What is ACES?
The Academy Color Encoding System (ACES) is the global standard for interchanging digital image files, managing color workflows and creating masters for delivery and archiving.
It is a combination of SMPTE standards, best practices, and sophisticated color science originally developed by hundreds of professional filmmakers and color scientists under the auspices of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. ACES is now a project at the Academy Software Foundation (aswf.io), the home for open source software developers in the motion picture and broader industries.
ACES can be used on any type of production from features to television, commercials, AR/VR and more.
Why Use ACES?
ACES standardizes and simplifies color management by maintaining the color fidelity of your production at the highest level throughout production, postproduction and archiving.
It simplifies camera matching in DI; improves color and workflow communication; adds reliability to the color viewing pipeline; simplifies and “future proofs” the creation of outputs; and can help create a 'know quantity" master for the archive.
Importantly, ACES is free and open source, so dozens of companies have built it into their tools and continually innovate on top of its standardized framework.