Lightroom speaks presets and profiles. A .cube is neither, so it has to be wrapped in a profile first, and Camera Raw is the only Adobe tool that does the wrapping.
What do you need before you start?
Three things:
- Photoshop with Camera Raw. Lightroom has no Create Profile dialog of its own that loads a LUT. Camera Raw ships with Photoshop, and the Creative Cloud photography plan includes both.
- A photo to open in Camera Raw. A raw file is the usual way in. Any picture works as a carrier: the profile you save does not depend on it.
- The `.cube` file. If you are not sure what is inside one, what a LUT is explains the format. If you do not have one yet, where the good free LUTs come from is a fair starting point.
One check before you build anything: what the LUT was made for. A conversion LUT for log video expects flat log footage. A photo that is already developed will look crushed and oversaturated through it. For stills, you want a creative look built for normal contrast images.
How do you turn a .cube into a Lightroom profile?
Five steps in Camera Raw:
- Open a photo in Photoshop so it opens in Camera Raw.
- Open the Presets panel (the two overlapping circles on the right).
- Hold Option (Alt on Windows) and click the Create Preset button. The dialog that opens is called Create Profile. Without the modifier key you get the ordinary preset dialog, which has no LUT option.
- Name the profile and choose a group, such as "My LUTs". Under Color Lookup Table, choose Load .cube File and pick your LUT.
- Untick the other settings so the profile carries the LUT and nothing else, then click OK.
The dialog also lets you set a minimum and maximum amount. Leave them at their defaults unless you already know the look is too strong at full strength. If your version shows a colour space option for the table, pick the one the LUT was built in, which is sRGB for most looks made for video.
How do you apply the profile in Lightroom Classic?
Lightroom Classic reads the profiles Camera Raw saves on the same Mac. Quit and reopen Lightroom, then:
- In the Develop module, open the Basic panel.
- Click the grid icon beside Profile to open the Profile browser.
- Find your group, and click the profile.
- Drag the Amount slider that appears under the profile name.
On another computer, copy the profile file across and use File → Import Develop Profiles and Presets. The cloud-based Lightroom app has its own import under the File menu, and profiles imported there sync to Lightroom on a phone or tablet. That sync is also the practical answer to using LUTs in Lightroom mobile, which has no .cube import of its own.
How do you apply it to a whole shoot?
The same way as any other Lightroom setting. Apply the profile to one photo, select the rest, and use Sync Settings with only Profile ticked. Or save a preset that sets the profile and apply that on import. Batch editing in Lightroom covers both routes and where each one stops.
The catch is the amount. Sync copies one value to every photo, so a frame shot into the sun gets the same 80% as a frame shot in shade. You can open each one afterwards and move the slider, which is fine for twenty photos and slow for four hundred. LUT intensity explained covers what lowering it does to an image.
How does this compare with other routes?
| Route | Setup per LUT | Amount per photo | Takes video too |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lightroom profile | Create Profile in Camera Raw, once | One Amount slider, set by hand | No |
| Photoshop action | Record a Color Lookup layer, once | Same opacity for the whole batch | No |
| Affinity Photo | A LUT adjustment layer, saved in a macro | Same opacity for the whole batch job | No |
| BatchTone | Import the .cube once | A strength slider on every file | Yes |
The Photoshop batch route suits people who already live in actions. LUTs in Affinity Photo covers its batch job, and Lightroom alternatives lists which other editors read a .cube without any conversion.
What goes wrong most often?
- The Create Profile dialog has no LUT section. You clicked Create Preset without holding Option. Close it and click again with the key held down.
- The profile does not appear in Lightroom. Lightroom was open while you made it. Quit and reopen it.
- The look is far too contrasty. The LUT was built for log video. Use a creative look on developed photos, or apply the conversion only to log footage. Which Rec.709 LUT your footage needs explains the difference.
- Forty LUTs means forty profiles. There is no bulk conversion in Camera Raw. A large pack is an afternoon of repetition before you have graded anything.
- A preset you bought does nothing like the LUT. Presets and LUTs are different things. Free Lightroom presets explains where each one comes from.
When is a profile the wrong tool?
When the job is one look across a folder rather than a careful edit of each frame. Lightroom is a raw developer and a catalogue, and a profile is a good way to keep a LUT inside that workflow. It is a slow way to grade a delivery folder where half the shots need less of the look, and it does nothing for the video clips from the same shoot.
BatchTone reads the .cube as it is, with no profile to build. Drop a folder of JPEG, PNG, HEIC or TIFF photos in, with clips if you shot any, pick the LUT, and every file gets its own strength slider beside its preview. A file you leave alone follows the global setting. Exports go to a new folder, the originals are never touched, and EXIF from JPEG originals is carried across. It does not develop raw files, so export from Lightroom first and bring the JPEGs. It runs on macOS 12 or later on Apple Silicon. Batch applying a LUT to photos shows what it reads and writes, and there is a seven-day trial with everything unlocked.
Common questions
Can Lightroom import a .cube file directly?
No. Neither Lightroom Classic nor the cloud-based Lightroom app opens a .cube as a setting. The LUT has to be inside a profile, and Camera Raw's Create Profile dialog is where that happens.
Do LUT profiles work on JPEGs as well as raw files?
A profile that carries only a look table is applied after the photo is rendered, so it works on JPEGs too. Test one JPEG and one raw file from the same shoot, because the starting contrast differs and the look lands differently.
Can I make a Lightroom profile without Photoshop?
Not one that contains a .cube. Lightroom Classic can save a profile from your own settings, but the dialog that loads a lookup table lives in Camera Raw, which comes with Photoshop.
Is a LUT profile better than a preset?
They do different jobs. A profile with a LUT applies one colour transform with an amount slider and leaves your sliders free. A preset moves the sliders themselves. Many people use both: the profile for the look, a preset for their usual tone settings.