Microsoft set to bring its Xbox Auto HDR feature to Windows and more

Microsoft is planning to add HDR support to over 1,000 PC games. This Auto HDR feature on Windows 10 will work similarly to the Xbox Series S and X consoles. By enabling Auto HDR, this will feature will add a large number of DirectX 11 and DirectX 12 games. However, this is totally dependent on the kind of monitor you have hence it is necessary that users have a compatible HDR monitor.

According to Hannah Fisher, a DirectX Program Manager at Microsoft:
“While some game studios develop for HDR gaming PCs by mastering their game natively for HDR, Auto HDR for PC will take DirectX 11 or DirectX 12 SDR-only games and intelligently expand the color/brightness range up to HDR. It’s a seamless platform feature that will give you an amazing new gaming experience that takes full advantage of your HDR monitor’s capabilities.”

The Auto HDR feature can be enabled in the latest Windows 10 test build i.e. build number 21337 which will be released first to Windows Insider. On you have the latest build version, it should be automatically enabled, or you can toggle it in the display part of settings. Auto HDR is just in preview for now, and not all top DirectX 11 / 12 games will support it just yet. Microsoft is also working to optimize performance and fix some issues, and the company does admit “Auto HDR does take some GPU to compute power to implement.”

This even includes a few improvements to virtual desktops, a new layout to File Explorer, and even some changes to built-in apps like Notepad.