System Turn On or Off Auto HDR in Windows 11

This tutorial will show you how to turn on or off Auto HDR to enhance eligible games from SDR to HDR in Windows 11.

HDR content offers better brightness and color capabilities compared to traditional content (sometimes called standard dynamic range [SDR] content). Traditional content typically shows details in a bright part of a scene or a darker part of a scene but not in both parts at the same time. For example, if the shot focuses on a bright window in the scene, details in the shadow are lost.

Whereas HDR can show a wider range of colors and light and more details in between the extremes. Colors are more vivid and unique in HDR content. Additionally, bright parts of a scene are brighter while dark parts can be darker, and you don’t lose any details.

In HDR video games, the increased color range and brightness compared to SDR games gives you a more detailed and immersive gaming experience on your Windows PC. When you’re playing HDR games, you’ll see all the details in them—ranging from everything in the dark shadows in dimly-lit rooms to amazing brightness and reflections on things in those bright sunny scenes.

Though many newer games are developed for HDR, some older games are SDR only, such as games that use DirectX 11 or DirectX 12. But with Auto HDR, that changes. When you turn on Auto HDR, the color range and brightness is automatically increased to HDR. It’s a feature that lets you play and see your older games in a new light with HDR on your HDR-capable display. All you need to do is turn on Auto HDR.

References:

It is required to turn on Use HDR for Auto HDR to be available.

Turning on or off Auto HDR will affect all displays you have Use HDR turned on.

1 Open the Game Bar ( + G).

2 Click/tap on the Settings (gear) icon on the Home Bar, and click/tap on More settings in Settings. (see screenshot below)


3 Click/tap on Gaming features in More settings. (see screenshot below)


4 Turn on (default) or off Use Auto HDR with supported games for what you want. (see screenshot below)

Use Auto HDR with supported games requires Use HDR turned on.

1 Open Settings (Win+I).

2 Click/tap on System on the left side, and click/tap on Display on the right side. (see screenshot below)



3 Click/tap on Use HDR on the right side. (see screenshot below)


4 Turn On (default) or Off Auto HDR for what you want.

Turning on Auto HDR will automatically turn on Optimizations for windowed games.

5 You can now close Settings if you like.

This option is only available starting with Windows 11 build 25281.

1 Open Settings (Win+I).

2 Click/tap on System on the left side, and click/tap on Display on the right side. (see screenshot below)


3 Click/tap on Graphics on the right side. (see screenshot below)



4 Turn On (default) or Off Auto HDR for what you want. (see screenshot below)

Turning on Auto HDR will automatically turn on Optimizations for windowed games.

5 You can now close Settings if you like.





1 Open Registry Editor (regedit.exe).

2 Navigate to the key below in the left pane of Registry Editor. (see screenshot below step 3)


3 In the right pane of the UserGpuPreference key, double click/tap on the DirectXUserGlobalSettings string value (REG_SZ) in the right pane to modify it. (see screenshot below)


4 Do step 5 (enable) or step 6 (disable) below for what you want.

This is the default setting.

7 You can now close Registry Editor if you like.





1 Open Settings (Win+I).

2 Click/tap on System on the left side, and click/tap on Display on the right side. (see screenshot below)


3 Click/tap on Graphics on the right side. (see screenshot below)



4 Click/tap on an app (ex: "Movies & TV"), and click/tap on Options. (see screenshot below)


5 Check (off) or uncheck (on) Don't use Auto HDR for what you want for this specific app, and click/tap on Save. (see screenshots below)


6 When finished, you can close Settings if you like.

This option makes the same changes as Option Five.

1 Open Registry Editor (regedit.exe).

2 Navigate to the key below in the left pane of Registry Editor. (see screenshot below step 3)


3 In the right pane of the UserGpuPreference key, double click/tap on the string value (REG_SZ) for the app (ex: "Camera") you want in the right pane to modify it. (see screenshot below)


4 Do step 5 (on) or step 6 (off) below for what you want.

This is the default setting.

7 You can now close Registry Editor if you like.


That's it,
Shawn Brink