A method and apparatus for enhancing at least one of video and image quality using an exposure aware scene adaptive global brightness contrast. The method includes determining if gain control is needed utilizing Gamma corrected histogram and ancillary data, if gain control is not required, computing a set of scene adaptive tone points and blending with information from histogram equalization if needed, if gain control is required, estimating gain value and utilizing the gain value in computing the gain table, and accordingly, generating a look-up table for enhancing global brightness contrast utilizing the gain table, the tone table and the information from histogram equalization.