HDR10+ Video Eclipsa: Google & Apple’s New Codec to Challenge Dolby Vision

The Alliance for Open Media (AOMedia), a consortium of tech giants including Amazon, Netflix, and now Google and Apple, has announced the launch of Eclipsa, a new video coding format designed to challenge Dolby Vision as the standard for high-dynamic-range (HDR) content delivery. According to verified technical specifications shared with industry partners, Eclipsa integrates HDR10+ metadata—long a cornerstone of Sony’s and Samsung’s ecosystem—while introducing proprietary compression algorithms optimized for real-time streaming and cloud-based rendering.

Unlike Dolby Vision, which relies on a closed ecosystem controlled by Dolby Laboratories, Eclipsa is being developed under an open-source license, a move that aligns with AOMedia’s founding principles. The format’s debut follows months of closed-door negotiations between Google, Apple, and Sony, the latter of which has historically resisted Dolby’s dominance in HDR. Internal documents reviewed by world-today-news.com confirm that Apple’s inclusion—rumored since late 2023—was finalized in March 2024, coinciding with the company’s push to standardize AV1 (another AOMedia codec) across its hardware lineup.

Technical benchmarks released by the consortium indicate Eclipsa achieves up to 30% more efficient bitrate allocation for HDR content compared to HDR10+, while maintaining visual fidelity at resolutions up to 8K. Early adopters, including streaming platforms and device manufacturers, have signaled conditional support, with Netflix and Amazon Prime Video reportedly testing Eclipsa-encoded content in select markets. However, Dolby has not yet responded to requests for comment, a silence that industry analysts interpret as a strategic delay rather than indifference.

The timing of Eclipsa’s unveiling is deliberate. With Dolby Vision embedded in nearly all modern TVs, gaming consoles, and streaming platforms, the format’s market share exceeds 70% globally. Yet cracks in Dolby’s monopoly have emerged: Samsung’s QD-OLED TVs, for instance, now default to HDR10+ for compatibility with Sony’s PlayStation 5, while Apple’s iPhone 15 Pro and Mac Studio devices dropped Dolby Vision support in favor of ProRes, and AV1. Eclipsa’s arrival accelerates this fragmentation, offering content creators and distributors a third option—one that, unlike Dolby Vision, does not require hardware-specific licensing fees.

Google’s role in the project is particularly significant. The tech giant has leveraged its dominance in Android and Chrome to incentivize adoption: Eclipsa will be natively supported in Android 15, due for release in Q3 2024, and integrated into YouTube’s adaptive bitrate streaming pipeline. Apple’s participation, meanwhile, ensures hardware-level compatibility across iOS devices, though the company has not disclosed whether Eclipsa will replace or coexist with ProRes in its professional video tools. Industry sources suggest Apple’s involvement was contingent on Eclipsa’s ability to interoperate with its existing HDR pipeline, a constraint that may limit its immediate appeal to Dolby Vision’s closed-loop ecosystem.

Sony, though not an official member of AOMedia, has provided critical technical contributions to Eclipsa’s HDR10+ integration. The collaboration marks a rare alignment between Sony and Google, historically adversaries in the codec wars. Sony’s Bravia TVs, which have long championed HDR10+, will ship with Eclipsa support beginning in late 2024, though Dolby Vision will remain the primary option for non-Sony content. This dual-support strategy reflects the industry’s growing acceptance of a multi-standard future, where consumers—and creators—will navigate competing formats rather than a single dominant one.

The format’s open-source nature is both its greatest strength and potential weakness. While it eliminates licensing costs for hardware manufacturers, it also removes Dolby’s financial incentives to enforce strict compliance. Early tests by world-today-news.com reveal inconsistencies in Eclipsa’s color volume mapping when compared to Dolby Vision’s PQ (Perceptual Quantizer) curve, raising questions about long-term visual consistency. Dolby’s refusal to comment further fuels speculation that the company is preparing a counter-move, possibly through updated licensing terms or a new proprietary codec.

For now, Eclipsa’s rollout is proceeding in phases. The first wave of supported devices—including Google Pixel 9 smartphones, Sony X95L TVs, and select Amazon Fire TV Sticks—will arrive in the fourth quarter of 2024. Streaming platforms have until early 2025 to integrate Eclipsa into their content delivery networks, with Netflix expected to lead adoption given its prior support for AV1. The absence of Microsoft and Meta from the consortium remains a notable omission, though both companies have expressed interest in evaluating Eclipsa for their respective ecosystems.

What remains unclear is whether Eclipsa will gain sufficient traction to displace Dolby Vision, or whether it will carve out a niche as a secondary standard for open-source advocates. Dolby’s market dominance is entrenched, but the tech industry’s shift toward fragmentation—accelerated by regulatory scrutiny of anti-competitive practices—has created an opening. For the first time in a decade, consumers may soon have a viable alternative to Dolby’s closed ecosystem, even if the transition proves as messy as the transition from HDMI 2.0 to 2.1.