Open UltraHDR

JavaScript/TypeScript bindings for the UltraHDR (ISO 21496-1) gain map specification, backed by upstream google/libultrahdr compiled to WebAssembly via Emscripten/embind.

Dual-licensed under Apache-2.0 OR MIT, matching upstream libultrahdr.

Features

• Detection: Check if a JPEG contains UltraHDR/gain map data
• Decoding: Extract SDR base, gain map, and metadata from UltraHDR JPEGs
• Encoding: Create UltraHDR JPEGs from SDR + HDR image pairs
• SDR Extraction: Extract backwards-compatible SDR image

Standards Support

• ISO 21496-1:2025 (Gain map metadata)
• Google UltraHDR v1 (Android compatibility)
• Adobe Gain Map specification

Installation

npm install open-ultrahdr

Usage

Check if an image is UltraHDR

import { isUltraHdr, setLocation } from 'open-ultrahdr';

// Set the location of WASM files (required if not co-located with JS)
setLocation('/path/to/wasm/');

const buffer = await file.arrayBuffer();
if (await isUltraHdr(buffer)) {
    console.log('This is an UltraHDR image!');
}

Decode an UltraHDR image

import { decodeUltraHdr } from 'open-ultrahdr';

const buffer = await file.arrayBuffer();
const result = await decodeUltraHdr('image-1', buffer);

// Access components
const sdrBlob = new Blob([result.sdrImage], { type: 'image/jpeg' });
console.log('Image size:', result.width, 'x', result.height);
console.log('HDR capacity:', result.metadata.hdrCapacityMax, 'stops');

Extract SDR base for backwards compatibility

import { extractSdrBase } from 'open-ultrahdr';

const ultraHdrBuffer = await file.arrayBuffer();
const sdrBuffer = await extractSdrBase(ultraHdrBuffer);

// Use the SDR image for non-HDR displays
const blob = new Blob([sdrBuffer], { type: 'image/jpeg' });

Encode an UltraHDR image

import { encodeUltraHdr, defaultEncodeOptions } from 'open-ultrahdr';

const sdrBuffer = await sdrFile.arrayBuffer();
const hdrLinearData = await getHdrLinearData(); // Float32Array, 3 values per pixel

const ultraHdr = await encodeUltraHdr('encode-1', sdrBuffer, hdrLinearData, {
    ...defaultEncodeOptions,
    targetHdrCapacity: 4.0,
});

// Create downloadable file
const blob = new Blob([ultraHdr], { type: 'image/jpeg' });

API Reference

Detection

• isUltraHdr(buffer: ArrayBuffer): Promise<boolean> - Check if image contains UltraHDR data

Decoding

• decodeUltraHdr(id: string, buffer: ArrayBuffer): Promise<UltraHdrDecodeResult> - Decode UltraHDR image
• extractSdrBase(buffer: ArrayBuffer): Promise<ArrayBuffer> - Extract SDR base image
• getMetadata(buffer: ArrayBuffer): Promise<GainMapMetadata> - Get gain map metadata only

Encoding

• encodeUltraHdr(id: string, sdrBuffer: ArrayBuffer, hdrBuffer: ArrayBuffer, options?: UltraHdrEncodeOptions): Promise<ArrayBuffer> - Encode UltraHDR image

Validation

• validateMetadata(metadata: GainMapMetadata): Promise<boolean> - Validate metadata
• estimateHdrHeadroom(metadata: GainMapMetadata): Promise<number> - Get HDR headroom in stops
• isMeaningfulHdr(metadata: GainMapMetadata): Promise<boolean> - Check if HDR is significant

Configuration

• setLocation(path: string): void - Set WASM file location

Types

GainMapMetadata

interface GainMapMetadata {
    version: string;
    baseRenditionIsHdr: boolean;
    gainMapMin: number[];  // RGB, log2 scale
    gainMapMax: number[];  // RGB, log2 scale
    gamma: number[];       // Per-channel gamma
    offsetSdr: number[];   // Black point adjustment
    offsetHdr: number[];   // Black point adjustment
    hdrCapacityMin: number;
    hdrCapacityMax: number;
}

UltraHdrEncodeOptions

interface UltraHdrEncodeOptions {
    baseQuality: number;        // 1-100
    gainMapQuality: number;     // 1-100
    targetHdrCapacity: number;  // Typically 2.0-4.0
    includeIsoMetadata: boolean;
    includeUltrahdrV1: boolean; // Android compatibility
    gainMapScale: number;       // 1, 2, or 4
}

Building from Source

Prerequisites

• Emscripten SDK (emcc, emcmake)
• CMake (3.20+)
• Node.js (18+)

Build

# Clone the repository (with submodules — libultrahdr is vendored as one)
git clone --recurse-submodules https://github.com/adamsilverstein/lib-open-ultrahdr.git
cd lib-open-ultrahdr

# Activate emsdk in the current shell
source /path/to/emsdk/emsdk_env.sh

# Install dependencies
npm install

# Build WASM module (emcmake + cmake + emcc)
npm run build:wasm

# Build TypeScript wrapper
npm run build:js

Test

npm test

License

Dual-licensed under Apache-2.0 OR MIT. See LICENSE for the preamble plus LICENSE-APACHE and LICENSE-MIT for the full texts.

This matches the licensing of upstream libultrahdr, which is bundled as a git submodule under wasm/third_party/libultrahdr/ and statically linked into the WASM build.

Releasing

This project uses GitHub Actions to publish packages to npm.

Automatic Release

Create a GitHub release with a version tag (e.g., v0.1.2). The workflow will automatically:

1. Build both packages
2. Run tests
3. Publish open-ultrahdr-wasm to npm
4. Publish open-ultrahdr to npm

Manual Release

1. Go to Actions > Publish to npm in the GitHub repository
2. Click Run workflow
3. Optionally enable "Perform a dry run" to test without publishing
4. Click Run workflow

Before Releasing

1. Update version numbers in both wasm/package.json and js/package.json
2. Ensure js/package.json has the correct open-ultrahdr-wasm dependency version
3. Commit version changes to main branch

Required Setup (Maintainers)

This project uses npm trusted publishing with OIDC, which eliminates the need for long-lived npm tokens:

1. Configure trusted publishing for both packages on npm:

   • Visit the package settings on npm for open-ultrahdr-wasm and open-ultrahdr
   • Set up GitHub Actions as a trusted publisher
   • Configure the workflow: npm-publish.yml

2. Ensure the GitHub Actions workflow has the required OIDC permissions:

   • permissions: id-token: write - Required to request the GitHub OIDC JWT
   • permissions: contents: read - Required to access repository contents

3. npm CLI v11.5.1 or higher is required for trusted publishing to work.

No secrets need to be added to the repository. Authentication is handled automatically via GitHub's OIDC token.

Contributing

Contributions are welcome! Please open an issue or pull request on GitHub.