LUT (Look-Up Table)
What is LUT (Look-Up Table)?
A LUT is a preset colour filter for video: a file that transforms the colours of footage to apply a specific look, like a vintage film grade or a cinematic colour treatment, instantly and consistently across all your clips.
At a glance
- Also known as
- Look-up tableColour grade presetFilm emulation LUT3D LUT
- Used for
- Applying consistent colour grades across multiple clipsConverting between colour spaces in professional camera workflowsMatching AI-generated footage colour to live-action material
- Common tools
- DaVinci resolveAdobe premiere proFinal cut proAfter effectsPhotoshop
- Related terms
- Colour gradingColour spaceLog footageRec.709Teal and orangePost-production
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How it compares
Compared with related concepts
LUTs differ from manual colour grading in that they apply a predefined, fixed colour transformation rather than a set of adjustable parameters. Manual grading using lift/gamma/gain, curves, and hue/saturation controls gives the colourist full flexibility to adjust every aspect of the grade. A LUT encodes a specific set of those adjustments into a non-interactive transformation. In practice, LUTs are often used as a starting point ( a base look applied quickly ) with manual adjustments applied on top to fine-tune for specific shots or conditions.
Think of it like…
A LUT is like a photographic filter for video: instead of manually adjusting colour controls for every clip, you slip one filter over the lens and all the footage gets the same colour treatment automatically. The filter's formula never changes; it simply transforms whatever light passes through it the same way every time.
Pro tip
When applying LUTs to AI-generated footage in post-production, pay attention to the intensity of the transformation. LUTs designed for log-encoded camera footage applied to AI-generated content ( which typically has a different baseline colour response ) may produce unexpected results. Starting with the LUT at reduced strength and blending with the original, or choosing creative LUTs designed for display-ready footage, typically produces more predictable and controlled results.
Types and variations
- LUT types include 1D LUTs, which adjust only brightness and contrast values independently per channel; 3D LUTs, which map colour values in full three-dimensional colour space and can apply much more complex transformations including hue shifts and cross-channel adjustments; technical LUTs for colour space conversion; and creative LUTs for aesthetic look application.
- Creative LUT categories include film stock emulations, broadcast-standard technical looks, brand-specific looks for productions or networks, and community-developed stylistic presets.
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Try MorphicCommon use cases
LUTs are used to convert log-encoded camera footage to display-ready formats for monitoring during production, to apply cinematic colour grades efficiently across large amounts of footage in post-production, to match AI-generated video footage to the colour style of a live-action production, to apply brand-consistent visual looks across social media and marketing content, and to share a carefully crafted colour grade between productions, collaborators, or platforms in a portable, software-agnostic format.
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FAQs
A LUT (Look-Up Table) is a file that defines a colour transformation: mapping specific input colour values to specific output colour values. Applied to video footage, it changes the colours of the image according to the predefined mapping, allowing a colour grade, film look, or colour space conversion to be applied instantly and consistently to any footage the LUT is compatible with.
Technical LUTs convert between colour spaces: transforming log-encoded camera footage to a display-ready format like Rec.709, or converting between different colour gamuts. Creative LUTs apply aesthetic looks: film stock emulations, cinematic grades, brand-specific treatments, or stylistic colour transformations. Both use the same underlying mechanism; they differ in what transformation they encode.
A 3D LUT maps colour values in three-dimensional colour space ( red, green, and blue dimensions simultaneously ) allowing it to apply complex colour transformations including hue shifts, cross-channel adjustments, and highly specific colour mappings that a 1D LUT, which operates each channel independently, cannot achieve. 3D LUTs are the standard for creative colour grading applications.
Most professional video editing and colour grading applications support LUT application directly. In DaVinci Resolve, LUTs can be applied as input transforms, node-based adjustments, or output transforms. In Premiere Pro, the Lumetri Colour panel includes a LUT import option. Final Cut Pro supports LUTs through its colour grading tools. LUTs are typically imported from standard.cube or.3dl file formats.
Manual colour grading uses adjustable controls ( curves, lift/gamma/gain, hue/saturation adjustments ) that can be tuned differently for every shot. A LUT applies a fixed, predefined transformation to all footage it is applied to. LUTs sacrifice the flexibility of manual grading for speed and consistency. In practice, LUTs are often used as starting points with manual adjustments applied on top to adapt the base look to specific shots.
Yes, and they are particularly useful for making AI-generated footage visually consistent with other material in a production. Applying a LUT can unify the colour character of AI-generated clips that vary slightly across generation runs, match AI content to a specific film look or brand aesthetic, or integrate AI-generated footage with live-action material that has a different colour baseline. Adjusting LUT intensity helps compensate for the different colour response of AI-generated versus camera-captured footage.
LUT files in standard formats like.cube are broadly compatible across most professional video software. However, a LUT designed for footage from a specific camera and colour space may not produce the same result on footage from a different source with a different colour profile. LUTs should be matched to the colour space of the footage they are applied to for predictable results: particularly important when using technical LUTs designed for specific camera systems.
LUTs are available from many sources. Camera manufacturers often provide technical LUTs for their specific camera systems. DaVinci Resolve and many other applications include built-in creative LUTs. The online production community has developed extensive libraries of free and commercially available film stock emulation and stylistic creative LUTs. Production companies and colourists often develop proprietary LUTs for specific projects or brands.
