Rec.709 vs Rec.2020 vs P3

The three colour spaces you are asked to deliver in, plotted against each other on the CIE 1931 chromaticity diagram. Toggle each one to see how much more colour the wider standards actually contain.

Each triangle spans the colours a standard can reproduce, with its corners at the red, green, and blue primaries. A larger triangle means more saturated colour is available. All three sit inside the full range of human vision, which is why even Rec.2020 does not cover everything the eye can see.

Gamut and dynamic range are two different things

These get conflated constantly, and the confusion causes most delivery mistakes. Gamut is which colours a standard can express, meaning how saturated a red is allowed to get. Dynamic range is the distance between the darkest and brightest values it can carry. HDR expands both, but they are specified separately. You can have a wide gamut SDR image, and you can have an HDR image that never uses saturated colour at all.

The practical consequence is that “HDR” in a client brief is not a complete instruction. You need the transfer function, PQ or HLG, the target peak brightness in nits, and the colour space, which for almost all HDR work is Rec.2020 as the container. Without those three, you cannot set up your project correctly.

The three standards side by side

Standard	Where it is used	Typical peak brightness
Rec.709	HD broadcast, web video, social platforms, most monitors	100 nits reference
sRGB	Stills and web graphics. Same primaries as Rec.709, different gamma	80 to 120 nits typical
DCI-P3	Digital cinema projection and modern phone and laptop displays	48 nits projected, higher on displays
Rec.2020	UHD and the container for HDR10, HDR10+, and Dolby Vision masters	1000 to 4000 nits depending on the master

Why Rec.2020 is aspirational

Rec.2020 primaries are monochromatic, meaning they sit on the edge of what human vision can perceive. Reproducing them requires laser light sources, and essentially no consumer display can do it. In practice, HDR content is graded to a P3 volume and then flagged as Rec.2020, so the file is future-proofed even though nothing today shows the full range. This is why a Rec.2020 project setting does not automatically make your image more colourful.

Choosing your delivery space

YouTube, Instagram, TikTok

Rec.709 with standard gamma. These platforms re-encode aggressively and SDR is what the majority of viewers will see.

Broadcast television

Rec.709 for HD, or HLG in Rec.2020 if the broadcaster has specified an HDR deliverable. Ask, do not assume.

Streaming platforms

Usually both. An SDR Rec.709 master plus a PQ HDR master in Rec.2020, each graded separately rather than converted automatically.

Cinema

DCI-P3 in an XYZ container for the DCP. Your grading suite must be calibrated to the projection standard.

Client review links

Rec.709 every time. Reviewers watch on uncalibrated laptops and phones, and an HDR file will look wrong to them.

Where log footage fits in

Log is a recording format, not a delivery colour space. Your camera captures in a log gamma and a manufacturer gamut such as S-Gamut3 or Canon Cinema Gamut, which preserves the sensor range. The first step of any grade is transforming that into your working space, then out to your delivery space at the end. Getting that chain right is what the log-to-Rec.709 reference covers.

Frequently asked questions

What is the difference between Rec.709 and Rec.2020?

Rec.709 is the colour space of HD video and effectively every standard monitor, covering roughly a third of what the human eye can see. Rec.2020 is the much wider UHD standard, covering roughly three quarters. Rec.2020 is a container specification: almost no consumer display can actually reproduce all of it, so HDR masters are usually graded within a P3 range while carried inside Rec.2020.

Should I deliver in Rec.709 or Rec.2020?

Deliver in Rec.709 unless a client has specifically asked for HDR and told you which flavour. Web platforms, social video, and standard broadcast all expect Rec.709. Delivering an HDR master where an SDR one was expected usually results in washed-out or oversaturated playback for the audience.

What is the difference between PQ and HLG?

They are two ways of encoding HDR brightness. PQ, also called ST 2084, uses absolute brightness values, so a pixel is graded to a specific number of nits and looks the same on any compliant display. HLG is relative and backwards compatible, meaning an HLG signal still looks reasonable on an SDR screen. Streaming platforms typically want PQ, broadcasters typically want HLG.

Does a wider colour space make my footage look better?

Only if the whole chain supports it. A wide gamut master shown on a Rec.709 display gets converted, and a bad conversion looks worse than grading in Rec.709 from the start. The wider space helps when you have genuinely saturated content, such as neon, foliage, or stage lighting, and a delivery target that can show it.