How to view a .HDR file online
No app, no account, no upload.
Open your .HDR
Drag a .HDR file from Blender, Nuke, Houdini, a 360° camera or an HDRI library onto the viewer, or choose it from your device. It's decoded right here.
View and set the exposure
We pick a sensible exposure automatically. Slide it to reveal the sun's disc or the darkest corner, and compare tone curves or the false-color view.
Save a PNG or JPG
Export the tone-mapped image for sharing, thumbnails or a quick client preview.
What is a .HDR file?
Everything worth knowing about Radiance HDR Image (High Dynamic Range).
An HDR file is a Radiance high-dynamic-range image that stores far more brightness range than a JPEG or PNG. Open it free with GIMP, Blender, Krita, or Photopea online. To share it as a normal picture, you must tone-map it first; a plain rename to JPG will not work.
Programs that open .HDR files
- Windows
- Photomatix, Adobe Photoshop, GIMP, IrfanView, Blender, Krita
- macOS
- Adobe Photoshop, GIMP, Blender
- Linux
- GIMP, Blender, Krita
- Web
- Photopea
| Full name | Radiance HDR Image (High Dynamic Range) |
|---|---|
| Developer | Greg Ward (Radiance renderer, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory) |
| First released | 1985-1989 (Radiance lighting simulation system); .pic originally, later .hdr |
| Category | Images |
| MIME type | image/vnd.radiance |
| Signature | 23 3F 52 41 44 49 41 4E 43 45 0A ("#?RADIANCE" followed by newline (0x0A) at offset 0) |
Related viewers
More free tools for images and graphics.
Frequently asked questions
Why does my .HDR file look dark or washed out elsewhere?
Most image viewers show HDR files without any exposure control, so they look too dark or clipped. Here you can set the exposure and tone curve yourself, or press Auto to center the average brightness on mid-gray.
What do the pixel values mean?
Hover the image to read the linear light values (1.0 = diffuse white) and how many stops brighter or darker than mid-gray each pixel is. Values above 1.0 are highlights a normal JPG can't hold.
What is false color?
A diagnostic view that paints each pixel by brightness in stops: blue for deep shadows, green around mid-gray, red and white for highlights. It's how cinematographers and lighting artists check exposure.
Is my .HDR file uploaded?
No. EXR, HDR and PFM files are decoded for you. The decoder is downloaded from a public CDN.
Can I save the HDR as HDR?
The export is the tone-mapped 8-bit image (PNG, JPG or WEBP) at your chosen exposure. Converting between HDR formats is coming soon.
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