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Color-accurate work with Color Passthrough#

Color Passthrough is a session setting for grading and retouching on a host from your own calibrated display. It turns off color processing on the host and on your computer, so the host's pixel values reach your display unchanged. With your display calibrated to your working color space, the values you measure match the values the host's app outputs.

For example:

  • A colorist grades in DaVinci Resolve on a Mac host from a calibrated display.
  • A finishing editor checks a P3-D65 deliverable from a display profiled for P3-D65 with gamma 2.6.

Color Passthrough is off by default. Keep it off for general work, on an uncalibrated display, and for apps that manage color on a Mac host, such as Photoshop or Preview; with passthrough on, colors in those apps can appear incorrect. See When to use it.

Applies to#

  • Jump Desktop for Windows or macOS.
  • Fluid connections to a Windows host, or a Mac host running macOS 15 or later, with Jump Desktop Connect.
  • All plans. Pro and Ultra color levels require the Jump Desktop for Teams Enterprise plan; see Color levels.
  • The calibration steps assume a Mac as your computer. The app configuration steps apply to DaVinci Resolve.

When to use it#

Whether to use Color Passthrough depends on how the app on the host renders color:

  • Apps that bypass color management, such as DaVinci Resolve, send their values to the screen unchanged. When Resolve is configured as in step 3, its values reach your calibrated display without conversion.
  • Apps that use ColorSync on a Mac host, such as Preview, Safari, Chrome, Photoshop, and the macOS desktop, have their output converted to the host display's profile before Jump Desktop captures the screen. With passthrough on, these apps can appear oversaturated or gamma-shifted on a display that does not match the host's display.
  • On a Windows host, Resolve and Chrome showed correct values in testing from a Mac with passthrough on.

Turn passthrough on when you grade in Resolve, and turn it off when you return to other work.

Step 1: Choose your working color space#

Choose the color space and gamma for your work, for example:

  • Rec.709 with BT.1886 gamma 2.4.
  • P3-D65 with gamma 2.6.

Step 2: Calibrate your display#

On your computer (a Mac):

  1. Use a calibration tool, such as Calibrite or DisplayCAL, to create an ICC profile for your display in your working color space.
  2. Install the profile in ~/Library/ColorSync/Profiles.
  3. In System Settings > Displays, choose the profile from the Color profile menu.

For content tagged with its color space and gamma, ColorSync on your computer now converts color correctly for your display. Untagged content is usually treated as sRGB.

Step 3: Set up DaVinci Resolve#

In Resolve on the host, and on your computer if you use Resolve there:

  1. On a Mac, in Preferences > System > General, leave Use Mac display color profiles for viewers unchecked. With this option unchecked, Resolve bypasses ColorSync; with it checked, results can be inconsistent.
  2. Use DisplayCAL or Resolve's monitor calibration to create a display calibration LUT for your display, as you did for the ICC profile in step 2.
  3. In Project Settings > Color Management > Lookup Tables, set Color viewer lookup table to that LUT.

If you change the display profile, restart Resolve; Resolve reads the profile only at startup.

Adobe Premiere Pro relies on ColorSync, so these steps do not apply to Premiere Pro.

Step 4: Turn on Color Passthrough#

In Jump Desktop for Windows or macOS, during a session with the host:

  1. Choose Remote > Color > Color Passthrough. A check mark indicates that it is on. Jump Desktop saves your choice for that host.
  2. In the same menu, choose a color level, such as Ultra for color-critical editing on a Mac host. See Color levels by host and codec.

To turn off passthrough, choose Color Passthrough again.

Check your colors#

One method to verify your setup:

  1. On the host, open a color bar chart or a test image with known values in Resolve.
  2. On your computer, measure the patches on your display with a color meter app, such as Digital Color Meter on a Mac.
  3. Compare the measured values with the known values.

Troubleshooting#

What you see Why What to do
Color Passthrough is not in the Color menu The host does not support it, or you are using Jump Desktop on iPhone, iPad, or Android. Connect from Jump Desktop for Windows or macOS to a Windows host or a Mac host running macOS 15 or later.
Preview, Safari, Chrome, Photoshop, or the desktop look oversaturated or gamma-shifted On a Mac host, the output of these apps is converted to the host display's profile before Jump Desktop captures the screen. This is expected behavior. Grade in Resolve set up as in step 3, or turn off Color Passthrough for these apps.
Resolve's colors changed after you switched display profiles Resolve reads the display profile only when it starts. Restart Resolve.
An image or video looks wrong on your computer Content without a color space tag is usually treated as sRGB. Tag the content with its color space and gamma.
Colors look wrong everywhere Your display is not calibrated. Calibrate it (step 2), or turn off Color Passthrough.