Adobe Premiere’s New Color Mode Is a ‘First-of-its-Kind’ Color Editing Experience

Apr 15, 2026

Jeremy Gray

A computer screen displays a video editing software with a split view; the left shows a desaturated frame of an off-road car, and the right shows the car in vibrant color with editing controls below.

Adobe Premiere, which torpedoed the “Pro” in its name earlier this year, has a new “first-of-its-kind” color grading system, dubbed Color Mode.

Unveiled ahead of NAB 2026, the new Color Mode, which is launching first in Adobe Premiere (beta), has been designed from the ground up for video editors. Although Adobe doesn’t say as much, the new Color Mode seems like a direct response to DaVinci Resolve’s color editing solutions, which have rightly earned Resolve many supporters and converts over the years.

A white and blue car with red wheels speeds down a dirt road. Overlays show a waveform graph and editing sliders for contrast, exposure, temperature, balance, and saturation at the bottom of the image.

“With all-new tools that work the way you think, you can finally craft brilliant color with confidence and control — right next to your edit,” Adobe promises, noting that Color Mode exists right inside of Premiere, no more “app switch required.”

The company insists that each control, layout, and interaction inside Color Mode was built with video editors in mind and designed to address their primary concerns and desires surrounding color.

“It works the way you think,” Adobe says. “The gap between how you wish your video looked and your finished result just got a lot smaller.”

A split image shows a digital fire graphic with flowers, a woman in a yellow dress sitting outside, and a person in blue next to a white car with red wheels in a desert setting, each scene divided by blue lines.

These are ambitious claims, and Adobe’s attempt to achieve them relies upon the new Color Mode tab inside Premiere. When using Color Mode, a new user interface with a big preview window appears. Inside this workspace are an array of new user-adjustable Style Presets. Editors can adjust saturation shift, hue shift, and luminance shift for all of these presets, essentially crafting their own color grades. It is designed to be very easy to use.

A woman in retro clothing talks on a yellow rotary phone and reads a book. The image is split, showing film editing software with color grading tools and video sequence thumbnails.

However, for those who want even more control, there are many options in Color Mode. Video editors can tweak basic things like exposure, contrast, temperature, balance, and saturation. But specific colors can be tuned across the exposure or color range, meaning it’s straightforward to make shadows bluer, highlights more orange, and independently fine-tune each color in a video, no matter how bright or dark it is.

Friend of PetaPixel and YouTube creator Matt Johnson test drove Color Mode ahead of today’s reveal, calling it “the largest update [Premiere] has ever received.”

“Color grading has only grown in importance over the years. Having an editor-first color grading system that reimagines how to easily achieve professional color is truly a game changer,” Johnson says.

A video editing software interface shows a desert scene with a truck making circular tire marks, split to compare color correction. Thumbnail previews and editing controls are visible on the right and bottom of the screen.

Johnson is clearly a fan, and it will be interesting to see how other Premiere users respond to the new Color Mode. It is a significant response by Adobe to competing applications in the space, namely DaVinci Resolve. Whether it keeps people invested in the Premiere ecosystem or attracts new users under Adobe’s umbrella remains to be seen.

Adobe Premiere (beta) with Color Mode is available now to Premiere and Creative Cloud Pro subscribers.

Image credits: Adobe