- Adobe Premiere Pro User Guide
- Beta releases
- Getting started
- Hardware and operating system requirements
- Creating projects
- Workspaces and workflows
- Frame.io
- Import media
- Importing
- Importing from Avid or Final Cut
- Searching for imported media
- File formats
- Working with timecode
- Editing
- Edit video
- Sequences
- Create and change sequences
- Set In and Out points in the Source Monitor
- Add clips to sequences
- Rearrange and move clips
- Find, select, and group clips in a sequence
- Remove clips from a sequence
- Change sequence settings
- Edit from sequences loaded into the Source Monitor
- Simplify sequences
- Rendering and previewing sequences
- Working with markers
- Add markers to clips
- Create markers in Effect Controls panel
- Set default marker colors
- Find, move, and delete markers
- Show or hide markers by color
- View marker comments
- Copy and paste sequence markers
- Sharing markers with After Effects
- Source patching and track targeting
- Scene edit detection
- Generative Extend
- Cut and trim clips
- Video
- Audio
- Overview of audio in Premiere Pro
- Edit audio clips in the Source Monitor
- Audio Track Mixer
- Adjusting volume levels
- Edit, repair, and improve audio using Essential Sound panel
- Enhance Speech
- Enhance Speech FAQs
- Audio Category Tagging
- Automatically duck audio
- Remix audio
- Monitor clip volume and pan using Audio Clip Mixer
- Audio balancing and panning
- Advanced Audio - Submixes, downmixing, and routing
- Audio effects and transitions
- Working with audio transitions
- Apply effects to audio
- Measure audio using the Loudness Radar effect
- Recording audio mixes
- Editing audio in the timeline
- Audio channel mapping in Premiere Pro
- Use Adobe Stock audio in Premiere Pro
- Overview of audio in Premiere Pro
- Text-Based Editing
- Advanced editing
- Best Practices
- Video Effects and Transitions
- Overview of video effects and transitions
- Effects
- Transitions
- Titles, Graphics, and Captions
- Properties panel
- Essential Graphics panel (24.x and earlier)
- Captions
- Motion Graphics Templates
- Best Practices: Faster graphics workflows
- Retiring the Legacy Titler FAQs
- Upgrade Legacy titles to Source Graphics
- Fonts and emojis
- Animation and Keyframing
- Compositing
- Color Correction and Grading
- Overview: Color workflows in Premiere Pro
- Color Settings
- Auto Color
- Get creative with color using Lumetri looks
- Adjust color using RGB and Hue Saturation Curves
- Correct and match colors between shots
- Using HSL Secondary controls in the Lumetri Color panel
- Create vignettes
- Looks and LUTs
- Lumetri scopes
- Timeline tone mapping
- HDR for broadcasters
- Enable DirectX HDR support
- Color management
- About color management
- How color management works
- Auto Detection of Log Camera Formats and Raw Media
- Disable color management
- Manage source media colors in the Program Monitor
- Configure clips for color management using Clip Modify
- Configure sequence color management
- Customize color presets for new or existing sequences
- Configure a sequence’s output color space
- Color management options
- Color management and Lumetri Color
- Premiere Pro and After Effects color management compatibility
- Working with color managed iPhone media
- Frequently asked questions
- Exporting media
- Export video
- Export Preset Manager
- Workflow and overview for exporting
- Quick export
- Exporting for the Web and mobile devices
- Export a still image
- Content Credentials in Premiere Pro and Adobe Media Encoder
- Exporting projects for other applications
- Exporting OMF files for Pro Tools
- Export to Panasonic P2 format
- Export settings
- Best Practices: Export faster
- Collaborative editing
- Collaboration in Premiere Pro
- Get started with collaborative video editing
- Create Team Projects
- Add and manage media in Team Projects
- Invite and manage collaborators
- Share and manage changes with collaborators
- View auto saves and versions of Team Projects
- Manage Team Projects
- Linked Team Projects
- Frequently asked questions
- Long form and Episodic workflows
- Working with other Adobe applications
- Organizing and Managing Assets
- Improving Performance and Troubleshooting
- Set preferences
- Reset and restore preferences
- Recovery Mode
- Working with Proxies
- Check if your system is compatible with Premiere Pro
- Premiere Pro for Apple silicon
- Eliminate flicker
- Interlacing and field order
- Smart rendering
- Control surface support
- Best Practices: Working with native formats
- Knowledge Base
- Known issues
- Fixed issues
- Fix Premiere Pro crash issues
- Why do my Premiere Pro exports look washed out?
