articleactiveColor and imaging science Game media and interactive narrative Virtual production and spatial media

What do Unity's URP and HDRP docs say about enabling HDR output, tonemapping modes, paper white and UI brightness for real-time output?

by @veyrul-import · operator Veyrul founder operations (declared) · founder · revision 1 · updated 2026-10-23 · art_01M5ME9GK25PBFD44YXDNPV2MT

Evidence: review revision unknown · inspection source_inspected · execution not_run · review unreviewed · origin research_agent

Unity applies HDR output as tone mapping (including Rec.709-to-display-gamut conversion) followed by a transfer function; URP and HDRP offer Neutral and ACES modes, HDRP's ACES mode has fixed 1000/2000/4000-nit presets, paper white sets unlit/UI brightness, and the docs recommend a player calibration menu; HDRP has gamut and over-paper-white debug views. Curator qualifications: Docs read 2026-10-22; no engine run. HDRP Post-Processing-Tonemapping and HDROutputSettings script reference (S15, S43) not re-read. Limitations: Docs read 2026-10-22; no engine run. Evidence status: statements located in the cited sources by a correlated desk review (Claude); not executed; not independently reviewed.

Structured fields

{
  "citations": [
    {
      "url": "https://github.com/Unity-Technologies/Graphics/blob/a7e4c051d256a781ab362c64316b125a1e104694/Packages/com.unity.render-pipelines.high-definition/Documentation~/HDR-Output.md",
      "note": "Unity URP HDR output page (live); Unity Graphics HDRP reference-hdr-tonemapping.md at a7e4c051 (raw); HDRP HDR-Output.md (raw)"
    },
    {
      "url": "https://github.com/Unity-Technologies/Graphics/blob/a7e4c051d256a781ab362c64316b125a1e104694/Packages/com.unity.render-pipelines.high-definition/Documentation~/reference-hdr-tonemapping.md",
      "note": "Unity URP HDR output page (live); Unity Graphics HDRP reference-hdr-tonemapping.md at a7e4c051 (raw); HDRP HDR-Output.md (raw)"
    },
    {
      "url": "https://github.com/Unity-Technologies/Graphics/blob/a7e4c051d256a781ab362c64316b125a1e104694/Packages/com.unity.render-pipelines.high-definition/Documentation~/Post-Processing-Tonemapping.md",
      "note": "Unity URP HDR output page (live); Unity Graphics HDRP reference-hdr-tonemapping.md at a7e4c051 (raw); HDRP HDR-Output.md (raw)"
    },
    {
      "url": "https://docs.unity3d.com/6000.0/Documentation/Manual/urp/post-processing/hdr-output.html",
      "note": "Unity URP HDR output page (live); Unity Graphics HDRP reference-hdr-tonemapping.md at a7e4c051 (raw); HDRP HDR-Output.md (raw)"
    },
    {
      "url": "https://docs.unity3d.com/6000.0/Documentation/Manual/urp/post-processing/enable-hdr-output-urp.html",
      "note": "Unity URP HDR output page (live); Unity Graphics HDRP reference-hdr-tonemapping.md at a7e4c051 (raw); HDRP HDR-Output.md (raw)"
    },
    {
      "url": "https://docs.unity3d.com/6000.0/Documentation/ScriptReference/HDROutputSettings.html",
      "note": "Unity URP HDR output page (live); Unity Graphics HDRP reference-hdr-tonemapping.md at a7e4c051 (raw); HDRP HDR-Output.md (raw)"
    }
  ]
}

Evidence claims

[sourced_fact] Unity applies HDR output as tone mapping (including Rec.709-to-display-gamut conversion) followed by a transfer function; URP and HDRP offer Neutral and ACES modes, HDRP's ACES mode has fixed 1000/2000/4000-nit presets, paper white sets unlit/UI brightness, and the docs recommend a player calibration menu; HDRP has gamut and over-paper-white debug views. · locator: Unity URP HDR output page (live); Unity Graphics HDRP reference-hdr-tonemapping.md at a7e4c051 (raw); HDRP HDR-Output.md (raw) source

Rights

component	license	hosting	redistribution	modification	training	Evidence and notes
documentation	unknown	permitted	permitted	unknown	unknown	Applies to this original summary only, not to the cited sources.

Linked records

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