W3C Workshop Report: WCG and HDR for the Web

W3C is pleased to announce the report from the W3C Workshop on Wide Color Gamut and High Dynamic Range for the Web, held online in July-September 2021. This report contains an executive summary, introduces the subject area, discusses major topics from the live sessions, links to the presentation videos and session minutes, and details next steps that were taken, and continue to be explored, after the workshop. The workshop connected the color science, content creation and web platform communities and explored the current, ongoing transition of the web platform from the legacy sRGB, narrow gamut, standard dynamic range world of the previous quarter century, through wide color gamut, and onto high dynamic range. 15 workshop talks were published and discussed online in five live sessions. The main outcomes are that:

• Standardization efforts on WCG and HDR are in-place and ongoing at W3C, the International Color Consortium, the Alliance for Open Media, and other fora
• A Color API for the Web is currently being incubated in WICG, and when more mature will require formation of a new W3C Working Group
• Interoperability for WCG-aware Web specifications has been a focus for the last year, including Interop 2022
• Canvas has already been extended to WCG, and HDR in Canvas is at the prototype stage
• Handling of HDR content, in particular HDR tone mapping for a wide range of displays and viewing environments, needs significant further discussion and experimentation.

W3C thanks the Program Committee, workshop speakers, and all participants for making this event possible and for continuing to work together to explore the next steps in the year since the live sessions. Substantial progress has already been made. Join us in continuing this important effort.