Remove HDR From Photo

Strip the HDR gain map out of a photo so it stops looking blown out, without re-compressing the image.

This tool runs entirely in your browser. Your data is never uploaded, never stored, and never leaves your device.

Takes the HDR layer out of a photo so it stops looking blown out, glowing or oddly grey when you post it, share it or print it — and on a JPG it does this without re-compressing the picture, so the file that comes back is the camera's own image data rather than a second-generation copy of it.

How to use it

1Drop in the photos that look wrong — JPG from an Android phone, or HEIC from an iPhone. A file with no HDR layer is reported as having none rather than being quietly re-saved.
2Each row shows what was taken out and whether the pixels were touched: JPG says pixels untouched, HEIC says re-encoded once, because HEIC has to be decoded to become a JPG at all.
3Download each photo from its row, or use Download all.

Example

Input: A 1600x1200 Ultra HDR JPEG of 1.51 MB — a base image plus a 62 KB gain map, an MPF index and an hdrgm XMP block
Output: A 1.42 MB JPG, 63,316 bytes smaller, still 1600x1200, whose decoded pixels are byte-for-byte identical to the base image inside the original.

Measured 2026-08-20 by scripts/check-gain-map.mjs, which decodes both files and compares the raw pixel buffers rather than trusting that the output opens. The same run passes on a progressive JPEG, and on a scan containing 4,338 stuffed FF bytes plus restart markers — the case where searching for the end-of-image marker naively truncates the photo and still produces a file that opens. Honest limit: those fixtures are constructed to the Ultra HDR spec, not captured on a phone, so the format handling is verified while the range of real camera files is not. If a photo from your phone comes back looking wrong, that is worth reporting.

What happens to your data

Nothing is uploaded. That matters more here than on most pages, because the photos people want to de-HDR are the ones they are about to post — and because this tool reads the parts of the file that hold the GPS coordinates and the camera model. It reads them only to decide which blocks describe HDR, and it deliberately keeps the rest: your copyright, your creator tag and your EXIF survive, because you asked to fix the brightness, not to be stripped of your metadata. The HEIC path is the one exception worth knowing — decoding through a canvas keeps pixels and nothing else, so an iPhone file loses its EXIF on the way to JPG.

Last updated August 2026

A photo looks perfect on your phone. You post it, or email it, or send it to be printed, and it comes back wrong — blown out, glowing at the edges, or washed to a flat grey. Nothing is broken and the photo is not corrupted. It is being shown two different ways by two different programs.

Recent phones do not save one picture. They save an ordinary photo plus a hidden second layer called a gain map, which tells a bright-capable screen how much further to push each area. Software that understands the layer applies it; software that does not shows the plain photo underneath. Instagram, Chrome and your phone's gallery each make that decision independently, which is why the same file can look right in one and wrong in the next.

This takes the layer out and leaves the ordinary photo, so every program agrees about what it is looking at.

The part worth knowing: on a JPG, removing the layer does not require re-saving the picture. The ordinary photo is already inside the file, complete. So this lifts it out rather than decoding and re-compressing it, and the image data you get back is exactly what the camera wrote. Most tools that offer this open the photo and save it again, which quietly costs you a generation of quality every time.

How it works

Toolvore treats a JPG as what it actually is — a container holding two images, not one image with a brightness setting. An Ultra HDR file stores the ordinary photo first, then appends a small greyscale gain map after it, and links the two with an APP2 Multi-Picture index and an XMP block carrying the HDR headroom values. Removing the HDR is therefore a container edit: drop those two metadata blocks, stop at the end of the first image, and discard what follows. The pixels are never decoded, so they cannot be degraded, and the result is bit-identical to the base image — a claim asserted by a test that decodes both files and compares the raw pixel buffers, not by this sentence. Everything else in the file is deliberately left alone, so EXIF, copyright and creator tags survive. iPhone HEIC files work differently: there the gain map is a separate item inside the HEIF container and the photo has to be decoded to become a JPG at all, so that path re-encodes once and the page labels it as such rather than implying otherwise.

Common use cases

Fixing a photo that looks blown out or washed out after posting it to Instagram, WhatsApp or X
Preparing phone photos for a print shop, whose software will not apply a gain map
Getting consistent colour across a set of photos before putting them in a document or a slide deck
Sending a picture to someone whose screen or app renders HDR differently from yours
Uploading to a site or marketplace that rejects or mangles HDR images

Frequently asked questions

Why does my photo look fine on my phone but blown out everywhere else?＋

Because your phone is applying the hidden gain map and the other program is not — or the reverse. The file holds an ordinary photo plus HDR instructions, and each piece of software decides for itself whether to follow them. Removing the instructions makes every program show the same thing.

Does this reduce the quality of my photo?＋

Not on a JPG. The ordinary photo is already stored inside the file, so it is lifted out rather than re-saved, and the image data is identical to what the camera wrote. HEIC is the exception: it has to be decoded to become a JPG, which costs one generation, and the page tells you which of the two happened to each file.

Is this the same as converting HDR to SDR?＋

Yes. SDR — standard dynamic range — is the ordinary photo, and an HDR file is that photo plus the gain map layered on top. To convert HDR to SDR is to keep the first and discard the second, which is exactly what happens here. The difference from most converters is the route taken: the standard-range image is lifted out of the file rather than re-rendered from it, so on a JPG nothing is compressed a second time.

What actually is a gain map?＋

A small greyscale image, usually a quarter the size of the photo, where each pixel says how much brighter that part should be shown on a display that can go beyond normal white. It is stored alongside the photo rather than baked into it, which is what lets the same file look ordinary on an old screen and vivid on a new one.

Will I lose the date, location or camera information?＋

Not from a JPG. Only the two blocks describing HDR are removed; EXIF, copyright and creator tags are deliberately kept, because destroying your metadata to fix your brightness would be solving a problem you did not have. A HEIC converted to JPG does lose that metadata, because the conversion goes through a canvas that holds pixels and nothing else.

Can I get the HDR back afterwards?＋

No. The gain map is discarded, not hidden, and there is no way to reconstruct it from the ordinary photo. Keep the original if there is any chance you will want the HDR version — this is a one-way change, and worth making on a copy.

Which phones make these files?＋

Google Pixel and recent Samsung Galaxy phones write Ultra HDR JPEGs; iPhones write HDR HEIC. Both are handled here. If you are unsure, drop the photo in — a file with no HDR layer is reported as having none rather than being re-saved for no reason.

Why not just take a screenshot of the photo?＋

It is the advice most forum threads give and it is a poor trade. A screenshot is limited to your screen's resolution, so a 12-megapixel photo comes back at a fraction of its size, re-compressed, and cropped to whatever was visible. This keeps the full image at full size.

Can I turn HDR off on the phone instead?＋

Usually yes, in the camera settings, and it is the better fix for photos you have not taken yet. Pixel calls it Ultra HDR and Samsung puts it under advanced picture formats. This page is for the photos already on your phone, which no setting can retroactively change.

Are my photos uploaded anywhere?＋

No. The whole operation happens inside this tab, which matters because the pictures people bring here are the ones they are about to publish, and because the file contains their GPS coordinates. Those coordinates are read only to work out which parts of the file describe HDR, and they are left in place.

The file got smaller — was something thrown away?＋

Yes, and only the part you asked to remove. The gain map is a real second image taking real space, so the file shrinks by roughly its size. The photo itself is unchanged: same dimensions, same compression, same bytes.