View HDR video in the viewer in Final Cut Pro for Mac
In Final Cut Pro, you can view HDR video in the viewer with tone mapping applied, which compresses bright image content and reduces the apparent dynamic range of the video to fit the viewable range of your display.
Important: To play back the wider range of colors in an HDR project with maximum accuracy, you can use the A/V Output feature with an external reference HDR video monitor. See Play media on an external display in Final Cut Pro for Mac.
When you view HDR video, the Show HDR as Tone Mapped setting is turned on by default in most cases, applying tone mapping to the HDR image in the viewer. This setting does not affect how HDR content is displayed on an external monitor using A/V Output.
Note: If you’re using Final Cut Pro with a Pro Display XDR that’s set to HDR Video or another reference mode preset in Displays settings (in macOS System Settings), tone mapping is disabled.
Turn on tone mapping for HDR video in the viewer
In Final Cut Pro, position the playhead on an HDR clip in the timeline or browser, so that the clip appears in the viewer.
Click the View pop-up menu in the upper-right corner of the viewer, then, in the Display section, choose Show HDR as Tone Mapped. (When tone mapping is turned on, a checkmark appears.)
If you’re using a system with a Pro Display XDR, the Show HDR as Tone Mapped setting is appropriate for day-to-day playback and editing with the default preset (“Apple Display P3-1600 nits”) in Displays settings. To use the Pro Display XDR for critical tasks such as color correction, see Color correct HDR video with Pro Display XDR and Final Cut Pro for Mac.
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