8-bit vs. 10-bit Video | What's the Difference?

What is 10-bit video? Should I shoot it over 8-bit video? In this video, Doug explores what's at the heart of this debate as he explains what bit depth is, and why it matters both in production, and in post.
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[@ChunkyChest]

2025: I finally got 10bit everything! 2026: You must have 12bit.

[@GUTOMOFFICIAL]

🤣

[@filmtonyvalles]

oyze we got 16

[@jamiesimko]

This comment wins

[@enricofermi3471]

That is true, but also not. Today, you actually need (as in "have to have, doesn't work otherwise") a true 10-bit monitor/TV (some stuff advertised as "hdr-ready" uses so-called 8-bit+FRC, which doesn't cut it at all, look for actual VESA or Dolby Digital HDR certification) to enjoy HDR content. Although it is possible to further widen dynamic range/gamut into 12-bit level, it is already more of a local contrast/luminosity issue (therefore VESA standart way of grading HDR displays via peak local brightness: HDR400/600/800/1000), meaning that with purely bit depth going up above 10 bits you won't notice visual difference at everyday use scenarios (unless your daily job is industrial grade (cinema or professional photography) image processing). In fact, there are 12-, 14- and 16-bit per channel displays on professional market right now, albeit with a hefty five-digit prices in US dollars, only used in aforementioned industrial grade image processing. But if you were to get one such yourself, you'd be surprised by how underwhelming it is compared to the price and technology that went into it. Partially due to "no content" reason, but also cuz the difference in bit depth itself at this high values already reaches a point of indistinguishability by human eye. At and above 10-bit, what matters more than raw bit depth, is auxiliary features that come with it.

[@locust76]

Dolby Vision is 12 bit.

[@designmediaconsultants2867]

B H is our go to source for gear and equipment. Been using you guys for over 30 years. Appreciate your honest and informative videos

[@kimsonpro]

Well, I'll put it simpler: 10 bit to 8 bit, is like 4K to FullHD. When recording in 4K, You'll have more informations, pixels, to edit later, and the final result even if you export in 1080p, will be better than shooting at 1080p at the very beginning

[@madez24]

Nope, this is wrong explanation

[@jamesromeo1]

256 shades of Gray . yeah!

[@tabassumazim233]

Yeahhhhhhhh!!!!!!! 😝😝😝

[@kaistudio8229]

ohh now it makes sense😅

[@achilledepoitiers4462]

...Ironic that the background perfectly illustrates 8 bit falling apart yet doesnt even get a mention...

[@StephenSE9]

😂

[@ketytro2288]

But in 10bit you can have 1073741824 shades of Gray. Can you believe that

[@rinusworldzm]

This was really informative and really easy to understand. Thank you Doug and B&H

[@h00b00]

I never got why 10bit was important because all the examples talks about banding in the sky and I was like: so? I hardly shoot sky! But while doing a side-by-side between Z6+Ninja V and A7III, I realized how much better the "color separation" was between objects of similar colors/shades. Even more so in the skin tones/textures - 10bit made the skin look so much more lifelike.

[@thebeststooge]

I have been on the 10bit wagon for decades because 16.7 million colors is like a grain of salt in the ocean of mother nature's number of colors. For me 10 bit is the minimum we should be at and striving for 16 bit per channel as that would get us so much closer to what our eyes see when we walk out our front doors.

[@barmalini]

you'd need to ask mother nature to give you the 16bit eyeballs before pursuing on that stride any further

[@thebeststooge]

@barmalini Stop being one of those types "it is good enough" because it has already been written that the number of colors in mother nature is over 4 billion which is sure in the hell a far cry more than our 16.7 million colors.

