LUTs in CapCut: what it supports and what it doesn't

CapCut desktop imports .cube LUTs — Adjustment, then the LUT section, then import your file — and applies them one clip at a time. The mobile app has filters but no custom LUT import. There is no batch route in either, so a folder of log clips means repeating the same import and apply for every one, which is where people stop using it for that job.

CapCut is the default editor for a lot of short-form work, and its LUT support is better than people expect on desktop and absent on mobile. Worth knowing which you are using before planning a workflow around it.

What it supports

CapCut desktopCapCut mobile
Built-in filtersYesYes
Import a .cube LUTYesNo
Adjust LUT strengthYesN/A
Apply to several clips at onceNoNo
Log conversion presetsNoNo

The absence of custom LUT import on mobile is the one that catches people, since most CapCut use is on a phone. Filters there are CapCut's own and cannot be replaced with a conversion LUT from your camera manufacturer.

Importing one on desktop

  1. Select the clip.
  2. Open Adjustment in the right-hand panel.
  3. Find the LUT section and choose Import.
  4. Pick your .cube file.
  5. Set the strength.

The strength slider is genuinely useful — it is the thing most editors make you build manually — and it is how you handle a shot that was exposed slightly differently without going back to the LUT.

The limit

There is no way to apply a LUT to a folder, a selection, or a whole timeline in one action. No adjustment layer covering every clip, no batch import, no way to copy the setting to a multiple selection reliably.

For one clip that does not matter. For a card of log footage it means the same five steps, forty times, and the errors that come with doing the same thing forty times by hand.

This is the difference between CapCut and an editor built around colour work — Premiere, DaVinci Resolve and Final Cut Pro all have some route to applying a transformation across many clips, even if none of them makes it pleasant.

Convert before, edit after

The workflow that avoids the limit entirely: convert the whole card out of log first, then bring the converted files into CapCut and edit normally.

That way CapCut is doing what it is good at — fast cutting, captions, export — and the colour work happened once, consistently, before the timeline existed. It also means the clips in your bin look right while you are editing, which makes cutting decisions easier than working against flat log.

What is a LUT covers the distinction between a conversion LUT and a creative one; for this workflow the conversion happens before CapCut and the creative look can happen in either place.

How BatchTone handles it

Drop the folder in, pick the camera's conversion, and every clip comes out ready to edit. A frame is pulled from each and previewed with the conversion applied, so the decision is made on your own footage.

  • Per-clip strength for shots exposed differently.
  • Audio copied across untouched rather than re-encoded.
  • The Mac's own hardware encoder, so a card is not an overnight job.
  • Originals never written to.
  • Output is standard files that CapCut imports without complaint.

It is not an editor and does not try to be. It does the one step CapCut has no mechanism for, before CapCut opens. There is a seven-day trial.

Common questions

Can you add LUTs to CapCut? On desktop, yes — Adjustment, LUT, Import, and pick a .cube file. On mobile there is no custom LUT import, only CapCut's own filters.

Why can't I find the LUT option in CapCut? You are almost certainly on mobile, which does not have it. It is desktop only.

Can I apply a LUT to all clips at once in CapCut? No. There is no batch or adjustment-layer route, which is why a folder of log footage is usually converted before importing.

What LUT format does CapCut use? .cube, which is the common one. LUTs from camera manufacturers and most free packs are in that format.

Should I convert log in CapCut or before it? Before, if there is more than a handful of clips. The conversion is the same for every clip from one camera, so doing it per clip in the timeline is repeating a fixed step by hand.

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Free LUTs: where the good ones come from

The free LUTs worth having are the conversion LUTs camera manufacturers publish for their own log formats. Free creative packs are usually an email address in exchange for files, and are worth judging on your own footage before you keep them.

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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