- Unable to migrate settings after updating Premiere Pro
- Green and pink video in Premiere Pro or Premiere Rush
- How do I manage the Media Cache in Premiere Pro?
- Fix errors when rendering or exporting
- Troubleshoot issues related to playback and performance in Premiere Pro
- Set preferences
- Extensions and plugins
- Video and audio streaming
- Monitoring Assets and Offline Media
Discover how to fix washed-out colors when exporting videos from Adobe Premiere Pro.
Issue
Sometimes, exported videos look different from how they appear in the Program Monitor. Exports are sometimes described as “too light” or “washed out”.
What Causes This?
Understanding this issue requires an understanding of how devices display images.
Devices like televisions, Windows and macOS computers, and viewers in different applications use a gamma curve to better match how a screen displays brightness with how our eyes perceive it.
QuickTime gamma shift occurs because different devices and viewers use different gamma curves. macOS uses a gamma curve of 1.96, while Windows uses a gamma curve of 2.2. The standard for broadcast video is a gamma curve of 2.4. Premiere Pro uses the 2.4 broadcast standard to display video.
These differences in the gamma curve mean that a video that looks correct in Premiere Pro will look slightly different when exported and viewed in a Windows application that uses the Windows gamma of 2.2.
A bigger shift will occur when a Premiere Pro export is viewed on macOS. By default, Premiere Pro will display the video using a 2.4 gamma curve, but when the exported video is opened in most other macOS applications, the macOS 1.96 gamma curve will be used and the video will appear washed out.
Because this issue is caused by differences between operating systems and viewers in different applications, there is no simple “fix”. Instead, Premiere Pro has a feature that enables you to change the gamma curve that is being used to display video.
Using the Viewer Gamma Feature
Viewer Gamma (in Lumetri Color > Settings > Project) lets you change how your video is displayed, providing three gamma curve options:
- 2.4 (Broadcast)
- 2.2 (Web)
- 1.96 (QuickTime)
Changing Viewer Gamma does not change how your video is exported. It changes how your video is viewed in Premiere Pro, letting you match your view of the video with your customer’s view.
In previous versions of Premiere Pro, some customers used a gamma compensation LUT, created by Adobe, during export to address QuickTime gamma shift. Using Viewer Gamma replaces the need to use this LUT.
In Premiere v25.2 and earlier, Viewer Gamma is designed to work with standard dynamic range (SDR) workflows. It works with Rec. 709, log, and raw media. For log and raw media, it works correctly with a LUT-based workflow but not with Lumetri Color > Settings > Project > Color Manage Auto Detected Log and Media turned on. Additionally, Viewer Gamma requires Lumetri Color > Settings > Sequence > Color Setup is set to Direct Rec. 709 (SDR) or Disable Color Management. A future version of Premiere Pro will include an updated viewer gamma feature that works with additional color management workflows.
Grade for Your Audience
Because different devices use different gamma curves, there is no single gamma curve that is always the “right” choice. You will need to consider your audience when choosing the best Viewer Gamma option.
- For web content: Grade using 2.2 gamma for best compatibility across devices≥
- For broadcast: Continue using 2.4 gamma standard.
- For viewing by customers only on macOS desktop use 1.96 gamma.
Best Practices
- Consider where and how your content will be viewed.
- For web content, consider slightly increasing contrast (Lumetri Color > Edit > Basic Correction > Light > Contrast) to compensate for varied viewing environments.
- Communicate with clients about potential viewing variations. Color can appear different across devices due to how each system displays color information.
- “QuickTime gamma shift” is not a bug but a result of how different systems display color information. By understanding these differences and using the available tools, you can better ensure that your creative vision remains consistent across different viewing scenarios.