Netflix has begun streaming HDR10+ programming for AV1-enabled devices, enhancing the customer viewing experience for subscribers at the $25 per month Premium level. Previously, high-definition content had been limited to HDR10 and Dolby Vision, which it will continue to offer. Netflix has been “a pioneering adopter of High Dynamic Range (HDR) technology” starting nearly a decade ago, not only streaming in the format but also producing and encoding in it. “In the last five years, HDR streaming has increased by more than 300 percent” on Netflix while HDR-configured devices have more than doubled, according to the company.

Adding HDR10+ expands the Netflix HDR ecosystem while furthering the company’s goals of preserving creative intent and providing subscribers a more immersive viewing experience, explains a post on the Netflix Technology Blog.

The company is enabling HDR10+ using the AV1 codec, a specification launched in 2018 that has become “the standard for streaming 4K video without gobbling data,” reports Engadget. Netflix first embraced the format “as a way to help customers save data while watching on their phone,” although “the compression tech works just as well for streaming large HDR files.”

Most newer iOS and Android smartphones and tablets support AV1.

“Even TVs that have been released over the past few years” support AV1, Android Police reports. These include models from Samsung, Hisense, Panasonic, Philips and TCL. Those who are unsure whether their device supports HDR10 can use the Netflix website to check compatibility.

Netflix is enabling HDR10+ on select popular titles now, and hopes to eventually offer all HDR content in the new format. Since launching HDR in 2014 with season one of “Marco Polo,” Netflix has built a library of more than 11,000 hours of HDR titles.

“HDR10+ uses dynamic metadata to better optimize picture quality based on a device’s capabilities, similar to Dolby Vision,” writes FlatpanelsHD, which embeds a Netflix supplied demo illustrating the difference between HDR10 and HDR10+ (with the caveat that “HDR effects cannot be accurately displayed on standard monitors”).