Meta enables Dolby Vision HDR on Instagram with compressed metadata

Meta announced on November 17, 2025, that Instagram for iOS now supports Dolby Vision and ambient viewing environment metadata for HDR videos created on iPhones. The implementation addresses technical challenges in preserving iPhone-produced video metadata through Meta's server transcoding pipeline, marking the social media platform's first comprehensive HDR video enhancement since initial HDR support launched in 2022.

The development required Meta's engineering team to implement compressed Dolby Vision metadata formats, reducing overhead from 100 kbps to 25 kbps per video on average. According to the announcement, this compression improvement proved essential after initial A/B testing in 2024 revealed that uncompressed metadata increased video load times enough to reduce user engagement on Instagram Reels.

Every iPhone-produced HDR video encoding includes two critical metadata components that Meta's previous transcoding system discarded. Ambient viewing environment metadata provides characteristics of the nominal viewing conditions, enabling devices to adjust video rendering based on actual ambient light. Dolby Vision metadata enhances color, brightness, and contrast to match the video to display capabilities.

Meta's video processing infrastructure operates across three stages: client processing where creators' devices flatten compositions into HEVC-encoded files with Main 10 profile, server processing where transcoding systems generate multiple format versions, and consumption where viewer devices decode and display frames. The server processing stage, which relies on FFmpeg to create SDR versions, VP9 versions, and AV1 versions at different bitrates, historically lacked support for amve and Dolby Vision metadata.

The engineering team initially addressed ambient viewing environment metadata in 2022 by hardcoding static values directly into Instagram's player pipeline after observing that every frame of every video contained identical metadata. This workaround proved unstable, as nothing enforced consistent values across different iPhone models or iOS versions. Meta collaborated with the FFmpeg community in 2024 to implement proper amve support, including logging systems that verified the two-year-old assertion about static values.

Dolby Vision implementation presented more complex technical obstacles. iPhone-produced HDR uses Dolby Vision profile 8.4, combining HEVC codec with HLG standard compatibility for devices without native Dolby Vision support. Meta needed to carry Dolby Vision metadata within codecs the platform actually delivers to users, specifically AV1 rather than HEVC.

Meta engineers worked with FFmpeg developers to implement support for Dolby Vision Profile 10, which enables metadata carriage within AV1 bitstreams. The collaboration resulted in full Profile 8 and Profile 10 support within FFmpeg, enabling transcoding from HEVC with Profile 8.4 into AV1 with Profile 10.4 using libaom and libsvtav1 encoders. The team also made fixes to dav1d decoder and Shaka packager to properly handle Dolby Vision metadata throughout the processing pipeline.

Instagram's video player architecture feeds independently decoded buffers to Apple's AVSampleBufferDisplayLayer rather than using high-level AVPlayer components. This approach supports formats Apple doesn't offer natively, such as AV1 on devices predating the iPhone 15 Pro, but requires manual extraction of Dolby Vision metadata. Meta implemented extraction following Dolby's specification for Profile 10 carriage within AV1 bitstreams, packaging metadata into the format AVSampleBufferDisplayLayer expects.

Dolby partners verified the implementation using display color analyzers to measure brightness across identical Instagram posts with and without Dolby Vision metadata at varying screen brightness levels. The analysis demonstrated that Dolby Vision metadata presence caused content brightness to track screen brightness settings much more closely than content without metadata.

Meta conducted A/B testing before shipping the feature, producing additional video versions containing new metadata for randomly distributed test populations while control groups received existing experiences. The company collected statistics on watch time, load time, connection type, and playback errors across both video flavors.

The initial A/B test on Instagram Reels in 2024 revealed that videos with Dolby Vision metadata received less watch time than standard counterparts, contrary to expectations. Data analysis indicated the engagement reduction stemmed from longer load times caused by 100 kbps metadata overhead. Users moved to the next Reel in their feed rather than waiting for videos to load.

Meta implemented compressed metadata format specified by Dolby, reducing overhead by a factor of four to 25 kbps average. The implementation required approximately 2,000 lines of code covering Dolby Vision metadata compression and decompression in FFmpeg using bitstream filters. Since Apple doesn't support compressed format natively, Meta implemented client-side decompression independently.

The second A/B test demonstrated that consumers viewing videos with Dolby Vision metadata spent more time in the app. Meta attributes this improvement to users spending more time watching HDR videos in lower-light environments where properly rendered videos with correct brightness metadata prove less taxing on the eyes compared to improperly rendered content.

