Vulkan Wayland HDR WSI Layer

NOTE: Mesa 25.1+ implements the color management protocol directly, this Vulkan layer is no longer necessary with that.

Implements the following vulkan extensions, if either frog-color-management-v1 or xx-color-management-v4 Wayland protocol is supported by the compositor:

• VK_EXT_swapchain_colorspace
• VK_EXT_hdr_metadata

KWin supports the frog protocol since Plasma 6.0, and xx-color-management-v4 in 6.2.

How to Build from source

0. Ensure you have Dependencies/Requirments

• Ninja build tool
• Meson build system
• Vulkan development libraries (including headers)
• Wayland development libraries

1. clone the repository and navigate into the directory:

git clone https://github.com/Zamundaaa/VK_hdr_layer.git
cd VK_hdr_layer

2. Use Mason/ninja to build and install the layer:

meson setup builddir
ninja -C builddir
sudo meson install -C builddir

This will install the layer files into the appropriate system directories.

3. Enable HDR in your compositor Arch - HDR monitor Support has links with instructions for different compositors

Testing with Quake II RTX

Quake II RTX suports HDR when run in Wayland native mode with this Vulkan layer. To do that, put SDL_VIDEODRIVER=wayland ENABLE_HDR_WSI=1 %command% into its launch arguments.

Testing with Wine Wayland

As of Wine 9.0, Wine's native wayland mode supports HDR through DXVK.
To enable it, run wine reg.exe add HKCU\\Software\\Wine\\Drivers /v Graphics /d x11,wayland inside your Wine Prefix, Then unset the DISPLAY variable and set DXVK_HDR=1 Make sure you set ENABLE_HDR_WSI=1 when running an application or game.

Testing with Video Players

mpv Supports HDR Video playback through Vulkan's HDR Surface.
To play an HDR video, set ENABLE_HDR_WSI=1 and run mpv with --vo=gpu-next --target-colorspace-hint --gpu-api=vulkan --gpu-context=waylandvk

Gamescope

Gamescope implements color management protocols directly and this layer should not be used with it.