# Batch edit in Lightroom: what it does, and where it stops

> Sync settings and presets cover most batch work in Lightroom. Where it gets awkward is .cube LUTs, video, and giving each photo a different amount of one look.

Canonical: https://batchtone.com/blog/batch-edit-lightroom

18 September 2026 · 4 min read

Lightroom batches well through Sync Settings and presets, and for most photo work that is enough. It stops being convenient when you want a .cube LUT, when the batch includes video, or when each photo needs a different amount of the same look.

## The three ways Lightroom batches

All three do the same thing (copy develop settings from one photo to others), and which one to use is mostly about when you decide.

| Method | How it works | Best for |
|---|---|---|
| Sync Settings | Edit one, select the rest, Sync | A shoot already imported |
| Auto Sync | Toggle on, every change applies to the whole selection | Working through a set live |
| Presets on import | Applied as the files come in | A look you always use |

Sync Settings is the one most people live in. Edit the photo you care about, select the others with that photo still the most-selected, press Sync, and tick which settings travel. Exposure and white balance usually should not travel between different lighting; tone curve and colour usually should.

Auto Sync is the same mechanism with the decision moved earlier. It is faster and it is easy to forget it is on, which is how a spot removal ends up on four hundred photos.

## Where it stops being convenient

### Lightroom does not read .cube files

This is the one that surprises people. A `.cube` LUT, the standard file every colourist, every LUT pack and every camera manufacturer uses, cannot be loaded into Lightroom's develop panel. Lightroom wants a camera **profile**, which is a different format.

The usual workaround is to convert: open a photo in Photoshop's Camera Raw, apply the LUT through the Color Lookup layer, save it out as a profile, then import that profile into Lightroom. It works. It is also three applications and several minutes per LUT, and you do it again for every LUT in the pack.

If you bought a pack of forty looks as `.cube` files, that is forty conversions before you have seen any of them on your own photos.

### Video is a different program

Lightroom will apply a subset of develop settings to video clips, but the moment a shoot mixes stills and clips (which most shoots now do), the batch splits in two. The clips go to an editor, get a LUT applied there, and the two halves have to be reconciled by eye.

### Every photo gets the same amount

This is the real ceiling, and it is not a bug. Sync copies settings; it does not scale them. If the look is right on twenty-five frames and too strong on the five shot into the sun, those five are a second pass: a separate selection, different settings, and a note to yourself about which ones they were.

That is fine for five. At forty it is the reason people stop halfway and decide the batch was not worth it.

## What the alternative looks like

Different tools take different positions on this.

|  | Lightroom | Capture One | A dedicated batch tool |
|---|---|---|---|
| .cube LUTs | Converted to profiles first | Converted to ICC profiles or Styles first | Supported directly |
| Video in the same batch | Limited | No | Yes, in some |
| Per-file amount of one look | Second pass | Second pass | A slider per file |
| Subscription | Yes | Licence or subscription | Varies |

None of this makes Lightroom the wrong tool. It is a raw developer and a library first, and it is very good at both. Applying one colour treatment across a mixed pile of finished files is a different job, and it is worth using something that treats it as the main event rather than as a feature.

## Where BatchTone fits

[BatchTone](https://batchtone.com/batch-lut-photos) does the narrow version of this on macOS: one `.cube`, a whole folder, photos and video together, and a strength dial on every individual file.

- LUTs load as `.cube` directly, with no conversion to profiles, no third application.
- A LUT pack is imported once, and every look is previewed **on your own first frame** rather than on a stock image.
- Each file carries its own strength; a file you have not touched follows the global setting.
- Capture date, camera and GPS survive the export, and the originals are never written to.

It does not develop raw files and it has no library. If your workflow is raw in Lightroom and delivery as JPEG, the natural place for this is after the export: Lightroom does the developing, the batch tool does the look, in one pass over the finished files.

## Common questions

### Can I apply a LUT to many photos in Lightroom at all?

Yes, once the LUT has been converted to a camera profile in Photoshop. After that it syncs like any other setting. The cost is the conversion, per LUT.

### Does Sync Settings copy crops and spot removal?

It can, and usually should not. Both are specific to the frame, and the tick boxes in the Sync dialog are there precisely so they can be left behind.

### Is Auto Sync dangerous?

Only in that it is quiet. Everything you do lands on the whole selection until you turn it off, which is excellent for twenty minutes of consistent work and unhelpful for a single fix.

### What about applying a look to video and photos together?

Lightroom will not do this in one batch. Either split the work, or use something that treats [video as part of the same batch](https://batchtone.com/batch-lut-video). The important part is that the same LUT produces the same result on both.

**About this article.** Written by the team that builds BatchTone, a macOS app that applies .cube LUTs to whole folders of photos and video. Spotted something wrong or out of date? Write to [support@batchtone.com](mailto:support@batchtone.com).

## Read next

How-to 18 September 2026 · 4 min read

## [Photoshop batch edit: applying a LUT to a folder](https://batchtone.com/blog/photoshop-batch-edit-lut)

Record an action that adds a Color Lookup layer with your .cube loaded, then run File → Automate → Batch over the folder. It works, and the setup is the cost: an action per LUT, and no way to vary the strength per photo without editing each result.

[Read it](https://batchtone.com/blog/photoshop-batch-edit-lut)

How-to 18 September 2026 · 5 min read

## [D-Log to Rec.709: converting a whole card at once](https://batchtone.com/blog/dlog-to-rec709)

D-Log is a flat recording profile, not a look: it stores more range than a screen can show, and a Rec.709 conversion LUT maps it back to something that looks right. Converting a card means applying that one LUT to every clip, which is a batch job rather than an editing job.

[Read it](https://batchtone.com/blog/dlog-to-rec709)

## One look. A whole shoot.

BatchTone applies your .cube LUTs across photos and video at once, with a strength dial on every file. Seven-day trial, everything unlocked.

[Download for macOS](https://apps.apple.com/app/batchtone/id6821727167)