DaVinci Resolve LUT folder location on Mac, Windows and Linux, and why your LUT is not showing up

Updated 2026-09-24 · 5 min read · by Nunik Co.

Resolve only lists LUTs it finds in its own LUT folder. Put the file there, tell Resolve to look again, and it appears. This is where that folder is and what to do when it still does not show.

Open it from inside Resolve (the reliable way)

1. Open the project and go to Project Settings (the cog, bottom right, or Shift 9).
2. Choose Color Management in the left list.
3. Scroll to Lookup Tables and click Open LUT Folder. Resolve opens the exact folder it reads from, on whichever build and OS you have.
4. Copy your .cube in. Subfolders are fine and appear as groups in the LUT browser.
5. Back in Project Settings, click Update Lists, then Save.

That Update Lists click is the step most guides skip and the reason most "it is not showing up" questions exist. Resolve does not watch the folder; it scans it when asked, and at launch.

The paths, if you want to go direct

The App Store build is the one that catches people: it is sandboxed, so the folder lives inside a Containers directory under your user Library, not the system Library. If you installed from the App Store and copied a LUT into the system path, Resolve never sees it. Use Open LUT Folder and let Resolve show you.

On macOS, /Library is the system library at the root of the disk, not the one inside your home folder, and it is hidden by default. In Finder, use Go to Folder (Shift Cmd G) and paste the path.

Applying the LUT

• On the Color page, open the LUTs panel (top left), find the file, and drag it onto a node. Or right click the node, choose 3D LUT, and pick it from the list.
• Or on any page, right click a clip thumbnail, choose LUT, and pick it. That applies it at the clip level before your node grade.
• A LUT built in Rec.709 belongs after your colour space transform node if the footage is log. Why.

When it still will not show

• Wrong folder. App Store versus download build, above. Open LUT Folder settles it.
• Did not Update Lists. Do it, or restart Resolve.
• Wrong extension. The file must end in .cube, not .cube.txt. Windows hides known extensions by default; turn that off in File Explorer's View options and check.
• Not really a cube file. Open it in a text editor. The first lines should read TITLE and LUT_3D_SIZE 33 (or 17 or 65), followed by thousands of lines of three numbers. If it is a PNG or a zip renamed, Resolve ignores it.
• Permissions. On macOS the system Library folder can need an admin password to write to. If Finder refused the copy, the file is not there.
• It shows but does nothing. Check the node is enabled, the LUT is on the node you think it is on, and the input is Rec.709. A creative LUT on raw log footage looks like almost nothing, which reads as "not working".

Making a LUT to put there

ChromaMimic builds a .cube from an original frame and a reference still in your browser, with nothing uploaded, at 17, 33 or 65 points. It writes a standard Adobe Cube v1.0 file with the TITLE and LUT_3D_SIZE header Resolve expects, so it appears in the list the moment you Update Lists.