ACES - the Academy Color Encoding System - is the motion-picture industry's answer to a question every multi-vendor project hits: how does color survive the trip from an A-cam, through VFX and grading, to a cinema screen, without each tool reinterpreting it along the way? The Academy describes it as "the global standard for interchanging digital image files, managing color workflows and creating masters for delivery and archiving." As of 2026 the system's current major version is ACES 2.0 - DaVinci Resolve 20's color-management menu offers "ACES 1.0.3, ACES 1.1, ACES 1.2, ACES 1.3, or ACES 2.0 (the latest version)" - so the vocabulary below is the live one, not a historical one.
The idea: scene-referred and device-independent
Conventional color management pins every step to a specific device's response. ACES instead encodes what the scene contained - scene-referred data - in a device-independent space, so transforms attach to the edges of the pipeline rather than to particular hardware. Cameras come in through an Input Transform (the Academy's current term for what older documents called an IDT - "a signal-processing transform that maps an image capture system's representation of an image" into ACES) and go out through an Output Transform tailored to each display target. Everything in between - grading, compositing, archiving - happens on one consistent substrate. The transfer-function fundamentals underneath are in the color-space explainer, and the encoding side of the story is in the LUT explainer.
The spaces you will actually meet
| Space | Encoding | Primaries | Job |
|---|---|---|---|
| ACES2065-1 | Linear | AP0 (ultra-wide) | Interchange and archival master encoding - now standardized as SMPTE ST 2065-1 |
| ACEScct | Logarithmic | AP1 | Grading space - Resolve documents it as adding a toe roll-off so lift operations "feel" more like film scans |
| ACEScg | Linear | AP1 | CG rendering and compositing space |
The split is deliberate: ACES2065-1 is the lingua franca for moving and storing images (the Academy calls it "ideal as an encoding color space for interchange and archival purposes"); ACEScct is where colorists work, because log-feeling controls match their muscle memory; ACEScg is where renderers live. Legacy spaces (ACEScc, ACESproxy) are flagged as outdated in the Academy's own encodings documentation - avoid starting new projects in them.
Versions in 2026: 1.3 vs 2.0
ACES 1.3 remains the compatibility baseline - it is the version long-standing tools were tuned against, and the version below which ACES Metadata Files (AMF) document projects in the wild. ACES 2.0, announced and shipped through 2025-2026 with a reworked Output Transform family, is the current major version, and Resolve 20 ships it natively. The practical choice: new pipelines targeting modern HDR displays can start on 2.0; interchange-heavy projects with external vendors should match whatever the whole chain agrees on - the worst outcome is a half-upgraded pipeline where one tool's 2.0 Output Transform meets another's 1.3 expectation.
Does ACES replace LUTs?
No - it absorbs them into a governed framework. A LUT is a fixed map with no contract about what spaces it connects (the .cube story is a de facto format, after all); an ACES transform is a versioned component of a system that also defines how looks are expressed - the Look Transform, which older documents call an LMT (the Academy's glossary now lists "Look Modification Transform" as the deprecated term), applied to scene-referred data and recommended in CLF format. ACES also ships as metadata, not just math: an AMF (ACES Metadata File, supported for ACES 1.3+) travels with the media describing which transforms and versions it used.
Does your project need it?
ACES earns its cost on multi-camera, multi-vendor, HDR-and-SDR deliverable projects: VFX-heavy features, episodic television with outside finishing, archive-bound masters. A single-camera web deliverable graded and finished in one tool gains little - the tool's native color management already handles its own chain. Where every project meets ACES the same way, though, is at the output: an SDR Rec.709 review copy produced through an Output Transform is exactly the review-side artifact described in the HDR review workflow - the system's whole point is that the review copy and the master derive from one consistent source.
FAQ
Is ACES a LUT?
No. A LUT is a single fixed color map; ACES is a system - defined spaces, versioned transforms for camera input and display output, a look framework, and metadata (AMF) - of which transforms are one part. LUT-style files appear inside ACES workflows (look transforms in CLF format), but the system is larger than any one table.
ACEScct or ACEScg - which do I work in?
Different jobs: ACEScct is the log-encoded grading space colorists work in (with a toe roll-off that makes lift controls feel like film), while ACEScg is the linear space for CG rendering and compositing. Grading happens in cct; rendered imagery arrives in cg; both convert to ACES2065-1 for interchange.
Which ACES version should a new project use?
Match the whole pipeline, not just your workstation. ACES 1.3 is the broad-compatibility baseline and the AMF-documentable version most existing tooling expects; ACES 2.0 is the current major version shipping in tools like Resolve 20. Mixed-version pipelines are the failure mode - pick one and confirm every vendor is on it.
What is an AMF?
An ACES Metadata File - a small file that travels with the media and records which ACES version and transforms were used, supported for ACES 1.3 and above. It turns "which transform was that?" from an email thread into a file read.
Does ACES change how clients review the cut?
Only for the better: ACES pipelines derive the client-facing SDR Rec.709 review copy through the same Output Transform that derives delivery masters, so what reviewers approve and what ships come from one consistent source. The review copy itself stays ordinary - a tagged Rec.709 file on a standard review link.