What 4:2:0 does
Brightness is stored for every pixel, but color is stored for only one pixel in four. On photographs and video you will never notice. On a one-pixel-wide colored glyph edge, the color information simply is not there to reconstruct.
✦Experimental · scoped
Your code theme looks slightly wrong and you cannot say why. Colored text stops smearing.
Syntax highlighting looks slightly muddy. Red text on a dark background bleeds at the edges. Spreadsheet highlights soften. This is not your screen or your connection — it is chroma subsampling, and almost every remote desktop does it. Remio can turn it off.
4:4:4
full color per pixel
$0
no subscription
NVIDIA
Windows host
Opt-in
one toggle
✦The reason text looks off
Compression throws away three quarters of the color.
Video codecs exploit the fact that human eyes are far more sensitive to brightness than to color. For film that is invisible. For a screen full of small colored text it is not.
Where it shows
Colored syntax themes, red or blue text on dark backgrounds, spreadsheet cell highlights, subtitles, thin colored UI borders, and fine diagram lines. Anywhere color changes across a very small distance.
What 4:4:4 fixes
Full color detail for every pixel. Colored text edges reconstruct exactly, so text on a colored background is as crisp as sitting at the machine. It costs more bandwidth, which is why it is a choice rather than a default.
✦Honest scope
Where this works today — and where it does not.
This is an experimental feature with a deliberately narrow supported path. We would rather tell you the exact combination than let you find out by trying.
Supported today
A Windows host with an NVIDIA graphics card, streaming to a Mac client. Switch on "4:4:4 color" in the Mac client's settings and the stream re-encodes live — no reconnect needed.
Standard 4:2:0 elsewhere
AMD and Intel graphics cannot encode 4:4:4 in this path, and macOS and Linux hosts do not encode it either. Those combinations stream standard 4:2:0 — which is what essentially every remote desktop gives you.
If it cannot be enabled
If the host cannot honour the request, Remio falls back to 4:2:0 quietly and the settings panel reflects the real state — it will not claim 4:4:4 you are not getting.
✦What it costs
Free here. A subscription elsewhere.
4:4:4 color is commonly a paid tier in this category. In Remio it is part of the app, like everything else.
Parsec
Parsec gates 4:4:4 color behind Warp, its paid tier at $9.99 per month. Same idea, different price.
Remio
Free, on the supported hardware path. No tier, no per-seat pricing, no commercial-use detection, no account required to use it.
The trade-off
4:4:4 needs meaningfully more bandwidth for the same picture. On a strong local network that is free real estate; on a weak connection, 4:2:0 with a higher frame rate will feel better. It is a toggle so you can decide per situation.
✦Questions
Questions about 4:4:4 color
What is chroma subsampling in plain terms?
Video compression stores full brightness detail but reduced color detail — in 4:2:0, color is sampled for one pixel in four. Human vision barely notices this on photos and film, but it visibly softens small colored text and thin colored lines.
Which combination do I need for 4:4:4?
A Windows host PC with an NVIDIA graphics card, connecting from a Mac client. Enable "4:4:4 color" in the Mac client's settings.
Does it work from an iPhone, iPad or Android device?
Not today. The 4:4:4 path currently targets the Mac client. Every other client streams standard 4:2:0, which is the norm across remote desktop tools.
Do I need to reconnect after turning it on?
No. The host re-encodes live on the same session.
Will it make my connection worse?
It uses more bandwidth for the same resolution and frame rate. On a fast local network you likely will not notice; on a constrained connection you may prefer to leave it off. That is exactly why it is a toggle.
Is 4:4:4 the same as HDR or wider color?
No. 4:4:4 is about how much color detail survives compression, not about a wider range of colors or brightness. It makes colored edges accurate, not more vivid.
Why is it called experimental?
Because the supported hardware path is narrow and we are still expanding which host and client pairs can negotiate it. Calling it shipped-and-universal would be overselling it.
See the color you actually chose.
Full 4:4:4 color on the supported path, standard 4:2:0 everywhere else, and an honest label either way. Free, no account, no card.
Free foreverNo accountNVIDIA Windows host → Mac client