How to Fix Color Shift After Export in DaVinci Resolve

In Summary When a DaVinci Resolve export looks lighter, darker or less saturated than the timeline, the cause is usually one of two things: the Resolve viewer is not showing the image the way your player does, or the file carries a color tag your player reads differently. Blackmagic's manual gives a fix for each. On a Mac, turn on Use Mac Display Color Profile for viewers (or Viewers match QuickTime Player when using Rec.709 Scene) in Preferences > System > General. For a file meant for the web, turn on Automatically Tag Rec.709 Scene Clips as Rec.709-A in the same panel. Then check the Color Space Tag and Gamma Tag in the Deliver page's advanced render settings.

The short answer

Resolve writes color space tags into the file you render. The DaVinci Resolve 21.1 Reference Manual says that if you render QuickTime files, "color space tags will be embedded into each file based on either the Timeline Color Space (if Resolve Color Management is disabled) or the Output Color Space (if Resolve Color Management is enabled)" (p. 244). A player reads those tags to decide how to show the picture.

The manual also says the viewer on a computer display can be the problem: "if you grade a project using the Color page Viewer on your computer display, the resulting clip may not look the same in the QuickTime player, or in other post‑production applications" (p. 3075).

So there are two places to look:

1. What you see in Resolve. The viewer settings in Preferences change the viewer only. They do not change the file.
2. What gets written into the file. The project's color science, Timeline Color Space and Output Color Space decide the picture and its tags. The Color Space Tag, Gamma Tag and Rec.709-A settings change the tags.

Every Resolve setting and page number below is from the DaVinci Resolve 21.1 Reference Manual (September 2026).

Which setting changes what

1. Find out what your project is set to

1. Open File > Project Settings and click Color Management. Blackmagic's color page says this is where you set up "color science, along with input, timeline and output color transformations".
2. Look at Color science. The four options are DaVinci YRGB, DaVinci YRGB Color Managed, DaVinci YRGB Color Managed (Legacy), and ACEScc or ACEScct (p. 149).
3. If it says DaVinci YRGB Color Managed, look at the Output Color Space. The default preset is SDR Rec.709. The manual says "Gamma 2.4 is not mentioned in the name because scene versus display OOTF is managed automatically" (p. 231).
4. To see the gamma of each stage, turn on Use Separate Color Space and Gamma. Each color space then shows two menus: the first sets the gamut, the second sets the gamma (p. 150).

Do not change the Timeline Color Space to fix an export. The manual warns: "Once you choose a Timeline Color Space and begin grading, do not change your Timeline Color Space, or you'll end up changing all of the grades". You can change the Output Color Space instead to make a new deliverable (p. 235).

2. Make the viewer show what players show

These settings are in DaVinci Resolve > Preferences > System > General (pp. 106, 257). You can also type the setting's name in the Preferences search bar (p. 96).

• Use Mac Display Color Profile for viewers. On macOS, the viewers use the display profile chosen in the macOS Displays settings. The manual says this lets Resolve "use ColorSync on macOS so your Viewer image should better match your output display" (p. 106). It works with the color profiles that ship with macOS and with profiles made by calibration software (p. 3075).
• Use 10-bit precision in viewers if available. The manual says that with this option on as well, "rendered output displayed in QuickTime Player will match what is seen in the DaVinci Resolve Viewer" (p. 3075).
• Viewers match QuickTime Player when using Rec.709 Scene. This makes "the Resolve Viewers and what you see in QuickTime Player match" (p. 106).

None of these change the file. They change what you see while you grade. If the picture in Resolve changes after you turn one on, your grade was built on the old view, so check it again before you render.

On Windows and Linux, the manual's other route is a calibration LUT: the 1D/3D Color Viewer Lookup Table menu in the Color Management panel of the Project Settings (p. 3076). For professional work it recommends a calibrated external display connected through a Blackmagic Design video interface (p. 3076).

3. Check the tags in the Deliver page

1. On the Deliver page, open the Video panel of the Render Settings and click the advanced settings disclosure button (p. 4119).
2. Find Color Space Tag and Gamma Tag. Both default to Same as Project, which "will match the Output Color Space currently selected in the Project Settings" (p. 244). You can override either from its menu (p. 4120).
3. Leave Data levels on Auto unless you know the receiving app needs Video or Full. The manual says that if an app reads full-range media with the wrong setting, "the images will not look correct" (p. 224).

The manual describes both tags as metadata embedded in the file. A tag that does not describe the picture will make a player show it wrong, so change a tag only to describe what the file really is.

4. For web delivery: tag Rec.709-A

If your QuickTime export looks different from the Resolve viewer, the manual's named fix is Automatically Tag Rec.709 Scene Clips as Rec.709-A in Preferences > System > General. It tags "any Rec. 709 QuickTime files for Rec. 709-A playback". Blackmagic says it is "useful if your final QuickTime video does not match what you see in the Resolve viewers (gamma shift), and you wish to export for the web rather than broadcast" (p. 106).

