HDRFomaten

HDRFomaten refers to a proposed family of high-dynamic-range (HDR) image formats designed to store linear light data with extensive dynamic range and rich metadata for tone mapping and display calibration. The main goal is to preserve scene-referred radiance information across editing, archiving, and viewing workflows, enabling consistent tone mapping on a variety of devices.

Technical characteristics commonly described for HDRFomaten include floating-point pixel representation (typically 32-bit per channel), support for wide color gamuts (such as Rec. 2020 or ACEScg), and compatibility with multiple HDR transfer functions, including PQ and HLG. Formats in the HDRFomaten family are often described as tile-based to support efficient, random access and compression, with both lossless and visually lossless options. They aim to separate image data from display metadata and to include rich metadata for color science, exposure, and camera response.

HDRFomaten stores scene-referred metadata, including exposure, white balance, and camera response curves, along with optional display-referred metadata to facilitate on-the-fly tone-mapping. The specification emphasizes backward compatibility with existing HDR pipelines and interoperability with color-management systems used in film, television, and visual effects.

As of writing, HDRFomaten is not an officially standardized format and exists primarily in research discussions and early industry proposals. It faces competition from established formats such as OpenEXR, from which it borrows ideas about multi-channel, high-dynamic-range storage and metadata handling. Proponents argue that HDRFomaten could offer a more explicit standard for HDR metadata and a unified approach to compression.