Rec 2020 is a wider color space than Rec 709, which is the current industry standard for HD. Rec 2020 promises more brilliant images, though only new display technology is able to show these. Traditional Rec 709 displays (like TVs or ordinary computer displays) can’t display Rec 2020.

While Rec 709 (short for Recommendation ITU-R BT.709) is the encoding color space for HDTV, Rec 2020 is the encoding color space for UHD. The primary colors lie on the spectral locus and it is thus possible to have more saturated colors in images. (It does not mean, however, that all colors look more saturated. When properly converted, a Rec 709 image will look exactly the same when displayed on a Rec 2020 display.)

Rec 2020 is an encoding standard. A TV or display may not support the full gamut. Nevertheless, it will correctly display the colors within its physical gamut. To get the “Premium” logo of the UHD Alliance, for example, a TV needs to support a minimum of 90% of the P3 gamut.