If you’ve ever browsed the spec sheet on a premium Samsung TV and thought, “Wait, no Dolby Vision?”—you’re not alone. For years, Samsung has drawn a line in the sand when it comes to supporting Dolby’s dynamic HDR format. While other major players like LG, Sony, and even budget brands have embraced Dolby Vision, Samsung remains the biggest holdout. And the reason has less to do with image quality and everything to do with money.
Both Dolby Vision and HDR10+ are formats that make your movies and shows look better—brighter highlights, deeper blacks, and more nuanced colors. The difference is that they use dynamic metadata, which means your TV gets instructions on how to optimize each scene (or even each frame) instead of applying a single tone map for the entire video.
So why doesn’t Samsung just jump on the Dolby bandwagon like everyone else?
Simply put: Dolby Vision isn’t free. Manufacturers like Samsung have to pay Dolby a licensing fee for every TV they sell with Dolby Vision built in. On top of that, there are additional costs involved in testing and certifying the hardware to make sure it meets Dolby’s strict standards. For a company like Samsung—which sells millions of TVs every year—that’s a lot of money going out the door.
Samsung believes that these costs are unnecessary. Instead, it co-developed HDR10+, a royalty-free alternative that offers many of the same benefits as Dolby Vision. HDR10+ adds dynamic metadata to standard HDR10 content, just like Dolby Vision does—but it doesn’t come with per-device licensing fees.
In public statements over the years, Samsung has made it clear: they believe in their own TV processing power and HDR10+ is “good enough” to deliver a premium picture, without the price tag.
Until recently, one of the main arguments against HDR10+ was content support. Dolby Vision had a much wider footprint, especially on streaming platforms. Netflix, Disney+, and Apple TV+ all prioritized Dolby Vision, which meant Samsung users were often left watching the “less dynamic” HDR10 version of their favorite shows.
But things changed in March 2025, when Netflix quietly rolled out HDR10+ support on its Premium plan. According to Netflix’s engineering blog, HDR10+ now makes up about half of all eligible viewing hours on supported TVs—and yes, that includes Samsung.
That’s huge. Not only does this mean Samsung owners can finally enjoy dynamic HDR on Netflix (without needing Dolby Vision), but it also sends a strong signal that HDR10+ is gaining real traction.
Now, Dolby Vision is a technically impressive format. It supports up to 12-bit color depth, has a well-established ecosystem across content creators, and offers some stunning results on high-end TVs, particularly OLEDs.
But from Samsung’s perspective, the difference in real-world picture quality doesn’t justify the added cost. They argue their Quantum HDR processing, combined with HDR10+, can achieve similar results (if not the same), and the average viewer likely wouldn’t notice much of a difference, especially when you realize that most shows and movies today are still mastered at 10‑bit color depth.
It’s also worth noting that many streaming platforms already support both formats. Amazon Prime Video, Disney+, and Apple TV+, for example, have long offered titles in both HDR10+ and Dolby Vision, depending on the device. With Netflix now adding HDR10+, Samsung has even more incentive to stick to its guns.
If you’re Dolby, the rise of HDR10+—especially with backing from Samsung, Amazon, and now Netflix—is a potential threat. Dolby Vision once had a near-monopoly on dynamic HDR content. That’s no longer the case.
For Samsung, this recent shift feels like validation. Not only have they avoided paying millions in licensing fees, but they’re now getting the content support needed to make HDR10+ a real player in the HDR world. From a business standpoint, they’re winning the format war without adopting the most expensive option.
What does this mean for buyers? If you’re in the market for a Samsung TV, this means two things:
Sure, Dolby Vision might still have the edge in raw capability, and if you’re a videophile chasing perfection (and if you can notice any difference), that might matter. But for most people, especially those buying a Samsung TV in 2025, the difference is shrinking fast.
In the HDR format war, Samsung isn’t losing ground; it’s simply refusing to pay Dolby’s toll, and handing the savings back to viewers. Even if Dolby decides to slash its fees, it might be too little, too late for Samsung to care.
