What 10-bit video means for what you see

10-bit video can preserve smoother gradients than 8-bit video. Learn how bit depth, HDR and display support affect the picture, and how AIX Player plays 10-bit files on Windows.

Playback is free with no time limit, including 10-bit and 4K video in standard range. HDR video: 180 free minutes, then AIX Pro. The allowance is once per install and counts only playing time. It applies to HDR from local files and network shares on any screen, including tone-mapped playback on an ordinary display. What happens when the HDR trial ends?

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Windows 11 & 10 · Guide reviewed 28 October 2026

Bits are shades, not resolution

Bit depth has nothing to do with how many pixels there are. It is how many shades of each colour the file can describe. 8-bit manages 256 per channel, around 16.7 million colours in total. 10-bit manages 1,024 per channel, over a billion.

Where you will actually notice it

Not in a bright, busy scene: there is too much going on to see the difference. You notice it in gradients: a sunset fading through orange to blue, smoke drifting through a shaft of light, a wall lit from one side, the dark corners of an interior. Limited bit depth can contribute to visible steps, called banding. Ten-bit video can represent more shades and reduce banding, but does not guarantee a smooth gradient.

Bit depth and file size

It sounds as though four times the shades should mean a much bigger file, but it does not work that way. File size depends on the codec, bitrate and encoding settings as well as the source.

Playing 10-bit video in AIX Player

AIX Player decodes 10-bit video inside the app, most often HEVC Main 10. Hardware decode is on by default: where your graphics chip supports the codec and its 10-bit profile, the chip does the work, and the processor takes over where it does not. 10-bit 4K is demanding to decode on the processor alone; if it stutters, see the 4K stutter guide.

10-bit on an ordinary 8-bit screen

Many monitors and laptop panels show 8 bits per channel. A 10-bit file still plays on them, and the picture is shown at the depth the screen can display. If an 8-bit source, or the screen, shows steps in skies and dark walls, the free deband setting (Settings → Video → Deband, “Smooth out colour banding in gradients”) smooths them.

10-bit is not the same as HDR

HDR usually travels with 10-bit, but a 10-bit file need not be HDR. HDR widens the range between the darkest and brightest parts of the picture; 10-bit describes the steps between them more finely. That is why AIX Player treats them differently: 10-bit video in standard range is free with no time limit, while HDR playback (HDR10, HDR10+, HLG and DV HDR) is part of AIX Pro, with the free allowance above. On an ordinary screen, HDR is tone-mapped to fit.