Is HDR10+ limited to 10-bit color?

No. Both HDR10+ and HDR10+ ADVANCED support quantization up to 16 bits at the specification level — this has been true since HDR10+’s introduction. Today’s streaming services deliver all HDR content at 10 bits because that is the current ceiling of practical streaming video codecs, a constraint that applies equally to every HDR format. The standard is not the limit; the codec is.

Some HDR formats are marketed as supporting 12 bits. In streaming, these formats are also delivered at 10 bits, the same as HDR10+. The 12-bit capability refers to a specific disc format with very limited real-world adoption by studios. A separate claim holds that a different color encoding method makes 10-bit “equivalent to 12-bit.” Published research puts the actual efficiency improvement from this method at approximately 10% for certain content — a real but modest advantage, and far short of the four-fold precision difference that distinguishes 10-bit from 12-bit.

Bit depth and peak brightness are also independent. HDR10+ uses the PQ (Perceptual Quantizer) transfer function defined in SMPTE ST 2084, which covers content from 0 to 10,000 nits regardless of bit depth. Claims that 10-bit color depth limits HDR to 1,000 nits are technically incorrect.