Google has quietly added support for Android’s new Ultra HDR image format to Google Messages when sending messages via RCS. Images in this format, when sent via RCS, will retain their metadata and display correctly on the receiving device.
This was first noticed by TheSpAndroid through the inclusion of the flag bugle.support_ultra_hdr within the application APK. The authors of the blog post confirmed through crowdsourced testing that the feature actually works on Google Pixel 8 devices when sending images via RCS.
The Ultra HDR image format is a recent inclusion in Android 14. This format is essentially a variation of the venerable JPEG and works by encoding a logarithmic interval gain map image into the metadata. When such an image is viewed on a device that can read this metadata and has an HDR display, the image is displayed in a wider dynamic range with brighter highlight luminance and more detail in the shadows. When viewed on a device without metadata support, the basic JPEG image is displayed in standard dynamic range.
Google added support for this feature in September ahead of the Pixel 8 launch. Pixel 8 devices are the first Android devices to capture images in this format, and while older Pixel devices can’t capture them, they can still display them as expected.
However, even though this feature is now built into Android, we haven’t seen increased adoption. OnePlus and Oppo have a version of this feature built into their version of Android called ProXDR, and the metadata from these devices is not compatible with devices that support Ultra HDR like Pixel phones (and vice versa). Apple, of course, has similar functionality to this from the iPhone X and also uses its own unique metadata that is incompatible with others.
For this technology to be relevant, companies will have to unite and settle on a single format, at least in the Android world, as Apple is unlikely to adopt Google’s standard when it has its own, even if it has promised support for RCS.
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