Steam Deck OLED Gets HDR Remote Play and AV1 Streaming Support

Valve has rolled out a new Stable Steam Client update that expands Remote Play features on Steam Deck, including HDR game streaming for Steam Deck OLED and support for AV1 video through its experimental SteamRT3 client.

The HDR feature is specifically relevant to the OLED model, allowing supported streamed games to make use of its high dynamic range display. AV1 support is also being added as another video streaming option, although it currently depends on the experimental SteamRT3 Steam Client.

These features were previously tested through Steam's Preview and Beta channels before reaching the Stable release.

HDR Streaming Finally Reaches the Stable Client

Valve first introduced improved video color handling, HDR streaming for Steam Deck OLED and AV1 support in a July 29 Preview and Beta update.

However, those features were not included when the next Stable Steam Client update arrived on August 3. The latest release now brings HDR Remote Play support to the wider Steam Deck OLED audience using the Stable channel.

HDR streaming can be useful when a powerful gaming PC is doing the rendering while the Steam Deck OLED acts as the display and controller. The quality of the experience will still depend heavily on network conditions and the host PC.

Remote Play Gets Several Reliability Fixes

The update also addresses a number of problems affecting Steam Remote Play.

Valve has fixed cases where streaming could display a black window and an issue that caused Remote Play devices to disappear. Video could also be clipped when desktop scaling was enabled, which has now been addressed.

Another fix targets frame rate drops that could occur when unlimited bandwidth was selected while streaming from a Steam Deck or Steam Machine.

Together, these changes make the release broader than a simple HDR update, since several existing Remote Play problems are also being corrected.

Steam Account Switching Has Been Revised

Valve has changed how Steam handles multiple accounts as part of the same client update.

You can now switch to another Steam account while a game is running. Steam will warn that active games must be closed before the account change proceeds.

A new startup setting can also make Steam ask which account you want to use when the client opens, which should make shared PCs easier to manage.

Steam will additionally wait for recently closed games to finish cloud synchronization before shutting down. This reduces the chance of closing the client before save data has finished uploading.

Other changes cover suspicious message warnings in group chats, Steam Input configuration, Workshop behavior, downloads, suspend and resume functions, and Steam Overlay fixes.

For Steam Deck OLED owners, HDR Remote Play is the most visible addition, while AV1 support and the wider collection of streaming fixes improve the broader Steam Remote Play system.