# LUT pack: what's inside, how to pick one and how to use it > What a LUT pack contains, how to tell conversion LUTs from creative looks, how to test a pack on your own photos and clips, and how to apply one to a whole shoot. Canonical: https://batchtone.com/blog/lut-pack 3 November 2026 · 5 min read A LUT pack is a set of .cube files (sometimes with .3dl or preset versions) that each map colours to a new look or convert log footage to Rec.709. Before using one, find out what input each LUT expects: creative looks are built for normal, already-corrected images, while conversion LUTs only suit footage from a specific camera log profile. Test the pack on three or four of your own frames, keep the two or three looks that work, and apply each one at a strength that suits the frame instead of at 100% on everything. You download a pack with forty LUTs called things like Moody 07 and Golden Hour 3. You try a few on a photo. One looks great, the next turns skin orange, a third does almost nothing. After twenty minutes you've used none of them on the actual shoot. That's the normal experience with a LUT pack, and it's almost never because the pack is bad. It's because the pack was built for a different input than the one you gave it. ## What is a LUT pack? A LUT pack is a folder of lookup tables sold or given away as a set. Each LUT is a file that says "this colour becomes that colour" for every colour in the image. Apply it, and the whole frame is remapped in one pass. [What is a LUT](https://batchtone.com/blog/what-is-a-lut) covers the idea in more depth. What you usually find inside: | File | What it is | Opens in | |---|---|---| | `.cube` | The common LUT format, usually 33×33×33 points | Almost every editor and grading app | | `.3dl` | An older LUT format | Some editors and Autodesk tools | | `.xmp` or `.lrtemplate` | A Lightroom profile or preset version of the look | Lightroom, Camera Raw | | PDF or readme | Which camera or input each LUT was built for | You | The readme is the most important file in the pack and the one people skip. ## What's the difference between conversion LUTs and creative LUTs? Most packs mix two different jobs, and using one where the other belongs is the reason a pack "doesn't work". - **Conversion (technical) LUTs** turn log footage into normal-looking Rec.709. They are tied to one camera and one log profile: S-Log3, V-Log, D-Log, Apple Log. On anything else they look wrong. Camera makers give these away free. [Log footage](https://batchtone.com/blog/log-footage) explains why log looks grey in the first place. - **Creative LUTs** apply a look: a film stock feel, teal and orange, a faded matte, black and white. They expect an image that is already correct, meaning a developed photo or footage that has already been converted to Rec.709. If the readme says a look was "designed for Rec.709", apply it after a conversion LUT on log footage, never straight onto the grey log image. If it says "designed for S-Log3", it's doing the conversion and the look in one file, and it will only behave on S-Log3. ## How do you choose a good LUT pack? The number of LUTs is the least useful thing to compare. Look for these instead: 1. **Each LUT names its input.** A pack that names its input (Rec.709, a specific log profile) is far more likely to work on your material. 2. **Previews use varied images.** One beautiful sunset tells you nothing about how it treats skin under office light. 3. **There's a free sample.** Try one or two LUTs on your own footage before buying the set. 4. **The licence fits your work.** Client and commercial work is usually fine; redistributing the files usually isn't. 5. **The files are `.cube`.** That's the format nearly every app reads, including on Mac and iPhone editors. Start with [free LUTs](https://batchtone.com/blog/free-luts) from camera makers and the looks your editor already ships. Buy a pack once you can name what it adds. ## How do you test a LUT pack on your own work? Don't audition forty LUTs on one hero frame. Pick three or four images that represent the real job: a bright one, a dark one, one with skin, one with lots of a single colour (sky, foliage). Then: 1. Correct exposure and white balance first, so every LUT gets the input it was built for. 2. Apply each LUT to all four images side by side. 3. Drop any look that only works on one of them. 4. For the survivors, note the strength that looks right on each. A look that needs 100% on a flat frame often