Applicable to users with an NVIDIA 30-series or newer GPU and an HDR-capable display (peak brightness preferably 500 nits or above).

In early 2024, NVIDIA introduced AI-powered video HDR for 30-series and above GPUs — known as RTX HDR — which delivers noticeably improved HDR visuals for browser-based video. After updating the driver, simply enable the corresponding option in the NVIDIA Control Panel:

Once HDR is enabled at the system level (on Windows with Game Bar installed, you can toggle HDR via Win+Alt+B, provided your display supports HDR input), web videos will immediately benefit from enhanced HDR rendering.

Naturally, the next question is: can RTX HDR also be applied to games or local videos that don’t natively support HDR? The answer is yes.

Enabling RTX HDR for Games

Tech reviewer Alex from Digital Foundry has produced a detailed video covering the technical background, setup steps, and visual comparisons against Windows Auto HDR. If you’re interested, see: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BditFs3VR9c. The steps are summarized below.

Download NvTrueHDR from Nexus Mods (link: https://www.nexusmods.com/site/mods/781?tab=files):

Open the NVIDIA Control Panel, go to Manage 3D Settings → Program Settings → Add, and select the executable of the game you want to enable HDR for (run the game first so it appears near the top of the recently used list), then click Apply.

Run the downloaded NvTrueHDR.exe, drag the game’s executable file (for Steam games, right-click the game and select Browse Local Files) into the interactive window, and press Enter. If successful, four HDR presets will appear: VeryHigh, Medium, Low, and Disable. Enter the desired preset. Since RTX HDR consumes GPU resources, I typically choose Medium — sufficient to enjoy the HDR visual improvement.

With system HDR enabled, launch the game to enjoy HDR visuals. Below is a side-by-side comparison. Screenshots don’t fully convey the brightness difference, but the improvement in highlight detail is clearly visible. On my HDR600 LGD R8 panel display, the perceptual improvement is substantial — the effect should be even more pronounced on a Mini LED display.

Before RTX HDR:

After RTX HDR:

Note: Some games may not render HDR correctly. This appears to be related to the graphics API used by the game; I have not investigated further.

Enabling RTX HDR for Local Videos

The following method enables RTX HDR for local movies and TV shows. Reference: 【Tutorial】Using Nvidia RTX HDR in Potplayer

Download and install PotPlayer: https://potplayer.info/download/

Open a video in PotPlayer, right-click → Options → Video, set the video renderer to Built-in Direct3D 11 Video Renderer, check 10-bit output, RTX Video HDR, and H/W Processing D3D11 HDR Output, then click Apply to enjoy HDR video playback.