One of the most widely used web browsers, Google Chrome, is going to add support for HDR Video streaming and the users will soon be able to stream high-quality HDR videos on the internet directly through their browsers.
Once the said functionality is added, Google Chrome will become one of the few available applications that would be able to play HDR video content available over the internet. A couple of probable updates to the Google Chrome code were found on Chromium Gerrit which is a code collaboration and development tool used by Google Chrome team. Instead of discarding, the updates allow Google Chrome to pass the HDR metadata content present on videos to the MediaCodec which will then incorporate that data while playing the video.
Right now, there aren’t many applications that support HDR video playback. Popular video surfing applications, YouTube, Google Play Movies and Netflix, provide these functionalities. Same rarity is found when it comes to the number of smartphones that support this type of playback. Right now, only a few recent flagships like Samsung Galaxy Note 8, Sony Xperia XZ1 and LG V30 can play these videos.
High Dynamic Range (HDR) videos are a relatively new phenomenon in the visual media domain but they boast significant improvements over all other videos that we have previously been seeing. HDR videos come with higher contrast and brighter colors, giving a more realistic view of the subject in focus.
Source —Chromium Gerrit via XDA
