How to install a LUT in DaVinci Resolve

Five minutes, and it works the same in the free version and in Studio.

1. Put the files where Resolve looks

Open Project Settings, go to Color Management, and click Open LUT Folder. Resolve opens the folder it reads LUTs from. Copy your folder of .cube files into it. Keep them in a folder with a name you recognise, because that name becomes the menu you pick from later.

Then click Update Lists, still in Color Management. Without that, Resolve keeps showing the list it read at startup.

2. Apply it to a node

On the Color page, right-click the node you want, choose LUT, then your folder, then the file. You can also drag a LUT from the LUTs panel onto a node.

If you just replaced a file with a new version of the same name, Resolve may keep using the copy it has in memory. Right-click the folder in the LUT browser and choose Refresh, then apply it again.

3. Put it in the right place

A conversion LUT belongs on your last node. Everything you do to the image happens in the nodes before it, while the picture is still log.

That order matters more than people expect. Grading after the LUT means you are pushing an image that has already been squeezed into what a screen can show, and it falls apart quickly. Grading before it means you are working with everything the camera recorded.

The three settings that make a good LUT look wrong

• Color science. Project Settings, Color Management. For LUTs like these it should be DaVinci YRGB. If it is set to a color managed mode, Resolve converts the image before your node ever sees it, and the LUT then converts an image that has already been converted.
• RAW decoding. For RAW clips, open the Camera Raw tab and set the color space and gamma your LUT expects. For RED that is REDWideGamutRGB and Log3G10. If this is set to something else, the LUT is being fed a picture it was not built for.
• 3D LUT interpolation. Color Management again. Tetrahedral is more accurate than trilinear, especially in saturated colors, and costs nothing.

Does it work in the free version?

Yes. Standard .cube LUTs load in the free version of DaVinci Resolve. Studio adds things like DCTLs, which are a different kind of file.

Why your LUT might still look wrong

If the image looks flat and gray with the LUT on, the clip is probably not log, or the RAW tab is decoding it to something else already. If it looks harsh and contrasty, the LUT may expect log and be getting an image that is already converted. Both are input problems, not LUT problems.

Updated 2026-09-12. All guides