or with a new iPhone. My wife had the same issue tonight uploading to instagram, washed out completely on her 12 Pro and my 12 Pro, but viewed it on my Fold 2, video was normal.

 

[btrach144]

This is to be expected. It'll be up to the platforms to adopt HDR support.

Does seem rushed on Apple's side to not give a way to convert.

 

[mnsportsgeek]

It only appears "washed out" on your phone, or with a new iPhone. My wife had the same issue tonight uploading to instagram, washed out completely on her 12 Pro and my 12 Pro, but viewed it on my Fold 2, video was normal.

Interesting! I’m noticing it when viewing on an XS Max also. It’s my wife’s iPhone 12 and I viewed her story on my XS Max and noticed the picture washed out. I’ll try an older device tomorrow.

 

[Lobwedgephil]

Interesting! I’m noticing it when viewing on an XS Max also. It’s my wife’s iPhone 12 and I viewed her story on my XS Max and noticed the picture washed out. I’ll try an older device tomorrow.

Yeah, you're right, still washed out on old 11 Pro Max, and iPad, but looks normal on android phones and MacBook Pro. Guessing will just take time for Instagram to update things.

 

[kohanson]

This happened to my wife’s iphone 12 pro captured in HDR and uploaded to instagram and Facebook. Hope these platforms can update soon.

 

[The Game 161]

I think for uploading to Social media i think it’s best not to use HDR as will take time for apps to update for this.

 

[Mike1London]

I’ve seen the same issue on Instagram and Facebook. It looks washed out on my iPad too. It will be interesting to see how long it takes for the updates. Has anyone tried YouTube or Vimeo?

 

[Greengirl1313]

I had this exact same problem with my iPhone 12 Pro. I tried disabling HDR, but that didn't work, and I just found a workaround which fixed the issue. Go to Settings > Camera > Formats > switch to "most compatible". It will not use HDR video in "most compatible" mode. It will at least allow it to work until fixes start coming out for it.

 

[TeeTee_beatu]

I just test the front camera. It appears normal when you update the video shot by the front camera. The overexposed situation seems only work on the back camera.

 

[gtg465x]

A way to fix this is, iMessage the video to someone, and then have them iMessage or AirDrop it back to you. When you send an HDR video via iMessage, the Messages app converts the sent video to SDR, so then it will show up with normal colors when you go to share it on social media.

Or, if the video is in landscape, you can convert it from HDR to SDR using iMovie before sharing to social media.

 

[bryn0076]

Not sure why this would be. Filmed HDR on iPhone 12 Pro.
Airplay to 4K Apple TV, hooked up to 2020 model 4K LG TV - looks washed out.
Airplay to same TV direct (no Apple TV) plays HDR.
I can switch between Apple TV and LG TV during playback and the quality changes almost instantly

 

[smator]

Hi all,
I am wondering if anyone else has this issue. Basically the videos look great when viewed in the photos app, but once posted on IG they appear dull and washed out, but not overexposed as some have pointed out in this thread. I think there is something wrong with the black levels.
Example
The weird thing is that it also happens when I repost a story from another account.
I tried disabling HDR video and using the maximum compatibility format. Doesn't change anything.

 

[skeller823]

I have the iPhone 12 Pro and when I upload video to Facebook, Instagram, or Google Photos then proceed to view the uploaded video it is washed out over exposed making it not usable. When I look at the same uploaded video on my wife’s iPhone 7 it looks normal. When I upload the same video to Vimeo it plays great on my iPhone and my wife’s. It is a platform issue with Facebook and others they will have to update to support the new technology.

 

[skeller823]

I’ve seen the same issue on Instagram and Facebook. It looks washed out on my iPad too. It will be interesting to see how long it takes for the updates. Has anyone tried YouTube or Vimeo?

Vimeo uploads from iPhone 12 Pro and plays back in good quality with HDR.

 

[AndGuz]

Apple built the train tracks before the train - and that's okay. High Dynamic Range (HDR) video requires the entire pipeline to be HDR, from acquisition to distribution (e.g. native Photos app, or IG, FB, Twitter, Vimeo, YouTube, etc..).

With the iPhone 12, you acquire (opto-electrical) images in a concoction of Hybrid Log Gamma (HLG) (transfer function) wrapped with Dolby Vision metadata. On editing, Apple Support explains that Dolby Vision 8.4 metadata is required. Until widely adopted, the tracks are built for the HDR train to come. More on that below.

Dolby Vision is built on a scene-referenced Perceptual Quantizer (PQ) opto-electrical transfer function (OETF). Relying heavily on metadata, this is a what (brightness) you see - is what (brightness) you get; full effect if you would. Alternatively, HLG is a backwards-compatible flavor of HDR that SHOULD scale down well on Standard Dynamic Range (SDR) displays. In my opinion, this was a genius way of paving the way for the future while maintaining backwards compatibility.

We consume (distribution) beautiful iPhone 12 footage on the native Photos app. This is the end-to-end Apple user experience and of course - it just works #FullSend. However, many third party apps have not yet gotten on board with the HDR train (Vimeo and YouTube being notable exceptions).

It is plausible that Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook video encoders strip away the Dolby Vision 8.4 metadata on upload. I do not think this is with malice. Rather, it is merely unsupported metadata at this time. In other words, the social networks' video offerings may only "see" the HLG part of the footage but - without the metadata - the encoders do not know what to do with it. The end result, simply put, is washed-out, SDR content that would otherwise be prime to blast those PQ nits on your screens.

Like the death of Adobe Flash, Apple sees what is coming and has prepared the framework to push our experiences forward. Until then, kudos to the developers working on updating encoding processes and app viewing environments to support HDR. We, the masses, sure cannot wait!

 

[ATHiker95]

I had this exact same problem with my iPhone 12 Pro. I tried disabling HDR, but that didn't work, and I just found a workaround which fixed the issue. Go to Settings > Camera > Formats > switch to "most compatible". It will not use HDR video in "most compatible" mode. It will at least allow it to work until fixes start coming out for it.

This worked for me as well. Thanks for the tip!

 

[Anung_Un_Rama]

I’m not sure if this is just me or if everyone is noticing this. When recording videos in HDR on an iPhone 12 and uploading them to FaceBook or Instagram, the picture is washed out making it nearly unwatchable because FaceBook and Instagram don’t support HDR videos. I don’t know if the same condition exists on Twitter, TikTok, etc.

I don’t see a way to make a copy in SDR in the Photos app. So you’re pretty much forced to decide between taking social media compatible videos or HDR videos.

Easy decision for me as I don’t use either platform very much, but I imagine the “influencers” will not be happy.

when you want to share the video with, say, Facebook, use the Photos app instead of going into the Facebook app and uploading it there. By using the Photos app, your iPhone will automatically convert the video to SDR and upload it. When you send the video to another iPhone user, Apple will detect if their iPhone, iPad or Mac is compatible with HDR Dolby Vision. If it's not, Apple will convert the video automatically.