Keep it off for a broadcast master. Blackmagic's description limits it to files for the web.

5. For YouTube: deliver BT.709

YouTube's help page on upload encoding says: "YouTube recommends BT.709 as the standard color space for SDR uploads." It lists BT.709 for the transfer characteristics, color primaries and color matrix. If the transfer characteristics are unspecified, YouTube assumes BT.709. It converts an sRGB transfer to BT.709.

In Resolve's terms, a file tagged 1-1-1 uses "the BT.709 primaries, transfer function, and color matrix" (p. 229). For the rest of the YouTube settings, see the best YouTube export settings in DaVinci Resolve.

How to check a render

Import the rendered QuickTime file into a project with Resolve Color Management turned on. The manual says RCM reads "the NCLC metadata of QuickTime-wrapped files" and sets each clip's Input Color Space from it (pp. 228–229). Right-click the clip in the Media Pool and look at its Input Color Space (and Input Gamma), the per-clip settings the manual names (pp. 229–230). If that is not what you meant to deliver, go back to step 3.

If the footage was HDR

A shift that looks washed out from the start, before export, is a different problem. iPhone HDR video is HLG and needs converting to Rec.709: see how to fix iPhone HDR footage in DaVinci Resolve. When Resolve Color Management converts an HDR program to an SDR Output Color Space, the manual says 0 to 50 nits stay unchanged, 51 to 100 nits are compressed into 51 to 90, and 101 to 1000 nits are compressed into 91 to 100. It says to do a trim pass and check every clip (p. 233).

Where Eddie fits

If you graded the edit in Eddie, the grade does not travel in the Resolve project (.drp) or the Resolve FCPXML, so you grade in Resolve or bring the look across as a LUT. Eddie can export one edit's grade as 33-point .cube LUT files: a master LUT with the whole grade baked in, plus one LUT per source that has its own grade. They are for Rec.709 footage after the camera conversion, they are not editable in the editing app, and the confirmed export costs 100 credits. Once the LUT is on your clips in Resolve, the color management and tag settings on this page still decide what is written into the file.

See color grading in Eddie, the DaVinci Resolve workflow and how to apply a LUT in DaVinci Resolve.

What it will not do

• The viewer settings do not change the file. They change only what the Resolve viewers show (pp. 106, 3075).
• The Rec.709-A tag is for the web. Blackmagic describes it for exporting "for the web rather than broadcast" (p. 106).
• A computer display is not a reference display. The manual says most computer displays "do not operate at the color critical tolerances or specifications required for quality control" (p. 3075).
• Changing the Timeline Color Space after grading changes your grades. Change the Output Color Space for a new deliverable instead (p. 235).
• The manual does not list which formats carry the tags. Its tag section is written for QuickTime files and says the tag settings work "for supported media formats" (p. 244).

FAQ

Why do my colors look different after export in DaVinci Resolve?

Either the viewer is not showing the image the way your player does, or the file's color tags are read differently by the player. The manual says a grade made in the computer Viewer "may not look the same in the QuickTime player, or in other post‑production applications" (p. 3075).

What is Rec.709-A in DaVinci Resolve?

It is a tag Resolve can put on Rec. 709 QuickTime files. Automatically Tag Rec.709 Scene Clips as Rec.709-A tags them "for Rec. 709-A playback", for when the QuickTime video does not match the viewer and you are exporting for the web (p. 106).

Why doesn't my timeline match my render?

Check the Output Color Space in Project Settings and the Color Space Tag and Gamma Tag in the Deliver page. With Resolve Color Management on, the tags follow the Output Color Space; with it off, they follow the Timeline Color Space (p. 244).

What is the difference between Timeline Color Space and Output Color Space?

The Timeline Color Space is the working space your grades are built in. The Output Color Space "determines the final color space of your rendered result" (pp. 228, 235).

Should I use Rec.709 Gamma 2.4 or Gamma 2.2?

The manual does not give a rule for web files. It describes Rec. 709 Gamma 2.4 as the default input and timeline space in Resolve Color Management (pp. 226, 230), and for the web gamma shift it names the Rec.709-A tag (p. 106).

Does the Mac display profile setting change my export?

No. It makes the viewers use the macOS display profile through ColorSync (p. 106). The rendered file is not changed by it.

Sources

• Blackmagic Design, DaVinci Resolve 21.1 Reference Manual (September 2026): chapter 4 System and User Preferences, pp. 96, 106; chapter 6 Project Settings, pp. 149–150; chapter 9 Data Levels, Color Management, and ACES, pp. 224–235, 244; chapter 10 HDR Setup and Grading, p. 257; chapter 127 Viewers, Monitoring, and Video Scopes, pp. 3075–3076; chapter 187 Rendering Media, pp. 4119–4120. Checked 2026-11-10.
• Blackmagic Design, DaVinci Resolve color page, Professional Color Management section. Checked 2026-11-10.
• YouTube Help, YouTube recommended upload encoding settings. Checked 2026-11-10.