Creator media glossary
What is Rec. 709?
Short answer
The color standard for HD video (ITU-R BT.709): the colors, gamma and maths that standard-dynamic-range video uses, and what YouTube expects for SDR uploads.
Key takeaways
- Rec. 709 (ITU-R BT.709) is the color standard for HD and SDR video, approved in 1990.
- It defines the color primaries (shared with sRGB), white point, transfer curve and Y'CbCr maths.
- YouTube recommends BT.709 for SDR uploads; HDR uses Rec. 2020 with PQ or HLG.
- Log footage must be converted to Rec. 709 before delivery, or it looks washed out.
Rec. 709 explained
Rec. 709 (Recommendation ITU-R BT.709) defines how HD video describes color: which red, green and blue primaries it uses, its transfer curve (gamma) and how color is converted to and from brightness and color-difference values. Almost all non-HDR video you see online is graded and tagged as Rec. 709.
YouTube recommends BT.709 primaries, transfer and matrix for SDR uploads. HDR uses a wider standard, Rec. 2020 with a PQ or HLG curve. If footage is graded in one standard and tagged as another, colors can shift after upload, so keep the export tags matching the grade.
What Rec. 709 defines
| Part | What BT.709 sets |
|---|---|
| Picture format | 1920 × 1080 (and 1280 × 720) at the standard HD frame rates |
| Color primaries | The red, green and blue that define the gamut, about 35.9% of visible colors |
| White point | D65 (daylight, about 6,500 K) |
| Transfer (camera) curve | How light is encoded; a power curve with a short linear segment near black |
| Matrix coefficients | How RGB becomes Y'CbCr; different from the SD standard Rec. 601 |
| Levels | Video range: 16-235 for 8-bit luma, not 0-255 |
The display side, how a screen turns the signal back into light, is set separately in BT.1886 (2011) as a gamma of 2.4 in a dim room.
History of Rec. 709
The ITU approved BT.709 in 1990 to give the world one HD standard, and it has been revised several times since (BT.709-6 is from 2015). Its color primaries were later adopted for sRGB, which is why computer graphics and HD video share the same gamut. Rec. 2020 (2012) and Rec. 2100 (2016) extended it for UHD and HDR.
SDR vs HDR color on YouTube
| SDR upload | HDR upload | |
|---|---|---|
| Color primaries | BT.709 | Rec. 2020 |
| Transfer | BT.709 | PQ or HLG (Rec. 2100) |
| Matrix | BT.709 | Rec. 2020 non-constant luminance |
| Bit depth | Not specified | 10 or 12 bits |
How to set Rec. 709 in your editor
- Premiere Pro: Sequence Settings > Working Color Space Rec. 709; for Log clips, apply the camera LUT or use the automatic color management in recent versions.
- DaVinci Resolve: Project Settings > Color Management, Timeline color space Rec.709 Gamma 2.4 and Output color space Rec.709 Gamma 2.4 (or Rec.709-A for exports viewed on Macs).
- Final Cut Pro: Library color processing Standard (Rec. 709) for SDR projects; wide gamut for HDR.
- CapCut and phone editors: work in SDR Rec. 709 by default; turn off HDR to stay there.
Rec. 709 vs Rec. 601
Rec. 601 is the older standard-definition counterpart. The primaries are close, but the matrix used to turn RGB into Y'CbCr is different, so SD footage read as Rec. 709, or HD read as 601, shows shifted greens and reds. Most modern software handles this automatically from the resolution or metadata; tag files correctly on export.
Rec. 709 vs sRGB, DCI-P3 and Rec. 2020
| Color space | Gamut (share of visible colors) | Used for |
|---|---|---|
| Rec. 709 | About 35.9% | HD and SDR video, YouTube SDR |
| sRGB | Same primaries as Rec. 709 | Web, images, computer displays |
| DCI-P3 / Display P3 | About 53.6% | Cinema projection; Apple devices use Display P3 |
| Rec. 2020 | About 75.8% | UHD and HDR video (with PQ or HLG) |
Log footage and Rec. 709
Cameras that record Log (S-Log, V-Log, C-Log, Apple Log on iPhone 15 Pro and later) store a flat, gray-looking image that keeps more highlight and shadow detail. It has to be converted to Rec. 709 for SDR delivery, with the camera maker's LUT or a color space transform in your editor, and then graded. Uploading Log footage without that step is why some videos look washed out.
Common Rec. 709 problems
- Washed-out or crushed blacks: video range (16-235) read as full range (0-255), or the other way round. Check your export's levels setting.
- Exports look lighter in QuickTime on a Mac than in your editor: macOS shows Rec. 709 with a different gamma. DaVinci Resolve offers a "Rec.709-A" tag that makes Apple apps show the file as graded.
- Color shifts on old SD material: Rec. 601 footage interpreted with Rec. 709 coefficients, or vice versa.
- Untagged files: some apps guess the color space; tag BT.709 primaries, transfer and matrix on export, as YouTube recommends.
Frequently asked questions
What is Rec. 709?
Recommendation ITU-R BT.709, the international standard for HD video. It sets the color primaries, the transfer curve and the maths used to store color, and it is the standard for almost all SDR video.
What color space should I upload to YouTube?
For SDR video, BT.709: YouTube recommends BT.709 color primaries, transfer characteristics and matrix coefficients.
What is the difference between Rec. 709 and Rec. 2020?
Rec. 2020 covers a much wider range of colors and is the basis of HDR video, paired with a PQ or HLG curve. Rec. 709 is the narrower HD standard used for SDR.
Is Rec. 709 the same as sRGB?
They share the same color primaries, but they are separate standards: Rec. 709 is written for video and sRGB for computer displays and images.
Is Rec. 709 HDR?
No. Rec. 709 is the SDR standard. HDR uses the Rec. 2020 primaries with a PQ or HLG curve, described in Rec. 2100.
What gamma is Rec. 709?
The camera encoding curve is roughly a 0.45 power (about 1/2.2) with a linear part near black; displays decode it with a 2.4 gamma as set in BT.1886.
Let Koldflux pick the settings
Koldflux chooses the codec, container and bitrate for each platform when it exports.
Free tools that use this
Sources and how we checked
- YouTube Help: Recommended upload encoding settings (checked 2026-10-05)
- YouTube Help: Upload High Dynamic Range (HDR) videos (checked 2026-10-05)
- ITU-R Recommendation BT.709: Parameter values for the HDTV standards (checked 2026-10-05)
- ITU-R Recommendation BT.1886: Reference electro-optical transfer function for flat panel displays (checked 2026-10-06)
Reviewed October 6, 2026 by the Koldflux team. Definitions follow the specifications and platform documentation linked above; platform tables come from the same registry the Koldflux tools use.