[@alksadventures8851]

The Best Stooge actually there are more than that, but we cannot see them. Sure 4 billion colors in terms of visible light. But there’s radio waves, gamma rays, UV rays, etc. that we cannot see or hear. What if we could modify our eyes as to see these colors :O Sorry I’m just rambling at this point

[@JohnJohn-pm9wq]

I just went from an 8 bit monitor to a 10 bit one and I I'm seeing shades of purple and blue that I have never seen on the 8 bit one. I tested this by comparing the exact scene and it does really make a difference

[@jasonrossrealty]

I just bought a Lumix S5 camera from you. I didnt understand what 10 bit was, but every video hyping the camera talked about how it has 10 bit, making it clear that anyone who didnt know what that is, aint right for this camera. But nobody ever explained what it is, until this helpful video you made here.

[@wcbibb]

Your video helped me realize what 10-bit is, and why it makes a big difference!

[@DeddyHermansyah]

now i know. thanks for the explanation. it's simple, and easy to understand, even without turning speaker on. thanks for "CC" feature from youtube, i can watch this video in office.

[@mistermagnifico]

That was a clear and peaceful explanation

[@johnolson8386]

Nicely done. Great speaking voice for KZbin productions and you're a great "explainer." Keep producing! Oh, and the content was great, too! (smiley thing)

[@giaptheson]

10-bit color has 1 billion color whereas 8-bit color has 16 million colors.

[@astrokeneda]

I have the GH5 and normally shoot 8bit, shot a short movie on the weekend with some night scenes, let me tell you the bit 10 made a HUGE difference in post, I was blown away by the flexibly of the gradding

[@SyafiqAnuar]

hi bro.. im now using a super cheap sony a6300.. now i want to move for gh5.. what do you think for your side.. based on color grading and sensor size different

[@BarnabyFWNightingale]

Found out why shooting in 8 bit f log I got color banding everywhere when I graded. This helped so much, now shooting in 10 bit I can do really great color grades!

[@SyafiqAnuar]

where can i see the different from you works bro.. now im also want to jump from sony to gh5

[@joseallende8046]

Probably the best explanation I've seen to date.

[@artmaltman]

Excellent presentation, and needed. I've long wondered about the significance of 8 bit vs 10 bit. Thank you.

[@BandH]

Glad you found it helpful

[@nicolasmango290]

Awesome video. Thank you very much. I finally understand.

[@muktamalakar5771]

Thank you, Sir. This video was very helpful.

[@myxsys]

Nicely explained! As a one-man video production crew, I'll stick to 8-bit as the quality is acceptable for the average consumer, and doesn't require more space and processing requirements like the 10-bit. I don't see the budget justification for using 10- bit.

[@charlesxchaves]

Yeah I was wondering, does recording in 10 bit use more memory than 8bit? I think it does

[@eshan309]

Very nicely explained in just 5:30 long video! Thank you

[@alanv1233]

Thanks for the helpful video 👍🏻 was thinking about this for quite a while

[@LukeAyers]

Great explanation. Thank you

[@davefk]

Thank you that was very well presented and easy to understand.

[@Sam-tl4sm]

Very well explained. Good work.

[@blainemarcano]

Thank you Doug.

[@ali_sadeghy]

Really Helpful! Thanks!

[@bhagwatjadhav4089]

Thats so much information in this video

[@jianxiang]

Love every video that explains the advantage of one tech but not necessarily recommend it to every one.

[@wrealestate8778]

Fantastic explanation thank you

[@jamiesimko]

I love nerding our to this

[@PieterBreda]

Very informative.Great work.

[@jamesowen8446]

Thanks for the explanation

[@pirsigsjourney1955]

Thank you, it's all starting to make better sense now.

[@BandH]

Glad you enjoyed.

[@lylestavast7652]

That's a great layman's explanation and set of graphics...

[@Kevlexicon]

very helpful resource. thanks!

[@ronmasters751]

Thanks! Perfectly clear.

[@peterhasert9821]

Doug, you rock!

[@luv2stack]

Great explaination

[@brucestirling8215]

Excellent thanks!

