When HDR images do not look like HDR

If an HDR image looks like a regular image, check the Windows and BandiView settings or the file format. The message in the BandiView HDR settings window shows the cause.

HDR viewing is a paid feature available in BandiView Professional Edition.

Solutions by message in the HDR settings window

Open an HDR image in BandiView and click [HDR] at the top of the window. Find the item below that matches the message in the [HDR Settings] window.

The [HDR] button in BandiView and the warning message in the [HDR Settings] window

When "Warning: HDR is turned off." or "Use HDR: Off" is displayed

If HDR is turned off in Windows, images are not displayed in HDR even when HDR output is turned on in BandiView.
Right-click the desktop, open [Display settings], and turn on [Use HDR].

Learn how to turn on HDR in Windows

Windows 11: Display settings > Brightness & color > Use HDR
Open Settings
Windows 10: Display settings > Windows HD Color > Use HDR
Open Settings

Windows 11 Display settings with Use HDR turned on

When you cannot turn on Use HDR, or it still shows "Use HDR: Off"

Check whether your monitor and graphics card support HDR. To view HDR images in HDR, you need a monitor that supports HDR10 and a graphics card that supports HDR output.

On a monitor that does not support HDR, images are displayed in SDR.

When HDR output is set to "Off"

HDR output is turned off in BandiView. In the HDR settings window, select [Auto (Recommended)]. HDR images are displayed in HDR, and regular images are displayed in SDR.

HDR output options in the BandiView HDR settings window

[Off]: Displays all images in SDR.
[On]: Always uses HDR output.
[Auto (Recommended)]: Automatically switches between HDR and SDR based on the HDR information in the file.

When "Warning: HDR cannot be used with GDI output." is displayed

The video output method of BandiView is set to GDI. To use HDR, change it to [DirectX12].

How to change the video output setting

BandiView Preferences with DirectX12 selected as the video output method

When "Not an HDR image or an unsupported format." is displayed in the image information

The open file may have no HDR information, or BandiView may not support HDR output for its format. BandiView supports HDR files in the following formats.

The message in the image information of the [HDR Settings] window saying the image is not HDR

Ultra HDR (JPEG), AVIF, EXR, JXR (HDP, WDP), HEIC (HEIF, HIF)
HDR PSD (32bit), HDR DDS, HDR JXL, HDR PNG (cICP), Radiance HDR

※ RAW (DNG, CRW, ARW, etc.) and HDR TIFF are not supported and are displayed in SDR.

Learn more about BandiView HDR support

Checking that HDR is displayed

After finishing the settings, download the sample image below and open it in BandiView. If it is displayed in HDR, you can see both the left and right text. If it is displayed in SDR, only the left text is visible.

Sample image for checking whether HDR is displayed

Download the sample image above

Related help

Official image viewer with HDR support

Download BandiView