Methods and apparatus for rendering and displaying high dynamic range (HDR) digital image content. An HDR rendering and display system may support the rendering and display of standard dynamic range (SDR) and HDR content to both HDR-enabled and standard displays. The HDR rendering and display system renders digital image content into the HDR space and maps the rendered HDR content into the display space of HDR or standard displays using display processing techniques that may preserve at least some of the HDR content even for standard displays. The HDR rendering and display system may take into account various information including but not limited to display characteristics such as size, control inputs, current image characteristics such as image brightness, and environmental information such as viewer position and ambient lighting levels to dynamically adapt the rendering and display of the digital image content according to ambient viewing conditions at the target display.