Starting March 27, 2025, we recommend using android-latest-release instead of aosp-main to build and contribute to AOSP. For more information, see Changes to AOSP.
Monochrome cameras
Stay organized with collections
Save and categorize content based on your preferences.
Devices running Android 9 or higher can support
monochrome cameras. Android 10
provides additional support for the Y8 stream format, monochrome and
near-infrared (NIR) color filter array
static metadata, and DngCreator functions for monochrome cameras.
With this capability, device manufacturers can implement a monochrome or
NIR camera device and reduce memory use by using
the Y8 stream format. A monochrome camera can serve as the underlying physical
camera of a
logical multi-camera device
to achieve better low-light noise characteristics.
Implementation
Hardware requirements
To implement this feature, your device must have a monochrome camera sensor and
an image signal processor (ISP) to process the sensor output.
Implement a monochrome camera
To advertise a camera device as a monochrome camera, the
Camera HAL must meet
the following requirements:
android.sensor.info.colorFilterArray is set to MONO or NIR.BACKWARD_COMPATIBLE required keys are supported and
MANUAL_POST_PROCESSING isn't supported.android.control.awbAvailableModes only contains AUTO and
android.control.awbState is either CONVERTED or LOCKED depending on
android.control.awbLock.android.colorCorrection.mode, android.colorCorrection.transform, and
android.colorCorrection.gains aren't in available request and result
keys. As a result, the camera device is
LIMITED.The following color-related static metadata keys aren't present:
android.sensor.referenceIlluminant*android.sensor.calibrationTransform*android.sensor.colorTransform*android.sensor.forwardMatrix*android.sensor.neutralColorPointandroid.sensor.greenSplit
All color channels have the same values for the following metadata keys:
android.sensor.blackLevelPatternandroid.sensor.dynamicBlackLevelandroid.statistics.lensShadingMapandroid.tonemap.curve
android.sensor.noiseProfile has only one color channel.
For monochrome devices supporting Y8 stream formats, the Camera HAL must support
swapping YUV_420_888 formats in mandatory stream combinations (including
reprocessing) with Y8 formats.
The following public APIs are used in this feature:
For more details on the Camera HAL, see
docs.html.
For more information on related public APIs, see
ImageFormat,
CameraCharacteristics,
CaptureRequest,
and
CaptureResult.
Validation
To validate your implementation of a monochrome camera, run the following CTS
and VTS tests.
CTS tests
testMonochromeCharacteristicsCaptureRequestTestCaptureResultTestStillCaptureTestDngCreatorTest
VTS tests
getCameraCharacteristicsprocessMultiCaptureRequestPreview
Content and code samples on this page are subject to the licenses described in the Content License. Java and OpenJDK are trademarks or registered trademarks of Oracle and/or its affiliates.
Last updated 2025-06-18 UTC.
