Convert Color Space (BT.709 to BT.601) Without Reencoding?

[jorel221]

BT.709 has higher saturation and gamma than BT.601, it looks better in some videos and worse in others, is there a way to make this conversion without having to reencode the video?
Avidemux can convert between those two easily but you have to reencode the video using x264 which takes time and results in quality loss and/or bigger file size.

[poisondeathray]

BT.709 has higher saturation and gamma than BT.601, it looks better in some videos and worse in others, is there a way to make this conversion without having to reencode the video?
Avidemux can convert between those two easily but you have to reencode the video using x264 which takes time and results in quality loss and/or bigger file size.

Usually you have to re-encode and convert the colors + flag if you want the changes to work in all players and scenarios

Other options:
1) You can flag the matrix on some types of video without re-encoding to affect playback - but not all players will override based on flags

2) You can add a shader during playback e.g. mpchc has 601 to 709 , and 709 to 601 hlsl shader presets


If you're looking at "saturation" and "gamma" , then then 601 vs. 709 matrix is probably not the best thing to adjust. Look at saturation and gamma adjustments directly. Many players have adjustments and filters to affect playback

[jorel221]

Thanks man.

[jagabo]

You can lie about the color matrix:

https://ffmpeg.org/ffmpeg-bitstream-filters.html#h264_005fmetadata

But not all players will respect the flags. And displaying with the "wrong" matrix doesn't increase the saturation. Some colors get brighter, others darker.

https://forum.videohelp.com/threads/329866-incorrect-collor-display-in-video-playback#post2045830