HDR screens and light sensitivity: the SDR content brightness slider

Updated 2026-11-02

Quick answerIf your display has HDR turned on in Windows, everyday content such as web pages is SDR, and its brightness is set separately. Open Settings > System > Display > HDR and lower the SDR content brightness slider (external displays) or HDR content brightness (built-in displays) to tame bright white pages.

Windows

  1. Move the window to the HDR display.
  2. Open Settings > System > Display > HDR.
  3. Drag SDR content brightness (external) or HDR content brightness (built-in) to balance brightness.

Good to know

  • Microsoft: on external HDR displays the slider changes SDR brightness relative to HDR content.
  • Migraine Mode detects HDR through the browser's dynamic-range media query and starts with 10% more dimming. It cannot read the panel's real brightness in nits.

FAQ

Why do white web pages look so bright with HDR on?

With HDR on, SDR content brightness is a separate setting. Lowering the SDR content brightness slider dims ordinary apps and pages.

Sources

  • Microsoft Support: HDR settings in Windows. Link

Not a medical device and not medical advice. Migraine Mode is a screen-comfort tool: it does not diagnose, treat, cure or prevent migraine or any other condition, and it does not replace a doctor. Its settings are based on studies of light, colour, flicker, patterns and motion; the extension itself has not been clinically tested. When to see a doctor.