Why do Hdr videos look so washed out and overexposed in photos app?

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Level 1

4 points

Why do Hdr videos look so washed out and overexposed in photos app?

I downloaded my iPhone photos media from iCloud to my device m3 MacBook Pro and imported the media to photos app. All my HDR-videos look way overexposed. Does someone have the same issue and has someone found a solution? Videos are from iPhone 13 with latest firmware and my Mbp pro m3 is running Sonoma 14.7.4. I attached a screenshot from my phone and a screenshot from the laptop screen. I checked from power saving settings that the HDR playback for videos is on. I don't want to update my MBP OS as I haven't heard any good things about sequoia.

MacBook Pro 16″, macOS 14.7

Posted on Apr 14, 2025 10:12 AM

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Answer 1

Paavouser Author

Level 1

4 points

Apr 17, 2025 5:56 AM in response to Jeff Donald

Thanks for the insight Jeff. Those photos are screenshots from the same video, The bottom one is from iPhone, and the top one is the same video playing in photos.app on macbookpro. It is the same media and the photos_app doesn't play it as HDR? It is really washed out and all the highlights are clipped and the bottom one has all data inside the histogram. So bottom is correct and Top photo shows the problem

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Answer 2

Jeff Donald

Level 8

38,929 points

Apr 17, 2025 7:29 AM in response to Paavouser

This is the same media and it was recorded in HDR. The top image is displayed on a MacBook Pro and top image is displayed on an iPhone. Is all that correct?

Are you saying the bottom image is the way you want the video to playback?

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Answer 3

Paavouser Author

Level 1

4 points

Apr 21, 2025 11:48 AM in response to Jeff Donald

Hi. Same media and recorded with an iPhone HDR. The Overexposed blown highlights image/top image is displayed like that on a MacBook Pro. The bottom one is a screenshot from an iPhone screen and it is the correct exposure and how I filmed the videos and want them to look. But now the problem disappeared when I opened the photos app and was going to take another screenshot from it to illustrate the problem. Hmm. Maybe it was updating the videos somehow before? !