Video's are oversaturated with Hardware-accelerated GPU scheduling on with a HDR Monitor

Brave Browser Desktop Support
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Description of the issue: HDR Oversaturated Issue on Videos when Hardware-accelerated GPU scheduling on

Steps to Reproduce (add as many as necessary): Hardware-accelerated GPU scheduling on and HDR on don’t know if this issue happens to people using a single monitor but I’m using a four monitor setup. Three monitors side by side which are same type monitors and middle monitor is main monitor Display Three with HDR on and 240hz other monitors have no HDR on and the other monitor is a little screen in computer tower. No settings in the brave://settings/ messed with.

Expected result: Oversaturated Videos

Reproduces how often: Every time I start Brave Browser

Operating System and Brave Version: NVIDIA system information report created on: 06/27/2026 10:23:13
NVIDIA App version: 11.0.7.247
Operating system: Microsoft Windows 11 Pro, Version 10.0.26200
DirectX runtime version: DirectX 12
Driver: Game Ready Driver - 610.62 - Tue Jun 16, 2026
CPU: AMD Ryzen 9 5900X 12-Core Processor
RAM: 64.0 GB
Storage: SSD - 3.6 TB

Graphics card
GPU: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090
Direct3D feature level: 12_1
CUDA cores: 21760
Graphics clock: 2467 MHz
Resizable BAR: No
Memory data rate: 28.00 Gbps
Memory interface: 512-bit
Memory bandwidth: 1.79 TB/s
Total available graphics memory: 65330 MB
System video memory: N/A
Shared system memory: 32723 MB
Dedicated video memory: 32607 MB GDDR7
Video BIOS version: 98.02.2e.00.f3
Device ID: 10DE 2B85 41981458
Part number: G145 0030
IRQ: Not used
Bus: PCI Express x16 Gen4

Display (3): Asustek Computer Inc PG27UCDM
Resolution: 3840 x 2160 (native)
Refresh rate: 240 Hz
Desktop color depth: Highest (32-bit)
Display technology: G-SYNC Compatible
HDCP: Supported

Display (2): Asustek Computer Inc PG27UCDM
Resolution: 3840 x 2160 (native)
Refresh rate: 60 Hz
Desktop color depth: Highest (32-bit)
HDCP: Supported

Display (1): Asustek Computer Inc PG27UCDM
Resolution: 3840 x 2160 (native)
Refresh rate: 60 Hz
Desktop color depth: Highest (32-bit)
HDCP: Supported

Display (4): YX Display
Resolution: 1920 x 480 (native)
Refresh rate: 60 Hz
Desktop color depth: Highest (32-bit)

And the Brave version is V 1.91.180

Additional Information: I’ve been looking around for a while online and couldn’t find a real clear answer to the issue I am having with the Brave Browser. So I have a four Monitor setup, When I try to watch videos on my HDR monitor through the brave browser the videos are oversaturated. Now if I drag the video/browser to another monitor that isn’t HDR the video is not oversaturated instantly. Now I have turned off Hardware-Accelerated video decode in the Experiments section in the brave browser aka brave://flags/ and this only sometimes works and the only permanent solution that I have found in my own time is going to, Settings then system then display then graphics then go to advanced graphics settings and turn off Hardware-accelerated GPU scheduling. This fixes the brave HDR video oversaturated issue without messing with anything in the brave://flags/. But the problem is I want to keep Hardware-accelerated GPU scheduling ON but there is nothing online that I can find that can fix this issue so far. Can someone really find a true fix for this issue without turning off Hardware-accelerated GPU scheduling?

2

@UndeadTyMan

What ChatGPT has to say:

This is a pretty classic “HDR + multi-monitor + GPU scheduling + Chromium video pipeline” collision. The interesting part of that post is that the symptom is very specific: oversaturation only on the HDR-capable display, and only inside Brave, and it disappears when either the window is moved or hardware-accelerated GPU scheduling (HAGS) is disabled.

That combination strongly points to a color-space / compositing mismatch rather than a “video decode is broken” type bug.