[@petrosianus]

Excellent explanation

[@eugenc.3518]

Verry informative and well explained!! 😎

[@subynut]

Thank you for a very well explained video!

[@BandH]

Glad you enjoyed.

[@rezarishehri2135]

Thank you so much it helps a lot

[@alexangeleu]

Incrível! Muito obrigado! Este vídeo é uma pérola!

[@FAMEAcademyNY]

Great Explanation!

[@ThisEpicLife]

Fantastic. Great explanation.

[@BandH]

Thanks for watching.

[@iMMIT1987]

Thank you so much, this info is so good.

[@dukemenangoravelsyata1429]

Merci beaucoup. Very helpful

[@animepussy8356]

Came here after all the confusing scene release titles, ngl. Thankyou for the explanation!

[@BandH]

Glad we could help!

[@nathanpickering6742]

I can definitely see the difference in 10 bit compared to 8 bit. Just got the OnePlus 8 pro which has 10 bit and near perfect colour accuracy, and man when watching hdr videos, it's something else. Along with having possibly the brightness display, when that hdr kicks on when watching hdr vids, it looks so much better then hdr on my old OnePlus 7 pro.

[@Gablarkin]

Best explaination

[@alex.muntean]

Awesome explanation! 👌🏻😁

[@BTMovieSecondChannel]

Very informative!

[@hunter-ci7dk]

I finally understand!! Thank youu

[@OthCrypto]

wow you know your subject, ill have to listen to it many times to catch all infos in the vid

[@kellcoleStyleEnt]

Good understanding here

[@AnitaSV]

I know Wikipedia says dithering is noise, but is really not. Check the algorithms. It compensates for error in one pixel by changing next pixel towards the previous colour. Keep accumulating errors and correcting them. Looks like noise but there is no randomness involved. Doing it linearly is not the only option hence different dithering algorithms. I have also built a few new dithering algorithms but nothing better than existing ones.

[@danyalvisuals]

Very informative 👊🏻

[@ft.galpardo5081]

nicely put

[@lightimagingcrew6942]

Thanks!

[@TurquoiseFilms]

Great video!

[@HokgiartoSaliem]

Hasselblad raw can do 16 bit / channel, Canon stil raw 14 bit / color (or channel). I think many pro video should be easy at those level also. Dolby Vision require 12 bit / color to end user. I hope soon all entry level SLR can do 10 / 12 bit HDR as same as end user, and pro is more than that.

[@aih2012]

One question bothered me for a long time. OLED iPhone has 8bit display, but it supports both HDR10 and Dolby Vision, why?

[@BandH]

A 10-bit display most likely would drive the price higher. With dithering, an output device can be technically HDR-capable even if it lacks a native HDR screen. Even though the display on any iPhone from iPhone 7 onward uses a wider color gamut letting it produce vibrant colors, only the OLED technology in iPhone X/XS/Max is true HDR-these devices are guaranteed to deliver the required peak brightness and contrast while being able to reproduce 10 bits of color per each RGB channel without resorting to dithering. Summing up, devices without native HDR screens (iPhone XR, current iPad Pros, etc.) process the HDR signal but use dithering to simulate the visual enhancements to dynamic range, contrast and wide color gamut that are only made possible by HDR. >Mark

[@mauktiksinghrawat8274]

Very well explained 👍

[@BandH]

Thanks for watching.

[@VenkyOG]

thanks for information, i understood

[@BandH]

Glad it helped!

[@HungryTacoBoy]

Funny, I just watched a video the other day about 'dithering' on old gaming consoles, which was the first time I had heard of the term.

[@TVPALOTINA]

my computer does not render fast with video card, when i record in 4.2.2 10 bit. only recognizes 4.2.0.

[@ucaaqndda]

Excelente explicación. Saludos desde Córdoba Argentina!

[@Olegfilms]

Thank you for video. Just one comment, your backdrop make it looks like video shot with high iso and then denoised it.