[[["Easy to understand","easyToUnderstand","thumb-up"],["Solved my problem","solvedMyProblem","thumb-up"],["Other","otherUp","thumb-up"]],[["Missing the information I need","missingTheInformationINeed","thumb-down"],["Too complicated / too many steps","tooComplicatedTooManySteps","thumb-down"],["Out of date","outOfDate","thumb-down"],["Samples / code issue","samplesCodeIssue","thumb-down"],["Other","otherDown","thumb-down"]],["Last updated 2025-06-18 UTC."],[],[],null,["# Monochrome cameras\n\nDevices running Android 9 or higher can support\nmonochrome cameras. Android 10\nprovides additional support for the Y8 stream format, monochrome and\nnear-infrared (NIR) color filter array\nstatic metadata, and `DngCreator` functions for monochrome cameras.\n\nWith this capability, device manufacturers can implement a monochrome or\nNIR camera device and reduce memory use by using\nthe Y8 stream format. A monochrome camera can serve as the underlying physical\ncamera of a\n[logical multi-camera device](https://developer.android.com/reference/android/hardware/camera2/CameraMetadata#REQUEST_AVAILABLE_CAPABILITIES_LOGICAL_MULTI_CAMERA)\nto achieve better low-light noise characteristics.\n\nImplementation\n--------------\n\n### Hardware requirements\n\nTo implement this feature, your device must have a monochrome camera sensor and\nan image signal processor (ISP) to process the sensor output.\n\n### Implement a monochrome camera\n\nTo advertise a camera device as a monochrome camera, the\n[Camera HAL](/docs/core/camera/camera3) must meet\nthe following requirements:\n\n- `android.sensor.info.colorFilterArray` is set to `MONO` or `NIR`.\n- `BACKWARD_COMPATIBLE` required keys are supported and `MANUAL_POST_PROCESSING` isn't supported.\n- `android.control.awbAvailableModes` only contains `AUTO` and `android.control.awbState` is either `CONVERTED` or `LOCKED` depending on `android.control.awbLock`.\n- `android.colorCorrection.mode`, `android.colorCorrection.transform`, and `android.colorCorrection.gains` aren't in available request and result keys. As a result, the camera device is [`LIMITED`](https://developer.android.com/reference/android/hardware/camera2/CameraMetadata.html#INFO_SUPPORTED_HARDWARE_LEVEL_LIMITED).\n- The following color-related static metadata keys aren't present:\n\n - `android.sensor.referenceIlluminant*`\n - `android.sensor.calibrationTransform*`\n - `android.sensor.colorTransform*`\n - `android.sensor.forwardMatrix*`\n - `android.sensor.neutralColorPoint`\n - `android.sensor.greenSplit`\n- All color channels have the same values for the following metadata keys:\n\n - `android.sensor.blackLevelPattern`\n - `android.sensor.dynamicBlackLevel`\n - `android.statistics.lensShadingMap`\n - `android.tonemap.curve`\n- `android.sensor.noiseProfile` has only one color channel.\n\nFor monochrome devices supporting Y8 stream formats, the Camera HAL must support\nswapping `YUV_420_888` formats in mandatory stream combinations (including\nreprocessing) with Y8 formats.\n\nThe following public APIs are used in this feature:\n\n- [Y8 image format](https://developer.android.com/reference/android/graphics/ImageFormat#Y8)\n- [SENSOR_INFO_COLOR_FILTER_ARRANGEMENT_MONO](https://developer.android.com/reference/android/hardware/camera2/CameraMetadata#SENSOR_INFO_COLOR_FILTER_ARRANGEMENT_MONO)\n- [SENSOR_INFO_COLOR_FILTER_ARRANGEMENT_NIR](https://developer.android.com/reference/android/hardware/camera2/CameraMetadata#SENSOR_INFO_COLOR_FILTER_ARRANGEMENT_NIR)\n- [MONOCHROME camera capability](https://developer.android.com/reference/android/hardware/camera2/CameraMetadata#REQUEST_AVAILABLE_CAPABILITIES_MONOCHROME) (introduced in Android 9)\n\nFor more details on the Camera HAL, see\n[docs.html](https://android.googlesource.com/platform/system/media/+/android16-release/camera/docs/docs.html).\nFor more information on related public APIs, see\n[ImageFormat](https://developer.android.com/reference/android/graphics/ImageFormat),\n[CameraCharacteristics](https://developer.android.com/reference/android/hardware/camera2/CameraCharacteristics),\n[CaptureRequest](https://developer.android.com/reference/android/hardware/camera2/CaptureRequest),\nand\n[CaptureResult](https://developer.android.com/reference/android/hardware/camera2/CaptureResult).\n\nValidation\n----------\n\nTo validate your implementation of a monochrome camera, run the following CTS\nand VTS tests.\n\n### CTS tests\n\n- `testMonochromeCharacteristics`\n- `CaptureRequestTest`\n- `CaptureResultTest`\n- `StillCaptureTest`\n- `DngCreatorTest`\n\n### VTS tests\n\n- `getCameraCharacteristics`\n- `processMultiCaptureRequestPreview`"]]
