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Why Do My Premiere Pro Exports Look Washed Out?  

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Premiere Pro

Premiere Pro

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  1. Adobe Premiere Pro User Guide
  2. Beta releases
    1. Beta Program Overview
    2. Premiere Pro Beta Home
  3. Getting started
    1. Get started with Adobe Premiere Pro
    2. What's new in Premiere Pro
    3. Best practices for updating Premiere Pro
    4. Keyboard shortcuts in Premiere Pro
    5. Accessibility in Premiere Pro
    6. Frequently asked questions
    7. Release notes
  4. Hardware and operating system requirements
    1. Hardware recommendations
    2. System requirements
    3. GPU and GPU Driver requirements
    4. GPU Accelerated Rendering & Hardware Encoding/Decoding
    5. How to install drivers from NVIDIA
  5. Creating projects
    1. Start a new project
    2. Open projects
    3. Move and delete projects
    4. Work with multiple open projects
    5. Work with Project Shortcuts
    6. Backward compatibility of Premiere Pro projects
    7. Open and edit Premiere Rush projects in Premiere Pro
    8. Best Practices: Create your own project templates
  6. Workspaces and workflows
    1. Workspaces
    2. Import and export FAQs
    3. Working with Panels
    4. Windows touch and gesture controls
    5. Use Premiere Pro in a dual-monitor setup
  7. Frame.io
    1. Install and activate Frame.io
    2. Use Frame.io with Premiere Pro and After Effects
    3. Integrate Adobe Workfront and Frame.io
    4. Invite collaborators to co-edit a project
    5. Frequently asked questions
  8. Import media
    1. Importing
      1. Transfer files
      2. Importing still images
      3. Importing digital audio
    2. Importing from Avid or Final Cut
      1. Importing AAF project files from Avid Media Composer
      2. Importing XML project files from Final Cut Pro 7 and Final Cut Pro X
    3. Searching for imported media
      1. Media intelligence and Search panel
      2. Frequently asked questions
    4. File formats
      1. Supported file formats
      2. Support for Blackmagic RAW
    5. Working with timecode
  9. Editing
    1. Edit video
    2. Sequences
      1. Create and change sequences
      2. Set In and Out points in the Source Monitor
      3. Add clips to sequences
      4. Rearrange and move clips
      5. Find, select, and group clips in a sequence
      6. Remove clips from a sequence
      7. Change sequence settings
      8. Edit from sequences loaded into the Source Monitor
      9. Simplify sequences
      10. Rendering and previewing sequences
      11. Working with markers
      12. Add markers to clips
      13. Create markers in Effect Controls panel
      14. Set default marker colors
      15. Find, move, and delete markers
      16. Show or hide markers by color
      17. View marker comments
      18. Copy and paste sequence markers
      19. Sharing markers with After Effects
      20. Source patching and track targeting
      21. Scene edit detection
    3. Generative Extend
      1. Overview 
      2. Frequently asked questions
      3. Known issues
    4. Cut and trim clips
      1. Split or cut clips
      2. Trim clips
      3. Edit in Trim mode
      4. Perform J cuts and L cuts
      5. Create and play clips
      6. Adjust Trimming and Playback preferences
    5. Video
      1. Synchronizing audio and video with Merge Clips
      2. Render and replace media
      3. Undo, history, and events
      4. Freeze and hold frames
      5. Working with aspect ratios
    6. Audio
      1. Overview of audio in Premiere Pro
      2. Edit audio clips in the Source Monitor
      3. Audio Track Mixer
      4. Adjusting volume levels
      5. Edit, repair, and improve audio using Essential Sound panel
      6. Enhance Speech
      7. Enhance Speech FAQs
      8. Audio Category Tagging
      9. Automatically duck audio
      10. Remix audio
      11. Monitor clip volume and pan using Audio Clip Mixer
      12. Audio balancing and panning
      13. Advanced Audio - Submixes, downmixing, and routing
      14. Audio effects and transitions
      15. Working with audio transitions
      16. Apply effects to audio
      17. Measure audio using the Loudness Radar effect
      18. Recording audio mixes
      19. Editing audio in the timeline
      20. Audio channel mapping in Premiere Pro
      21. Use Adobe Stock audio in Premiere Pro
    7. Text-Based Editing
      1. Text-Based Editing
      2. Text-Based Editing FAQs
    8. Advanced editing
      1. Multi-camera editing workflow
      2. Editing VR
    9. Best Practices
      1. Best Practices: Mix audio faster
      2. Best Practices: Editing efficiently
      3. Editing workflows for feature films
  10. Video Effects and Transitions
    1. Overview of video effects and transitions
    2. Effects
      1. Types of effects in Premiere Pro
      2. Apply and remove effects
      3. Use FX badges
      4. Effect presets
      5. Metadata effect in Premiere Pro
      6. Automatically reframe video for different social media channels
      7. Color correction effects
      8. Effects Manager
      9. Change duration and speed of clips
      10. Adjustment Layers
      11. Stabilize footage
    3. Transitions
      1. Applying transitions in Premiere Pro
      2. Modifying and customizing transitions
      3. Morph Cut
  11. Titles, Graphics, and Captions
    1. Properties panel
      1. About Properties panel
      2. Edit text
      3. Edit shapes
      4. Change the appearance of text and shapes
      5. Apply gradients
      6. Linked and Track Styles
      7. Working with style browser
      8. Draw with the Pen tool
      9. Align objects
      10. Add Responsive Design features to your graphics
      11. Edit audio
      12. Edit video
      13. Mask with shape
      14. Create reveal animations using masking techniques
      15. Create, apply, and redefine text styles
