Full Dolby Vision HDR arrives on Instagram for iPhone: Here’s what’s new for creators and viewers

Instagram has recently launched full support for Dolby Vision HDR and ambient-viewing-environment metadata in its iOS app.

What’s new?

Instagram had already supported uploading HDR videos since 2022, but it did not retain two pieces of metadata that iPhones (among other devices) embed in Dolby Vision HDR recordings: the Dolby Vision signalling and the ambient-viewing-environment (amve) metadata that adapts video playback to the lighting conditions where it’s viewed.

Since Instagram previously dropped these metadata, the recorded video could appear “washed out” without the full brightness and contrast of what the creator’s iPhone intended to record.

Instagram (iOS) now retains this metadata throughout the entire workflow from upload to the creator’s iPhone, through server-side processing by Meta, to playback on a Dolby Vision-compatible device.

Why It Matters for Creators and Viewers

Creators shooting Dolby Vision HDR videos on their phone (more and more iPhones support this as a feature) will now have uploads that are much more likely to reflect what they shot: the HDR and amve metadata signalling will ensure that playback on a Dolby Vision-capable device has the richer colour, deeper contrast and brightness adapted to the viewer’s ambient lighting.

Viewers on the other end with compatible devices will see a difference in how Instagram videos look, particularly in darker viewing environments or varied lighting conditions where the HDR metadata correctly signals to the display for improved playback.

Technical Details

In a new blog post, the video-engineering team at Meta Platforms goes into some technical details behind their previous processing pipeline (building on open-source media tooling like FFmpeg) that would drop Dolby Vision signalling and the amve metadata because the underlying libraries didn’t fully support them. They’ve worked with the Dolby team and the open-source FFmpeg community to incorporate the needed support for Dolby Vision metadata profiles (8.4 and 10) and get the metadata retained through to video playback.

What to watch for?

If you’re an iPhone user who shoots HDR video on your device, you’ll want to make sure to install the latest version of Instagram on iOS to take advantage of the changes and try uploading a video – to see if you notice improved highlights, dark-scene detail and colour accuracy.

Devices and viewers won’t be there yet, as the presenter notes that Dolby Vision is far from universally supported, especially in web browsers and older display hardware.

Meta states this is just the first of its apps to roll out full support for Dolby Vision and amve metadata: support in other apps (Instagram on Android, Facebook/Meta on iOS/Android) are coming soon.

Takeaway

The addition of full Dolby Vision HDR and ambient environment metadata to Instagram on iOS marks an important upgrade for mobile video quality: a nicer experience for both creators and viewers – with uploads that better represent what the creator filmed in the first place, and playback that adapts better to the viewing environment. As 4K/UHD-capture smartphones become more common, these backend improvements help close the gap between professional-level videos and typical social media and enable Instagram to take a big step towards that.