One of the major tech innovation categories in each CES always seems to be the future of high definition video. Whether it’s from the aspect of cameras, television units or even video delivery platforms, it always seems to be the focal point of every company with a foot in that arena.

So what was it this year? HDR video. Sony made it a point to announce their own HDR 4K television sets in their press conference a couple of days ago, and they doubled down on their commitment to delivering content to take advantage.

Well, so has YouTube, which is the news that has spawned late this week. Robery Kyncl, chief business officer at YouTube, announced support for the standard at a keynote speech about virtual reality (which is another field YouTube has taken an early interest in).

HDR — short for high dynamic range — video aims to deliver the perfect balance in colors, contrast and saturation. It allows you to capture and see great detail in bright sources while also showcasing detail in dark, shadowy parts of a photo or video. Without it, filmmakers and photographers typically have to settle to favor one end of the spectrum over the other in any given shot.

YouTube won’t be the first major platform to support it, though, as Amazon and Netflix are already serving up HDR content on their respective platforms. Unfortunately we’re not yet sure how long it will take YouTube to deliver the goods for content creators, but knowing them they’ll want to have it out well before it becomes old news.

[via Mashable]