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Participant
September 23, 2025
Question

Colors wrong after export

  • September 23, 2025
  • 1 reply
  • 131 views

Every time I create a new project, I have to disable the "Use color display management" because it changes my colors like in the image below. (the preview is what I want it to look like)

However, if I forget and turn it off in the middle of the project, I cant really return my colors to what it would look like with the option checked. So when I render out it just kind of ruins the colors. My color spaces match in the project settings and export, but it still comes out different.

Is there a way to get AE to render as it would look like in the preview? As if  "Use color display management" was in the render as well? 
And no. The video player does not matter here. It's the same no matter if i put it in potplayer, premiere, etc.

1 reply

Kevin J. Monahan Jr.
Community Manager
Community Manager
September 24, 2025

Hi,

Thanks for the question. What you might do in order to get After Effects to render exactly as it looks in the preview when "Use color display management" is checked, you need to match your project's working color space and your output color profile precisely, and always check your Output Module color management settings before rendering. I hope the advice helps. Let me know if it works.

 

Thanks,
Kevin

 

Kevin Monahan - Sr. Community and Engagement Strategist – Adobe Pro Video and Audio
Participant
September 24, 2025

Hello! Thank you for your response.
 My preview settings are set to ACES Academy Color Encoding Specification SMPTE ST, and it says my output module settings are set to ACES Academy Color Encoding by default. When I switch my output module settings to SMPTE, I think it secretly switches itself back somehow(?). Even if I pick some other random colorspace it just defaults to that one.