What’s likely happening

In Brave Browser (like other Chromium browsers), video playback on Windows goes through a GPU-accelerated pipeline that hands frames to the OS compositor. On a system like this:

  • Windows 11 HDR is active on one display only
  • Multiple SDR displays are running simultaneously
  • Hardware-accelerated GPU scheduling is enabled
  • A high-end GPU like the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 is doing tone mapping + composition

…the OS has to constantly convert between:

  • SDR (standard video content in most web videos)
  • HDR output space (10-bit / Rec.2100 PQ or HLG)
  • Per-monitor color profiles
  • GPU-decoded video surfaces

When HAGS is enabled, Windows changes how frames are queued and presented to the compositor. In some setups, that can cause:

  • Wrong tone mapping being applied twice (or not at all)
  • SDR video being treated as HDR-ish wide gamut content
  • Or the reverse: HDR display not receiving correct metadata, causing “overcooked” saturation

That “instantly fixes when moved to another monitor” is the key clue: the render pipeline is reinitializing into a different color space.

Why disabling HAGS “fixes” it

Turning off Hardware-Accelerated GPU Scheduling forces Windows to fall back to a more conservative scheduling/compositing model. That often:

  • Restores older color management behavior
  • Avoids buggy HDR metadata propagation paths
  • Forces more CPU-mediated frame submission (less efficient, but more stable)

So the user’s workaround makes sense technically, even if it’s not ideal.

More likely root causes (ranked)

1. MPO (Multi-Plane Overlay) bug (very likely)

Windows 10/11 HDR + Chromium + NVIDIA + multi-monitor = classic Multi-Plane Overlay issues.

This often causes:

  • oversaturation
  • incorrect gamma
  • flickering or color shifts when moving windows

2. HDR + SDR content mismatch in Chromium

Brave may be tone-mapping SDR video incorrectly on HDR output while HAGS is active.

3. NVIDIA color output mode mismatch

Driver may be switching between:

  • Full RGB SDR pipeline
  • YCbCr HDR pipeline

especially with mixed refresh rates (240 Hz + 60 Hz displays).

4. Per-monitor ICC / color profile conflict

Those ASUS PG27UCDM monitors at mixed refresh rates can cause Windows to apply inconsistent color transforms.

Practical fixes (without disabling HAGS)

If the goal is “keep HAGS ON”, these are the realistic options:

1. Disable MPO (very high success rate)

This is one of the most common fixes for HDR/Chromium weirdness.

It forces a simpler composition path and often eliminates oversaturation issues entirely.

2. NVIDIA Control Panel: force consistent output

In NVIDIA settings:

  • Set output color format to RGB
  • Set output dynamic range to Full
  • Avoid automatic switching per display

3. Windows HDR calibration

Run the Windows HDR calibration tool and re-save the profile for the HDR monitor.

4. Brave/Chromium flags (less reliable, but worth trying)

In Brave:

  • toggle hardware acceleration (not just video decode)
  • experiment with ANGLE backend (D3D11 vs D3D12)
  • ensure “Use HDR when available” behavior is consistent

5. Disable “Use HDR for SDR content” (test)

Sometimes this causes double tone mapping in Chromium video surfaces.

And ChatGPT had 1 question:

Does disabling MPO alone fix it while keeping HAGS ON?

3

Thank you for the fast response.

1. MPO (Multi-Plane Overlay) bug (very likely)

Windows 10/11 HDR + Chromium + NVIDIA + multi-monitor = classic Multi-Plane Overlay issues.

This often causes:

  • oversaturation
  • incorrect gamma
  • flickering or color shifts when moving windows

This was the fix for me Disabling this through the Registry Editor made it to where I can now have HAGS on and I dont have to mess with any of the stuff in the brave://flags/ in Brave Browser Thank you :slight_smile:

4

I just started having the over saturated issue again with this disabled so it wasn’t a permanent fix unfortunately. So I still need help with this all the other prcatical fixes didnt work for me also @289wk