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Samantha24385529wk8e
New Participant
May 18, 2022
Question

Export color is so different than preview

  • May 18, 2022
  • 6 replies
  • 33183 views

Hi,

When I export my video it looks VASTLY different than the preview with the color corrections I've made, and the quality of the video is quite poor. 

I've seen some different posts about how the preview function doesn't match Apple's resolution settings but these look like minor differences with the video. Mine looks terrible and totally blasted out. 

Here are the steps I went through:
1. Color corrected the video in the main editing window. I'm using a Lut that is supposed to help with color correction.

2. Rendered the video.

3. Exported the video with the following settings:
- Adaptive Medium Bitrate
- H.264
Am I not doing something right in my export?

    6 replies

    M
    marcus_0125
    New Participant
    August 12, 2025

    Anyone still struggling with this should watch this video:

     

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-o6xjqLyuvo&t=377s&ab_channel=MattWhoisMattJohnson

    This explains a lot, including how using VLC (at 2.2 web gamma) can help with the anxiety of a QT export. LOL. It still looks like shite in QT, but once uploaded, the web gamma broadcast shows up exactly as I wanted.

    D
    David_Collado7092
    New Participant
    June 25, 2025

    If any of this works, try going to preferences/color and check this two boxes, i have my premiere in spanish but i guess that in english should work too

     

    Z
    zachw79803943
    New Participant
    October 25, 2024

    Hi, what I discovered which worked for me is changing  the "viewer gamma". This is found in the settings tab of the Lumetri color panel. It was set to "Broadcast" by defualt, but changing it to "Web", or in my case "Quicktime", made it look the same in the viewer as the export.

    R Neil Haugen
    R Neil Haugen
    Brainiac
    October 25, 2024

    And yea, that will work ... if ... you're on a Mac, but only if on a Mac without Reference modes.

     

    As on those computers, Apple uses a bizarre display transform for Rec.709, not used by any other screen.

     

    The long-established standard for Rec.709 display transform requires the device use a response similar to gamma 2.4. Apple, only on that set of computers, uses roughly gamma 1.96.

     

    So you should also view the export on VLC and Potplayer on that Mac, which will probably use closer to the standard Rec.709 display transform, to see what everyone not on a Mac without Reference modes will see.

     

    As that will be a much darker, more saturated image. 

     

    And no pro colorist ever grades anything for professional display/broadcast, while working with a display gamma of 1.96

     

    So all professional media you watch on that computer was graded in a professional suite, full-on Rec.709 setup.

     

    Most users should use gamma 2.2 "web" ... because unless you are in a darkened room, that is the required gamma for performing image modifications.

     

    Gamma 2.4 is the display gamma transform for use in a properly darkened, neutral room. Gamma 2.2 is the display gamma for working in a 'normal' brightness room.

    Everyone's mileage always varies ...
    D
    defaultbdhuixe3ow69
    Participating Frequently
    January 13, 2024

    Why is this still an issue. So many times I run into this, where my export looks different than my preview. This shouldn't even be an option. Adobe needs to get this fixed asap. Should be an automatic, default setting where the preview looks the same as the export. It's 2024... how is this an issue. 

      R Neil Haugen
      R Neil Haugen
      Brainiac
      January 13, 2024

      They've given you the choices to do anything you might want. Where's the problem?

       

      Perhaps you didn't read anything above. If so I would ask, how is Adobe supposed to fix Apple's blunder? Other than giving the user choices of settings, as they've now done? No one else can fix this but Apple.  Not BlackMagic's Resolve, Avid,  not no one not no how.

       

      As it's pretty simple that you cannot make a file that looks identical, when displayed with two widely different display transforms, as applied by the computer's operating system ... OS. Mac uses essentially a gamma 1.96, the entire rest of the universe follows the broadcast standard of gamma 2.4, or 2.2 in "bright room" vieiwing.

       

      Note, Macs with monitors with "reference modes" can choose the HDTV setting, which does apply the full Rec.709 standards including display transform of 2.4 ... so any Mac with that option will see a different image than your Mac without it.

       

      So clearly, the issue is how your particular Mac diplays the image. Not even all Macs display the same image ... right?

       

      Adobe has now given you all the choices that can be made for those either using Macs without reference modes, or worried about Mac users without reference modes watching their stuff.

       

      You probably will prefer choice 2 below, but you do need to understand what you're choosing ... and who you're choosing for.

       

      1) Set the Display color management option on, set the display gamma to 2.4 broadcast. And ignore the blunder Apple made in displaying Rec.709 video with a camera transform function as the display  transform function via the Mac ColorSync utility.

       

      This is actually the more common among pro colorists, those delivering to wider audiences, as ... that's the way all broadcast and streaming programs are graded. No professionally produced media is graded for a 1.96 display gamma. Period.

       

      This will produce an image to match device expectations, and be seen correctly by all correctly set Rec.709 system, including most PCs and Android devicees, TVs, and all broadcast compliant systems.

       

      Being as (generally) all non-Mac screens display the Rec.709 signal more accurately than the subset of Mac users without Reference modes, this makes a certain amount of sense. Most Mac users never realize that nearly all the pro produced media they watch on their Mac is displayed quite differently than it was graded anyway. Nor do people with green TVs normally realize their TV is off to the green side, as it's what they are used to seeing.

       

      2) You can set your Premiere color management so you see the same image inside and outside Premiere on your Mac.  Set Premiere's display gamma setting to QuickTime 1.96, make sure Display Color Management is on, and what you see on your Mac, say in QuickTime player outside of Premiere, will be the same as inside Premiere.

       

      That's your choice if you want it. 