[@user-ff4mi5sn8n]

I'm trying to solve the color banding issue. I have an 8 bit Samsung 43" SVA monitor. Is colorbanding an inconvinient feature of such panel or is my unit faulty?

[@aldermanswe]

great video!

[@jigarpatel1978]

thank you BH, this is great

[@Shinigama]

thanks doug

[@mikepawlikguitar]

Doug, amazing video mate. With all this said, would you recommend that the EOS RP be used for simple Vlogs on KZbin and possibly a small amount of client work, until one could theoretically get one's hand on a device that is capable of capturing ProRes, log, or whatever else @ 10-bits?

[@BandH]

Sure. The Canon EOS RP Mirrorless Digital Camera (B&H # CAERP2410547 ) would be an excellent choice for a vlogger and for professional work . bhpho.to/3oJTk8C >Mark

[@bennemann]

I can't really see any banding in the sky shot at 3:42 even before the noise was added. Not sure if it's because my high-end laptop's monitor might be very good, or because KZbin's compression algorithm actually hid the banding, or what?

[@sharpshark2000]

You forgot to mention that 8-bit means 8 bits of binary encoding per Red Green Blue channels. The maximum value for an 8 bit integer is 256 (1 bit = 2, 2 bit = 4, 3 bit = 8, 4 bit = 16, 5 bit = 32, 6 bit = 64, 7 bit = 128, 8 bit = 256), hence why 256 is the maximum range of Red, Green and Blue channels.

[@theecstatic9686]

Thanks!!!....

[@or2kr]

It's a shame that KZbins compression basically reduced all real footage that was supposed to display banding or how it can be fixed with dithering to a blocky mess. Still a great video on the topic

[@grad-dd9zj]

thinking about buying a 5D mark IV for video productions, it would be right to upgrade to c-log if i understand you right, no matter if i shoot in full HD 4.2.0 or 4k 4.2.2... correct? btw. thanks for the vid. i learned something today :)

[@BandH]

C-Log is a color profile designed to increase your Dynamic Range for Post Production Processing. If you are looking to get more in-depth with your color grading than adding C-Log is the right choice no matter what your bit depth is. Thanks! -Joey P

[@kennguyen222]

*good job*

[@NevadaScrubJay]

As you said, it is still seen in your and your viewers monitor. Plus, videos might be affected more than stills. I believe Lightroom only uses 8 bit? What about the difference in pixel size due to monitor size; as 27" vs 32"??? Then there is the difference of HDR in 2k or 4k vs monitors without HDR? Is all of this "too much information" for an amateur, or even most professional, still photographers using Lightroom?

[@reggiemurphy7028]

Awesome video

[@ginotarabotto]

Thanks for the tutorial! What is the general range of bits in film today?

[@BandH]

Theatrical distribution standard color depth is 4:4:4 12-bit and the standard color space is DCI XYZ. >Mark

[@MDFRESCUER]

Nicely.

[@EricMalette]

Doug nailed this

[@monsieurtumulte7547]

I read so much in the past two days because I need a new monitor. ..and now I'm confused. Anyway: Is it possible to edit 10 bit material on a I bit display? With software? It sounds kinda limiting to me...

[@RayMak]

Hey guys (I know there are many expert viewers here and B&H), some computer related technical question that I'm curious about. Let's say a monitor uses DP 1.2 Input (21.6 Gbps bandwidth) connected to a computer that has DP 1.4 Output (32.4 Gbps bandwidth) with a DP 1.4 Cable. Basically Output DP 1.4 Cable DP 1.4 Input DP 1.2 (That's what written on the monitor) Computer is showing that screen is running 2560 x 1440 Native Resolution at 165 Hz YCbCr422 10 Bit Color Depth. Which I think is higher than DP 1.2 bandwidth on the receiving side. By right, Windows would not even show it if it's not capable of such specs. Unless, the display is secretly DP 1.4 hahaha.... My curiosity is killing me. Help...

