Instagram Reels: How to upload HDR?

[patrickvannegri]

What would you recommend for Premiere Pro export settings when editing iPhone ProRes HDR footage for Instagram Reels so it uploads as HDR on Reels?

I edited in Rec. 2100 HLG, exported in the same (codec: Apple ProRes 422 HQ), and tried uploading 4k & 1080p – that looks horrible on Instagram.

Then importing and exporting both existing footage in apps such as Apple Clips, Spark Camera, and other apps supporting HDR export (which were successful uploads), but no matter what I did, and the file size (from 155MB to 8GB), the Reel would be posted dark, pixelated, and nothing near the original...

PLEASE HELP 😞

[patrickvannegri]

UPDATE:

Some of my testing posts turn HDR after about 12 hours of being online.
I have checked with many of my friends on my Instagram post on different devices and even on non-HDR screens on Android, and the quality improved, and the image is brighter and sharper than the initial upload. So BANANAS! If I had to guess, Instagram was processing it.

Again, if anyone has a better solution, please let me know!

[Sanin29880925zle7]

Hi, which one of your settings worked, where you had to wait 12 hours for the HDR to show on Instagram?  I've exported in many different formats and even waiting 24 hours it still doesn't appear in instagram HDR.

[mic_50]

I have exported using LumaFusion on my iPhone. Have tried so many different settings and found that exporting 30fps, HLG HDR, 2.7K Resolution, and 25 MBps Quality, does indeed save as a HDR file.

It views on my photos app with HDR brightness and has HDR symbol. 

When I upload as a Reel, instagram recognises it as a HDR file and will show with the HDR symbol when composing and even post in HDR full brightness when I post it. 

But I found that the next day it is back to being dark washed out SDR brightness again. The opposite.

Would love to know how to keep a persistent HDR video on my profile

[Warren Heaton]

Currently, HDR is only supported for broadcast workflows.  

Instagram is standard dynmic range.  

We can shoot HDR and we can edit HDR and we can export an edited HDR file; however, we cannot deliver HDR.

Edit (12/16/23):  As of July 2023, Instagram is no longer SDR, only; however, it looks like workflows for it are still being worked out and at least for the time being limited to Android and iOS.  

Engineering at Meta > Bringing HDR video to Reels

[R Neil Haugen]

I work for/with/teach pro colorists. Most pro colorists have still not provided one HDR job to a paying customer, though I expect that will get to maybe 50% by the end of 2024. The vast majority of media professionally produced is still SDR/Rec.709

HDR is still the "Wild Wild West" ... it's even worse than when we had competing tape technologies of Betacam and VHS back in the 80s!

Most screens currently in use cannot do HDR. The ones that do, only handle a few potential "flavors", between HDR10, HD10+, PQ, HLG, and DolbyVision. I think there's even a couple more now.

And most of the screens that can handle some form of HDR, do it poorly at best. They can't get above 350-400 nits brightness, or they throttle brights or blacks because they can't handle the actual full contrast of having some pixels at say 1 0r 2 and others at 464, they juice contrast to make up for the fact they can't actually reproduce the full color gamut of the color space used ... all sorts of things.

And unless you've got a full-on pro Reference monitor, any screen you're grading HDR on is auto-changing contrast, brightness, and sat on you without notice, especially if you stay on a scene for more than a few seconds.

Feel free to play with it of course, it's a blast. Just understand ... even if you can get Instagram or YouTube to show the stuff as HDR .... you have no clue how the viewers out there will actually see it on different devices.

But then, you don't know that anyway, not accurately, even in SDR ... ain't life Grand?  lol

[Andres5EF5]

Most people can consume HDR content on smartphones. For TVs and notebooks - indeed not much. 

I have a question to colorist.
I managed to publish HDR videos on YT. I prefer HDR PQ over HLG. I am using Macbook Pro with XDR dispaly (with 10bit viewers enabled). PQ colors looks just right to me, what I see on Macbook's XDR matches results playing on Samsung or iPhone. YT accepts PQ videos. However for Instagram reels PQ doesn't work 😞 Only HLG. With HLG I am not happy with colors, they looks tiny bit less saturated, on all devices. I have to edit videos for my portfolio and YT in PQ format. But then for each reel video have to create a separate timeline, boost colors and repeat in HLG. I can't find explanation. 

[R Neil Haugen]

From what I know, PQ is more often a capture or pass-on format, and HLG more often a deliverable format. Not that you can't use PQ for the deliverable, just that HLG is more commonly used for that.

They do have different tech specs, but I'm not an expert on that.