needs 50 to 70% on a contrasty one. [LUT intensity](https://batchtone.com/blog/lut-intensity) covers why. Expect to keep two or three looks out of a big pack. That's the pack doing its job. ## How do you use a LUT pack on a whole shoot? Once you've picked the look, the work is applying it to every photo or clip without each one going wrong in its own way. In most editors that means opening each file, adding the LUT and adjusting the strength, one at a time. [BatchTone](https://batchtone.com/batch-lut-photos) is a Mac app built for this step. Drop in a folder, choose one `.cube` from your pack, and every photo gets a preview with the LUT applied and its own strength slider, so the dark frames that need less sit lower than the bright ones. One export writes the whole set. It reads JPEG, PNG, HEIC and TIFF, exports JPEG or PNG, keeps capture date, camera and GPS from your JPEGs, and the same batch can hold video clips. RAW files need developing first; originals are never modified, and nothing is uploaded. It runs on macOS 12 or later on Apple Silicon, with a seven-day trial that has everything unlocked, then one in-app purchase rather than a subscription. [Download BatchTone free on the Mac App Store](https://batchtone.com/download) ## Common questions ### How do I install a LUT pack? Unzip it and keep the `.cube` files somewhere permanent. Then import them in your app: DaVinci Resolve has a LUT folder, Premiere Pro and Final Cut Pro load them from the colour panel. [How to install LUTs](https://batchtone.com/blog/how-to-install-luts) has the steps for each app. ### Do LUT packs work on photos? Yes. A `.cube` file works on a still exactly as on a video frame. Creative looks built for Rec.709 suit developed JPEG, HEIC or TIFF photos. [How to apply a LUT to a photo](https://batchtone.com/blog/how-to-apply-a-lut-to-a-photo) covers Photoshop, Affinity Photo and Pixelmator Pro. ### Why does a LUT from a pack look terrible on my footage? Almost always the input doesn't match: a creative look applied to log footage, or a log conversion applied to normal footage. Read what the LUT expects, convert first if needed, then lower the strength. ### Can I use more than one LUT from a pack at once? Yes, in order: conversion first, look second. Stacking two creative looks usually muddies the image. [LUT stacking](https://batchtone.com/blog/lut-stacking) explains when it works. ### Are paid LUT packs better than free ones? Not reliably. The useful difference is that a good paid pack tells you what each LUT was built for. That information, not the price, decides whether it works on your footage. **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 Explainers 19 September 2026 · 4 min read ## [What is a LUT? The whole idea in five minutes](https://batchtone.com/blog/what-is-a-lut) LUT stands for lookup table. In video and photo editing, a LUT is a file that says, for a grid of input colours, what each one should come out as. Applying a LUT means looking up every pixel in that grid and interpolating between the nearest entries. [Read it](https://batchtone.com/blog/what-is-a-lut) Explainers 19 September 2026 · 4 min read ## [Free LUTs: where the good ones come from](https://batchtone.com/blog/free-luts) 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. [Read it](https://batchtone.com/blog/free-luts) How-to 8 October 2026 · 6 min read ## [LUT intensity: how to apply a LUT at less than 100%](https://batchtone.com/blog/lut-intensity) LUT intensity is how much of the LUT's change reaches the image, as a mix between the graded and the original picture. Most tools control it with an opacity, mix or intensity slider: Final Cut's Mix, Premiere's Look Intensity, a node's Key Output Gain in Resolve, layer opacity in Photoshop. Lower it on a creative look; leave a conversion LUT at 100% unless one shot needs less. [Read it](https://batchtone.com/blog/lut-intensity) Explainers 20 October 2026 · 4 min read ## [What is a .cube file? Opening and using one](https://batchtone.com/blog/cube-file) A .cube file is a LUT (lookup table) saved as plain text: a list of numbers that tells software how to change every colour in an image. You do not open it like a document; you load it into a photo or video app such as DaVinci Resolve, Final Cut Pro, Premiere Pro, Photoshop or a LUT tool, and the app applies it to your footage or photos. [Read it](https://batchtone.com/blog/cube-file) ## 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)