Quick answer
Many new phones save HDR photos: a normal JPG plus a hidden gain map that tells HDR screens how much brighter to show the highlights. Apps and websites that handle the gain map badly show a washed-out, too-bright or mismatched picture. Removing the gain map gives you a normal photo that looks the same everywhere — Ultra HDR to JPG does that losslessly, without re-compressing the image.
What is Ultra HDR?
Recent Android phones (such as many Pixel and Samsung models) save photos in Ultra HDR, and iPhones store a similar HDR gain map in their photos. The file contains two things: an ordinary photo that every app can show, and a small extra image — the gain map — with instructions for HDR screens to make lights, sky and reflections brighter than normal white.
On a screen that supports it, the photo looks vivid. The problems start when the photo leaves your phone.
Typical symptoms
- The photo looks grey or faded in one app and fine in another.
- Highlights look blown out or glowing next to other photos or interface text.
- After editing (cropping, filters), strange halos or patches appear, because the edit changed the photo but not the gain map.
- Prints or uploads look different from what you saw on the phone.
Fix: remove the HDR gain map
Our Ultra HDR to JPG tool strips the gain map and the HDR information and keeps the normal photo exactly as it was — byte for byte, no re-compression, so there is no quality loss. The result looks the same in every app, on every screen and in print. It also removes the GPS location by default, and handles many photos at once.
Ultra HDR to JPG → Turn HDR phone photos into normal JPGs, losslessly and in batches.Prevent it: switch HDR photos off
- Android: open the camera's settings and look for Ultra HDR (Pixel) or an HDR option (the name differs per brand and model). Switching it off makes the camera save normal JPGs.
- iPhone: photos keep their HDR information; under Settings → Photos you can turn off showing photos in full HDR on the phone itself.
Keep in mind that HDR photos do look better on HDR screens, so you might prefer to keep HDR on and only convert the photos you share or print.
Other phone photo formats
iPhone photos in HEIC format that won't open on a PC? See how to open HEIC on Windows or convert them with HEIC to JPG. Photos too large to send? Compress Image.
Frequently asked questions
Why do my photos look washed out after uploading?
The site probably handles the HDR gain map badly. Remove it with Ultra HDR to JPG and upload the normal JPG instead.
Does removing the gain map lower the quality?
No. The normal photo is kept byte for byte; only the extra HDR layer and its information are removed.
How do I know if a photo is Ultra HDR?
Drop it into Ultra HDR to JPG: the tool tells you whether it found a gain map.
Should I turn off Ultra HDR on my phone?
Only if you mostly share, edit or print photos in apps that handle HDR badly. Otherwise keep it on and convert the photos you share.