The testing outcomes enabled Meta to justify shipping Dolby Vision across Instagram for iOS, making it the first Meta app supporting the technology. As of June 2025, all AV1 encodings derived from iPhone-produced HDR include compressed Dolby Vision metadata.

VP9 codec doesn't offer facilities for carrying additional metadata, preventing Dolby Vision support for VP9 deliveries currently. Meta expressed interest in exploring alternate delivery mechanisms for VP9 in future implementations.

The announcement notes that Dolby Vision support remains limited within web ecosystem across different browsers and displays, preventing accurate demonstration of the technology on web pages. Meta recommends experiencing the enhancement on Instagram for iPhone directly.

Meta's video processing infrastructure has undergone significant technical evolution throughout 2025, with Dynamic Media defaulting to enabled status for Advantage+ Catalog ads starting September 1, 2025. The platform's approach to video optimization reflects broader industry trends toward algorithmic content delivery, though advertiser concerns about transparency and control remain central to platform development discussions.

The company is currently working to extend Dolby Vision and amve support to Facebook Reels, with deployment planned for other Meta apps and corresponding operating systems. The encoding recipes now include support for both metadata types, positioning them for broader platform rollout.

Meta acknowledged collaboration with Haixia Shi, the team at Dolby, and Niklas Haas from FFmpeg for supporting the effort. The implementation makes Dolby Vision support readily available to the development community through open-source FFmpeg enhancements.

The technical achievement addresses a perceptible problem in HDR metadata preservation that affects how iPhone-created videos appear across different viewing conditions and screen brightness levels. Meta's work with FFmpeg developers ensures the broader video processing community benefits from these implementation improvements.

Timeline

• 2017: Meta (then Facebook) begins partnerships with measurement providers including IAS and DoubleVerify for brand safety solutions
• 2022: Instagram and Facebook iOS apps launch initial HDR video support without Dolby Vision or amve metadata
• 2022: Meta implements temporary amve workaround using hardcoded static values
• 2024: Meta collaborates with FFmpeg community to implement proper amve support
• 2024: Meta works with FFmpeg developers to implement Dolby Vision Profile 8 and Profile 10 support
• 2024: Initial A/B test reveals 100 kbps metadata overhead reduces user engagement on Instagram Reels
• 2024: Meta implements compressed Dolby Vision metadata format reducing overhead to 25 kbps
• June 2025: Meta begins including Dolby Vision metadata in all AV1 encodings derived from iPhone HDR video
• June 2025: Meta announces generative AI advances for advertisers at Cannes Lions including video generation capabilities
• November 17, 2025: Meta announces Dolby Vision and amve support on Instagram for iOS

Summary

Who: Meta's engineering team collaborated with Dolby, FFmpeg developers including Niklas Haas, and internal partner Haixia Shi to implement Dolby Vision and ambient viewing environment metadata support for Instagram iOS. The implementation affects iPhone users creating and viewing HDR video content on Instagram.

What: Instagram for iOS became Meta's first app supporting Dolby Vision and amve metadata for HDR videos created on iPhones. The implementation preserves iPhone-produced metadata through Meta's transcoding pipeline, which previously discarded this information when converting videos to multiple formats using FFmpeg. The solution includes compressed metadata format reducing overhead from 100 kbps to 25 kbps per video, manual Dolby Vision extraction for Apple's AVSampleBufferDisplayLayer, and support for transcoding HEVC Profile 8.4 to AV1 Profile 10.4.

When: Meta announced the capability on November 17, 2025, with implementation work spanning from initial HDR support in 2022 through temporary amve workarounds, FFmpeg community collaboration in 2024, compressed metadata implementation following failed initial A/B tests, and full deployment reaching all AV1 encodings as of June 2025.

Where: The feature launched on Instagram for iOS specifically, marking the first Meta app to support Dolby Vision. Implementation occurs across Meta's three-stage video processing infrastructure: client processing on creator devices encoding in HEVC Main 10 profile, server processing through FFmpeg-based transcoding generating SDR, VP9, and AV1 versions, and consumption on viewer devices using AVSampleBufferDisplayLayer for HDR playback.

Why: The implementation addresses user experience issues where HDR videos without proper metadata displayed incorrectly across different viewing conditions, particularly noticeable at low screen brightness levels. Second A/B testing demonstrated users spent more time in the app when viewing videos with Dolby Vision metadata, attributed to reduced eye strain in lower-light environments where screens are set to lower brightness. Meta aims to expand support to Facebook Reels and other apps while making improvements available to the broader development community through open-source FFmpeg enhancements.