HDR nits calculator

DisplayHDR certification tier for a peak brightness in nits, how it compares to SDR, and whether it is enough for your room.

HDR certification level

Enter a peak brightness to see the tier.

Versus a 300 nit SDR baseline: -
Recommended minimum for this room: -

HDR standards compared

Standard	Peak brightness	Black level target	Color gamut
SDR	100 to 300 nits	Standard	sRGB
HDR10	1000+ nits	0.05 nits	Rec. 2020 container
HDR10+	1000 to 4000 nits	0.05 nits	Rec. 2020 container
Dolby Vision	Up to 10,000 nits	0.0001 nits	Rec. 2020 container
HLG	1000+ nits	Varies	Rec. 2020 container

How it works

HDR, high dynamic range, is a display technology that combines high peak brightness, typically 400 to 10,000 nits, deep black levels and a wide color gamut to reproduce a luminance range closer to real-world scenes. VESA DisplayHDR certification tiers define minimum brightness and contrast requirements for that combination.

Enter the peak brightness
The nits figure from the monitor or TV spec sheet.
Pick your display type and format
Panel technology affects black level; HDR format affects how brightness is signaled to the display.
Choose your room
The brighter the room, the more nits you need for HDR to actually look different from SDR.

What nits actually measure

Nits measure display brightness in candelas per square meter (1 nit = 1 cd/m²). Typical SDR monitors run 250 to 350 nits, while HDR displays range from 400 to over 2,000 nits. DisplayHDR 400 (400 nits peak) gives minimal HDR impact, since specular highlights barely separate from midtones. DisplayHDR 600 produces noticeable highlights. True HDR impact, bright sun glare, neon signs, specular reflections, generally needs 1,000 or more nits.

Brightness is only half of HDR

True HDR needs both high peak brightness and deep blacks at the same time, not brightness alone. OLED panels achieve near-perfect blacks through self-emissive pixels but historically had lower peak brightness than LCD; recent QD-OLED and W-OLED generations narrow that gap. Mini-LED panels use a dense array of local dimming zones to combine high brightness with strong, though not perfect, contrast. A budget "HDR" monitor with only DisplayHDR 400 certification and no local dimming zones can look worse in HDR mode than in SDR, because it raises peak brightness without deepening blacks, crushing shadow detail.

Contrast depends on more than nits

A display's actual contrast ratio depends on panel technology, local dimming zone count and cell design, not peak brightness alone, so it cannot be derived from a single nits figure. OLED and true black Mini-LED panels report separate, stricter DisplayHDR True Black tiers precisely because a single brightness-based tier does not capture black-level performance.

Frequently asked questions

What nit level is required for a meaningful HDR experience?

DisplayHDR 400 provides minimal HDR impact, since specular highlights barely separate from midtones. DisplayHDR 600 produces noticeable highlights. True HDR impact, bright sun glare, neon signs, specular reflections, generally needs 1,000 or more nits (DisplayHDR 1000). In a dark room an OLED at 700 nits with near-zero blacks can look more impressive than an LCD at 1,000 nits with weak local dimming.

What is the difference between HDR10, HDR10+ and Dolby Vision?

HDR10 uses static metadata, one set of brightness mapping values for the entire video, and is the baseline open standard. HDR10+ and Dolby Vision both add dynamic metadata that adjusts tone mapping scene by scene or frame by frame. Dolby Vision supports up to 10,000 nits in its specification and uses a proprietary pipeline; HDR10+ is royalty free. Both dynamic formats produce better highlight detail than static HDR10 when the display and source both support them.

Why does HDR sometimes look worse than SDR on my monitor?

Many budget monitors labeled HDR only meet DisplayHDR 400: they raise peak brightness slightly but have no local dimming zones, so black level and shadow detail worsen in HDR mode. The source assumes a display that can reach 1,000 nits, which crushes shadows or blows out highlights on a 400 nit panel. True HDR needs local dimming or self-emissive pixels to achieve bright highlights and deep blacks at the same time.

What is the maximum nit capability of current OLED and Mini-LED panels?

Consumer OLED monitors typically reach 250 to 1,000 nits full-screen white and 800 to 1,500 nits peak in small highlight windows, depending on panel generation. Mini-LED LCD panels with dense local dimming zones reach 1,000 to 4,000 nits sustained peak brightness. Micro-LED displays are emerging at 5,000 or more nits but remain extremely expensive.

Does HDR require a specific HDMI or DisplayPort version?

HDR10 static metadata signaling requires at least HDMI 2.0a or DisplayPort 1.4. Dolby Vision over HDMI requires HDMI 2.0b or higher, and HDR10+ over HDMI requires HDMI 2.1. Bandwidth for the HDR signal itself depends mainly on resolution and refresh rate rather than the HDR format: 4K at 120 Hz with HDR10 needs HDMI 2.1 or DisplayPort 1.4 with DSC compression.