Imported video looks washed out in Descript

When importing an HDR video into Descript, the video may seem to have lost some saturation or appear "washed out." This occurs when users import videos from iPhones and other devices while using the HDR video setting.

Descript's HDR support is currently in Beta. You may experience some slowness during rendering, publishing, and editing while we work on optimizing this feature.

Descript uses tone mapping to convert HDR pixel formats to SDR. Descript will do its best to preserve the colors of the HDR source video, but a perfectly accurate translation is not possible. If you find videos where the colors in Descript look muted, please contact support.

If you frequently import videos recorded on your iPhone, consider disabling automatic HDR from your iPhone settings.

How to fix iPhone HDR recordings after recording

Converting HDR recordings on macOS
  1. Right-click your video in Finder.
  2. Select Encode Selected Video Files.
  3. Pick one of the H.264 options.
  4. Click Continue; a copy of the video will get added to the same folder.

    Gif showing how to encode a iPhone video on Mac
  5. Once you've completed the above steps, you'll have an updated video file to add to Descript. If you've already imported the original file, you can use the replace file feature to add the newly updated video file to your project.
Converting HDR recordings on Windows
  1. You'll need to use a video encoder app. We recommend using HandBrake — an open-source video transcoder. Learn more about using HandBrake.
  2. When encoding your video, make sure to choose an H.264 option
  3. Once you've completed re-encoding your video, you'll have an updated video file to add to Descript. If you've already imported the original file, you can use the replace file feature to add the newly updated video file to your project.