How to Convert HDR Video to SDR Using HandBrake

HDR video is great… until it’s not.

I ran into this issue after recording a video with my iPhone. When I played it in QuickTime Player, everything looked perfectly fine. Colors were natural, highlights weren’t blown out—life was good.

Then I opened the same video in another app (or dropped it into an editor with SDR footage), and suddenly everything looked way too bright. Skin tones were off, highlights were screaming, and the whole thing just didn’t match my other clips.

If you’ve ever mixed HDR and SDR footage in the same project, you probably know the pain.

So instead of fighting color correction endlessly, I decided to convert the HDR video into SDR first. Much more consistent, much less headache.

Here’s exactly how I do it using HandBrake.

Not in the mood for reading? Watch the video instead.

DISCLAIMER: I’m not a video or color-grading expert in any sense. I just make videos for fun. If my theory or solution is wrong, feel free to correct me.

Why Convert HDR to SDR?

Some reasons this makes life easier:

• Some players don’t handle HDR properly (for example, the IINA app on macOS)
• Some editors assume an SDR color space
• Mixing HDR and SDR clips can look terrible
• SDR gives you predictable, consistent colors

If your final output is SDR anyway (YouTube, social media, client work), converting early just makes sense.

Step-by-Step: Convert HDR to SDR with HandBrake

1. Download and Open HandBrake

HandBrake is free and works great on macOS and Windows. Download it, open it up, and you’re good to go.

• Click Open Source
• Select your HDR video file as the input

2. Choose a Preset

Since I’m using a MacBook and the source video comes from an iPhone HEVC recording, I usually go with this preset:

• Hardware
  • H.265 Apple VideoToolbox 2160p 4K

This uses Apple’s built-in hardware-optimized encoder. The encoding speed is noticeably faster compared to the software encoder, and the final quality is also good (at least in my opinion).

You can choose a different preset depending on your system or output needs. This part is flexible.

3. Change the Color Space

Now this is the important step. If you don’t change this, the result can vary a lot.

1. Go to the Filters tab
2. Find Color Space
3. Set it to BT.709

BT.709 is the standard color space for SDR video, based on my experiments (again, correct me if I’m wrong—I’m no color-grading expert). This is what fixes the crazy brightness and color issues.

The final colors end up very close to the original HDR video, at least to my eyes.

4. Start the Encode

Once you’ve selected the preset, color space filter, and any other options, you’re ready to go.

• Click Start
• Wait for HandBrake to finish processing the video
• (Optional) Grab a coffee ☕ if it’s a big file

Comparing the Results

After the conversion, I did a quick comparison.

• Original HDR video

  • Looks great in QuickTime
  • Looks awful in some other players and editors (for example, IINA)

• Converted SDR video

  • Not exactly the same as HDR
  • But much more balanced
  • Colors look normal across different apps
  • Much easier to mix with SDR footage

Is it a perfect 1:1 match? No. Is it way better and more usable? Absolutely.

Video

Final Thoughts

If your HDR footage looks too bright, washed out, or inconsistent—especially when editing—converting it to SDR is a solid solution.

HandBrake makes this process simple, free, and repeatable. Once I started doing this, my video workflow became much smoother and far less frustrating.

And yeah… sometimes boring, predictable SDR is better than “technically correct” HDR.

As usual, if you have any questions or a better method, leave a comment below. Thanks for reading, and see you next time!