      16. Add Responsive Design features to your graphics
    2. Captions
      1. Speech to Text
      2. Translate captions
      3. Download language packs for transcription
      4. Working with captions
      5. Check spelling and Find and Replace
      6. Export text
      7. Speech to Text FAQs
      8. Translate captions FAQs
    3. Motion Graphics Templates
      1. Install and use Motion Graphics templates
      2. Replace images or videos in Motion Graphics templates
      3. Use data-driven Motion Graphics templates
    4. Best Practices: Faster graphics workflows
    5. Retiring the Legacy Titler FAQs
    6. Upgrade Legacy titles to Source Graphics
  12. Fonts and emojis
    1. Color fonts
    2. Emojis
  13. Animation and Keyframing
    1. Adding, navigating, and setting keyframes
    2. Animating effects
    3. Use Motion effect to edit and animate clips
    4. Optimize keyframe automation
    5. Moving and copying keyframes
    6. Viewing and adjusting effects and keyframes
  14. Compositing
    1. Compositing, alpha channels, and adjusting clip opacity
    2. Masking and tracking
    3. Blending modes
  15. Color Correction and Grading
    1. Overview: Color workflows in Premiere Pro
    2. Color Settings
    3. Auto Color
    4. Get creative with color using Lumetri looks
    5. Adjust color using RGB and Hue Saturation Curves
    6. Correct and match colors between shots
    7. Using HSL Secondary controls in the Lumetri Color panel
    8. Create vignettes
    9. Looks and LUTs
    10. Lumetri scopes
    11. Timeline tone mapping
    12. HDR for broadcasters
    13. Enable DirectX HDR support
  16. Color management
    1. About color management 
    2. How color management works
    3. Auto Detection of Log Camera Formats and Raw Media
    4. Disable color management
    5. Manage source media colors in the Program Monitor
    6. Configure clips for color management using Clip Modify
    7. Configure sequence color management
    8. Customize color presets for new or existing sequences
    9. Configure a sequence’s output color space
    10. Color management options
    11. Color management and Lumetri Color
    12. Premiere Pro and After Effects color management compatibility
    13. Working with color managed iPhone media
    14. Frequently asked questions
  17. Exporting media
    1. Export video
    2. Export Preset Manager
    3. Workflow and overview for exporting
    4. Quick export
    5. Exporting for the Web and mobile devices
    6. Export a still image
    7. Content Credentials in Premiere Pro and Adobe Media Encoder
    8. Exporting projects for other applications
    9. Exporting OMF files for Pro Tools
    10. Export to Panasonic P2 format
    11. Create and export HDR videos for YouTube on Macintosh
    12. Export settings
      1. Export settings reference
      2. Basic Video Settings
      3. Encoding Settings
    13. Best Practices: Export faster
  18. Collaborative editing
    1. Collaboration in Premiere Pro
    2. Get started with collaborative video editing
    3. Create Team Projects
    4. Add and manage media in Team Projects
    5. Invite and manage collaborators
    6. Share and manage changes with collaborators
    7. View auto saves and versions of Team Projects
    8. Manage Team Projects
    9. Linked Team Projects
    10. Frequently asked questions
  19. Long form and Episodic workflows
    1. Long Form and Episodic Workflow Guide
    2. Using Productions
    3. How clips work across projects in a Production
    4. Best Practices: Working with Productions
  20. Working with other Adobe applications
    1. After Effects and Photoshop
    2. Dynamic Link
    3. Audition
    4. Prelude
  21. Organizing and Managing Assets
    1. Working in the Project panel
    2. Organize assets in the Project panel
    3. Playing assets
    4. Search assets
    5. Creative Cloud Libraries
    6. Sync Settings in Premiere Pro
    7. Consolidate, transcode, and archive projects
    8. Managing metadata
    9. Content Credentials in Premiere Pro and Adobe Media Encoder
    10. Best Practices
      1. Best Practices: Learning from broadcast production
      2. Best Practices: Working with native formats
  22. Improving Performance and Troubleshooting
    1. Set preferences
    2. Reset and restore preferences
    3. Recovery Mode
    4. Working with Proxies
      1. Proxy overview
      2. Ingest and Proxy Workflow
    5. Check if your system is compatible with Premiere Pro
    6. Premiere Pro for Apple silicon
    7. Eliminate flicker
    8. Interlacing and field order
    9. Smart rendering
    10. Control surface support
    11. Best Practices: Working with native formats
    12. Knowledge Base
      1. Known issues
      2. Fixed issues
      3. Fix Premiere Pro crash issues
      4. Why do my Premiere Pro exports look washed out?
      5. Unable to migrate settings after updating Premiere Pro
      6. Green and pink video in Premiere Pro or Premiere Rush
      7. How do I manage the Media Cache in Premiere Pro?
      8. Fix errors when rendering or exporting
      9. Troubleshoot issues related to playback and performance in Premiere Pro
  23. Extensions and plugins
    1. Installing plugins and extensions in Premiere Pro
    2. Latest plugins from third-party developers
  24. Video and audio streaming
    1. Secure Reliable Transport (SRT)
  25. Monitoring Assets and Offline Media
    1. Monitoring assets
      1. Using the Source Monitor and Program Monitor
      2. Using the Reference Monitor
    2. Offline media
      1. Working with offline clips
      2. Creating clips for offline editing
      3. Relinking 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) 
Viewer Gamma options in the Project section of the Settings tab of the Lumetri Color panel
Set Viewer Gamma options to change the video display color

 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. 

Note:

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. 

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