       

      But understand, when making that choice, you are also choosing to send me a file that has crushed blacks when displayed on any and all full-on broadcast compliant Rec.709 systems.

       

      That choice is available to you, and you are welcome to it. Again, just first undersand the full implications and results of that choice.

       

      3) Use the gamma 2.2 "web" display gamma option in Premiere and kinda split the difference.

       

      This is used by some, including some colorists when producing 'web content' for commercial sites. It produces a bit lighter image, within Premiere as it seems ... and ... therefore, the export looks a bit dark when displayed on a full on b-cast Rec.709 system. And looks a bit light when displayed on a Mac at gamma 1.96.

       

      So ... somewhat in-between.

       

      Pick your poison. And complain to Apple, not Adobe. I work for/with/teach pro colorists, nearly all HUGE Mac geeks, most of them work in Resolve or Baselight, and they are FURIOUS with Apple about this. As this it totally and completely an issue of Apple's creation.

      Everyone's mileage always varies ...
        C
        changethursday
        Participating Frequently
        April 24, 2024

        QQ - I'm sitting here in premiere 24, and in the program window, I have my colors the way I want. When I go to the export window (still within premiere) the colors are totally in a different color space, whites blown out, etc. If I toggle the effect option in the export window, everyone looks like my original footage again (but I lose all my grading, color correcting, etc). if I drop down into the effects section on export, nothing is checked. 

         

        If its apple's problem, why does it show two different ways within premiere? This is like the 5000th bug I've found in premiere 24 it feels like. 

          R Neil Haugen
          R Neil Haugen
          Brainiac
          March 3, 2023

          Something I've seen on the LGG forum, for Macs, when you are working in Rec.709, is check your monitor settings.

           

          If you see an option for HDTV/Bt.709 Bt.1886, try that. And there's another option something about apply system gamma boost that should be turned off.

           

          This gets a fairly solid b-cast spec Rec.709 image.

           

          Neil

          Everyone's mileage always varies ...
            R Neil Haugen
            R Neil Haugen
            Brainiac
            May 18, 2022

            Check the properties for those clips in the Project panel bin ... is the color space HLG? Or are they log-encoded clips?

             

            If either is the case ... go to the clips in the bin. Select one or all, right-click/Modify/Interpret Footage, and at the bottom are the new color management settings.

             

            Set the Override option to Rec.709.

             

            Neil

            Everyone's mileage always varies ...
              T
              Tyson28657220xc8n
              New Participant
              March 1, 2023

              Hey Neil, having the same problem here. Unbelievably frustrating. Footage looks great in project and preview and super blown out after export. I've seen your posts about modifying footage to 709, but that makes all the clips in the project look terrible and the export is still wrong. Is there a way to just get this thing to export the way it looks in the export preview? I am so frustrated. 

                R Neil Haugen
                R Neil Haugen
                Brainiac
                March 1, 2023

                Yes. Match color management settings through the process. Then it works. If you don't, you get a mess.

                 

                There is a separate issue on Macs, which is that Apple doesn't apply the full Rec.709 standards to display video files. So the image looks lighter and less saturated outside of Pr than inside. I can give a full discusssion of that problem if needed. And that only affects the display of that file on a Mac. The same file will look correct on all non-Mac systems & screens.

                 

                SDR/HDR Workflows within Premiere

                Choose whether you're working a Rec.709, SDR/standard video, or HDR. I highly recommend that most users stay in SDR at this time other than playing with HDR, as well ... I work for/with/teach pro colorists, most of whom have yet to deliver a single paid gig of HDR.

                 

                And as there are many different forms of HDR ... and some screens auto-juke the image heavily into one or the other from whatever you worked in, many sceens don't yet handle HDR at all, and the others are all over the place ... it's the Wild Wild West.

                 

                Worse than the old battle between Betacam and VHS for video tape formats.

                 

                But you can work either way, SDR or HDR, at your choice. HDR work requires HDR clips, either HLG or PQ. SDR work can be done with Rec.709, HLG, or PQ clips involved as it is a smaller space/range so the large space clips can be remapped to work within it.

                 

                SDR/Rec.709 Workflow

                Input Color Management may be required!

                Make sure all clips are either Rec.709 or are managed to Rec.709 in the color management settings. Check the clip Properties in the Project panel if unsure.

                 

                Any HLG or PQ clips need to have their CM setting use fixed in the Project panel.

                • right-click/Modify/Intepret Footage
                • at the bottom, the Override-To option, either set to Rec.709 or for many log-encoded clips, select the appropriate camera log option
                • make sure the Sequence settings are set to Rec.709
                • If you want auto-tonemapping of log to normalized view, set that option on in the Preferences; if you want a log image to show and normalize yourself, leave tonemapping off
                • for exports, use ONLY the presets without HLG or PQ in the preset name.

                 

                Doing the above, you should be fine.

                 

                Premiere uses mathematical algorithms to remap dynamic range (DR) brightnesses to within Rec.709 limits for HLG clips, and does a pretty decent job to get a good starting point. Without clipping any highligts or crushing any blacks.

                 

                It also remaps the color volume to fit within the sRGB color space of Rec.709. Again, as a starting point. You then can use the Color workspace to control saturation to your wishes.

                 

                HDR workflows

                This works only if the clips involved are HLG or PQ.

                 

                • Make sure the Sequence settings are set to HLG for most uses ... unless you know you specifically need PQ;
                • make sure both your OS and your monitor are set for HDR work;
                • make sure the "display color management" is set to on in the Preferences;
                • make sure the scopes are showing HDR color space in the lower left corner, right-click change color space if they're not;
                • use only presets with HLG or PQ in the name of the preset.
                Everyone's mileage always varies ...
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