Why Runway Built an 8-Year-Overdue HDR Converter Instead of Another Video Model
Runway's new Ruby model converts any AI-generated video into true 16-bit HDR, and works across competing models, not just its own.
Runway released Ruby, a model that converts standard dynamic range video into true 16-bit HDR, delivered as EXR sequences or 10/12-bit ProRes and HEVC in BT.2020 color with PQ or HLG.
What makes it notable isn't just the spec sheet, it's that Runway's own founder called it one of the most requested features in the company's eight-year history, and built it to work on output from any video model, not just Runway's own.
What Ruby Actually Does
Ruby takes SDR video, either uploaded footage or AI-generated output, and converts it into genuine HDR rather than a tone-mapped approximation. Output options include a 16-bit half-float OpenEXR sequence for compositing work, or a BT.2020 ProRes .mov mezzanine file in 422, 422 HQ, or 4444 profiles, with HDR10 or HLG transfer functions available depending on delivery needs.
Technical documentation confirms the process preserves source pixels and audio rather than reconstructing them, and output files include colorimetry and provenance metadata as sidecar files, exactly the kind of detail a real post-production pipeline actually requires.
The current input limits are real: source video must already be SDR, run 30 seconds or under, and stay under 4096 pixels per side.
The Part That's Genuinely Unusual
Runway explicitly built Ruby to work on video generated by any model available inside Runway, not just its own Gen-4.5. That includes ByteDance's Seedance 2.5 and MiniMax H3 by name in Runway's own materials.
Most companies building AI tools optimize new releases around locking users deeper into their own ecosystem. Ruby does the opposite: it's a utility that becomes more valuable the more competing models a user actually relies on.
One early tester's reaction, testing Seedance 2.5 output through Ruby on a calibrated OLED monitor, called the conversion "genuinely an upgrade if you want to produce HDR content and have a good display," a real, specific, non-marketing endorsement of image quality rather than a vague capability claim.
Why This Took Eight Years
Runway's founder framed the delay candidly: "Sorry it took so long." That's worth sitting with. AI video generation has spent the last few years chasing resolution, motion quality, and prompt adherence, the flashy, benchmark-friendly metrics.
Delivery format, whether generated footage can actually slot into a real HDR mastering pipeline without a manual conversion workaround, has been a quieter, less glamorous problem that apparently sat unsolved the entire time.
Competitive Context
Ruby isn't the only SDR-to-HDR tool on the market, Topaz Labs offers a comparable model turning 8-bit video into 10-bit ProRes and 16-bit EXR masters.
What's different here is where Ruby sits: built directly into a platform people are already using to generate AI video in the first place, removing a separate export-convert-reimport step from the workflow entirely.
The Signal in the Noise
This release says something about where AI video tools are actually maturing. Generation quality has improved fast enough that the harder remaining problem isn't "can this look good," it's "can this actually be delivered the way a real production needs it."
Ruby is a bet that solving boring, unglamorous delivery-format problems is now worth as much attention as chasing the next benchmark win, and building it to work across competing models suggests Runway sees more value in being the delivery layer for AI video broadly than in hoarding the feature for its own generations only.
Would a tool like this change how seriously you'd consider AI-generated footage for a project that specifically needs to deliver in HDR?
The Details
- Model: Runway Ruby, SDR-to-HDR conversion
- Output formats: 16-bit half-float OpenEXR sequences, 10/12-bit ProRes (422/422 HQ/4444), 10-bit HEVC
- Color: BT.2020 with PQ (HDR10) or HLG transfer functions
- Compatibility: works on output from any video model in Runway, including Gen-4.5, Seedance 2.5, and MiniMax H3
- Input limits: SDR source only, 30 seconds max, under 4096px per side
- Availability: Runway Max plan and Enterprise (in-app); also available via API on Runway Dev
- Runway pricing context: Max plan is $76/month (annual) or $95/month (monthly), 9,500 credits; Runway's prior $188/month Unlimited plan was retired, with remaining Unlimited subscribers migrating to Max on September 1, 2026
