How to Use LUTs in Adobe Premiere Pro (Complete Guide)

Premiere Pro handles LUTs through its Lumetri Color panel, which is straightforward once you know where to look. This guide walks you through importing LUTs, applying them to clips or adjustment layers, and getting the most out of your color grading workflow in Premiere.

How LUTs Work in Premiere Pro

Premiere Pro applies LUTs through the Lumetri Color effect, available in two places:

• The Creative tab — for look-based creative LUTs
• The Input LUT dropdown — for technical/conversion LUTs (applied before any other adjustments)

The distinction matters: applying a creative LUT via Input LUT means it processes before Premiere's color corrections, which can produce unexpected results on log footage. More on the correct order below.

Importing LUTs into Premiere Pro

Premiere Pro doesn't have a central LUT folder — it browses for .cube files on demand. But you can organise them in a folder and browse to it each time, or add a persistent path.

Adding a LUT search directory:

1. Go to Premiere Pro → Preferences → Control Surface (macOS) or Edit → Preferences → Control Surface (Windows)
2. Actually, LUT paths are set per-project in Lumetri — the easiest approach is to keep all your LUTs in one folder and always browse there

The fastest workflow is to keep a /LUTs/ folder on your desktop or in your project directory and browse to it when needed.

Applying a LUT via Lumetri Color

Method 1 — Creative Look (most common)

This is the right place for cinematic, stylistic LUTs:

1. Select your clip on the timeline
2. Open Window → Lumetri Color
3. Click the Creative tab
4. Under Look, click the dropdown → Browse
5. Navigate to your .cube file and select it
6. Use the Intensity slider to dial in how strongly the LUT is applied (100 = full strength)

Method 2 — Input LUT (for technical/conversion LUTs)

Use this for log-to-Rec.709 conversion LUTs — it processes before all other Lumetri adjustments:

1. In Lumetri Color, open the Basic Correction tab
2. At the top, find Input LUT → click Browse
3. Select your conversion LUT

Now all the sliders below it (exposure, contrast, white balance) operate on the already-converted image, which is the correct order for log footage.

Applying a LUT to an Adjustment Layer

The best practice in Premiere is to apply LUTs via an Adjustment Layer so a single LUT affects every clip underneath it — keeping your timeline clean and making global grade changes easy.

1. In the Project panel → New Item → Adjustment Layer
2. Set it to match your sequence settings → OK
3. Drag the adjustment layer to a track above all your footage
4. Select the adjustment layer → apply the LUT via Lumetri Color as above

To change the grade later, you only need to update the LUT on the adjustment layer — not on every clip individually.

Correct Order for Log Footage

If you're working with log footage (Sony S-Log, Canon Log, ARRI Log-C, etc.), the right order in Lumetri is:

Skipping step 1 and applying a creative LUT directly to log footage results in a washed-out, low-contrast image. Always convert first.

Stacking Multiple LUTs

Premiere doesn't support multiple Lumetri LUT slots natively, but you can stack LUTs by applying the Lumetri Color effect multiple times:

1. Select your clip
2. Go to Effect Controls
3. Apply Lumetri Color from the Effects panel a second time
4. Each instance has its own set of tabs — use one for the conversion LUT and another for the creative LUT

Creating a LUT for Premiere Pro

Premiere Pro can't export .cube LUT files from your grade. If you want to export a reusable LUT to use across projects or share with a team, you have two options:

• Adobe Media Encoder — can export a LUT from a Lumetri grade, but requires some workarounds
• Luttie — create a custom .cube LUT directly in your browser, then import it into Premiere using the steps above. Free, no software needed.

Summary

• Apply creative LUTs under Lumetri Color → Creative → Look
• Apply technical/conversion LUTs under Lumetri Color → Basic Correction → Input LUT
• Use an Adjustment Layer to apply a LUT to all clips at once
• Always convert log footage before applying creative grades
• Create custom .cube LUTs for free with Luttie