[@BandH]

Please e-mail us Ray: [e-mail] >Mark

[@oofig]

yo ray!!! i also have the same thing showing with my monitor, should I keep it on 10BPC?

[@CoolAsianGuy]

Jesus fucking christ you again. I did not expect you would be watching this kind of video

[@Damian83z]

hi, landed on your video because i've encountered an odd thing i can't explain. I downloaded some mkvs that's YUV 8bit and BT2020. They are definitely HDR as ive compared them to original HDR10 movie and every "light in the dark" scenes are the same, in fact TV switches to HDR mode. How it is possible?

[@Rationalific]

Awesome overview!

[@Rob.P]

Interesting video 🙂👍

[@eddymison3527]

great voice

[@florentdevier]

Quick question : Is there a big difference between 10 and 12 (for the eyes) bits ? That's the only thing keeping me from getting a Z-cam S6 instead of BMPCC 6K...

[@BandH]

A bit depth of 10 Bit offers a billion possible colors, 12 bits takes that to over 68 billion possible colors. There is a big difference in quality. Thanks! -Joey P

[@matthewaitkenfilms9477]

This made my head feel big with my 16 bit camera

[@hohhan1978]

Appreciated) I just done my own adaptive dither which correctly represent 12 bit on 8 bit display. And you know? only 16 bit content could really fill up this setup visually :)

[@user-wf9wq9kq6u]

Great explanation, thanks! I'm planning to shoot a budget iphone feature at 8bit sdr. It'll be exposed correctly and plan on applying some grading in Resolve. I'm going to use filmic pro LOGv2. I'm aware of banding, I was wondering if you would expect major issues when using a mist filter (hazier picture). Also to add dithering, would it be better to have a static noise or animated? I would've guessed animated? Can you kindly point to a decent plugin/tutorial? Many thanks!

[@BandH]

You should be able to achieve the desired mist effect depending upon the filter chosen. >Mark

[@user-wf9wq9kq6u]

@@BandH Thanks, what I meant is whether using a mist filter might aggravate colour banding issues when filming 8bit, and doing minimal grading work on it. I truly hope not :-)

[@BandH]

​@@user-wf9wq9kq6u I do not see this happening with a quality filter. >Mark

[@Tomoldchannel]

When choosing a new gear, what would be the prioroties? 1st 8 bits vs 1p bits ? or 4.2.2 vs 4.20 or 4.0.0? Or the bitrate?

[@BandH]

Your choices will depend upon your shooting style, project needs, customer stipulations, and your budget for new gear. Please e-mail us with details: [e-mail]. >Mark

[@Ferdigrapher]

great!

[@BrianEason_DoingitwithGod]

i do real estate video and photograpy. Which would recommend Fuji XT3 with the Atomos V or Sony A7iii with the Atomos V?

[@BandH]

I do not think you could go wrong with either. However I would tend to lean towards the full frame option, A7III, as you will be able to use wider lenses to their full potential, which may be needed when shooting houses. Thanks! -Joey P

[@Leprutz]

Now ths was reslly useful

[@graffitirasto]

Hi, great video mano ! i do have a question, i have a sony a6500, 8 bit camera. Is it possible that filming 4k and exporting in 1080 p, gives me a better looking image than if exported in 4k?

[@BandH]

An HD file can look great if it started with 4K footage. I don't think it would look better though than a 4K file, which still has the 4K resolution. Thanks! -Joey P

[@graffitirasto]

@@BandH thank you sir. Big hug

[@ToGrimmToWin]

I’m trying to figure out my settings. I have an lg ultrawide hdr10 panel that lg says is 6bit+frc yet amd Radeon adrinalen is default at 10bit panel and I’m not sure if putting it to 8bit would be better or leave it at 10bit

[@BandH]

That is a hard question to answer. The best thing to do would be play with the settings on both your computer and monitor to see which combination looks and works the best for you. Thanks! -Joey P