Your display capabilities
Color depth
– bit
Wide-gamut
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HDR video
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See if your screen supports HDR video, P3 colour, and how many bits per channel it really shows.
Last updated: February 2026
Colour depth (or bit depth) describes how many distinct colours a display can produce. The standard on most monitors and phones is 24-bit, which allocates 8 bits to each of the three colour channels (red, green, blue). That gives 256 shades per channel and a total of 16.7 million possible colours — more than enough for everyday use.
Professional monitors often support 30-bit colour (10 bits per channel), unlocking 1.07 billion colours. This extra precision reduces banding — the visible stepping between gradients — which matters when editing photos, grading video, or working with HDR content.
Some displays report 48-bit colour, which typically means 16 bits per channel at the panel level. In practice, most of those extra bits are used for internal processing rather than visible colour steps, but the result is smoother gradients in applications that support wide-bit pipelines (like DaVinci Resolve or Photoshop in 16-bit mode).
A colour gamut is the range of colours a display can reproduce. Different gamuts cover different portions of the visible spectrum:
| Gamut | Coverage | Used by |
|---|---|---|
| sRGB | Standard, smallest | Web, Windows, most content |
| Display P3 | ~25% wider than sRGB | Apple devices, HDR video, modern phones |
| Adobe RGB | ~35% wider than sRGB | Print design, photography |
| Rec. 2020 | Widest standard | HDR cinema, future displays |
If the test above shows "Wide-gamut (P3)", your screen can display vivid reds, greens, and oranges that sRGB monitors simply cannot reproduce. This is valuable for photo editing, design work, and enjoying HDR movies. If it shows "sRGB only", your display covers the standard web colour space — perfectly fine for browsing, office work, and most video streaming.
High Dynamic Range (HDR) expands both the brightness range and colour volume a display can show. In practice, HDR means brighter highlights (specular reflections, sunlight, neon signs) alongside deep blacks, creating a more lifelike image.
HDR10 is the baseline open standard — it uses static metadata and 10-bit colour. Most HDR monitors and TVs support it. HDR10+ adds dynamic metadata that adjusts brightness scene by scene for better results on varying content. Dolby Vision also uses dynamic metadata but supports up to 12-bit colour and requires a licensing fee, which is why it appears mainly on premium TVs and streaming services (Netflix, Apple TV+).
Important: a monitor labelled "HDR" does not automatically deliver a great HDR experience. True HDR requires a peak brightness of at least 400–600 nits (ideally 1,000+) and either local dimming zones or an OLED panel. Budget "HDR" monitors that peak at 250–300 nits will technically accept an HDR signal but look worse than a good SDR display.
For serious photo and video work, look for these minimum specs:
Use this tool to confirm your display's colour depth and gamut. Then pair that data with your PPI measurement and screen resolution to get the full picture of what your monitor can deliver.
Colour depth is the number of bits used to represent each pixel's colour. 24-bit (8 bits per channel) produces 16.7 million colours. 30-bit (10 bits per channel) produces 1.07 billion colours, reducing gradient banding in photos and video.
Not necessarily. Most web content is authored in sRGB, so a wide-gamut display shows it correctly via colour management. Wide gamut becomes valuable when editing photos, watching HDR video, or designing for Apple platforms that use P3 natively.
HDR requires specific hardware (high peak brightness, wide colour volume, 10-bit panel) and a compatible connection (HDMI 2.0+ or DisplayPort 1.4+). Many older or budget monitors lack the brightness needed for meaningful HDR. The test above checks whether your browser and display driver report HDR decoding capability.
HDR10 uses static metadata — one set of brightness values for the entire movie. Dolby Vision uses dynamic metadata — brightness values can change per scene or per frame, giving more precise control. Dolby Vision also supports up to 12-bit colour, though most content is mastered at 10-bit.
Windows 11/10: Settings → Display → turn on "Use HDR." macOS: HDR is enabled automatically on supported displays. Make sure your cable supports the required bandwidth (HDMI 2.0+ or DisplayPort 1.4+) and that your GPU drivers are up to date.