The Academy Color Encoding System (ACES), which has been developed and maintained by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences for more than a decade, is now an Academy Software Foundation project. This will continue to facility development of ACES as open source.

The Academy Color Encoding System (ACES), a color image encoding system that became the global standard for color management in the film industry, is joining the Academy Software Foundation (ASWF).

An open-source framework for color management and image interchange, ACES is the industry standard for ensuring a consistent color experience and maintaining creative vision throughout the life cycle of a motion picture or television production—from on-set acquisition to visual effects, postproduction, mastering, and archiving. It has been developed and maintained by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences for more than a decade.

“Joining the Academy Software Foundation will ensure that ACES continues to evolve in an open and collaborative environment, benefiting filmmakers and content creators around the world,” said Annie Chang, VP of Creative Technologies at NBCUniversal, who serves as an Academy governor, the Academy’s Science and Technology Council chair, and an ACES project co-chair.

As an Academy Software Foundation project, ACES will leverage the foundation’s open governance model, legal framework, and community infrastructure, increasing the quality and quantity of open-source contributions to ACES. This move will benefit both creative users and technical implementers, driving collaboration and integration between ACES and other key open-source projects such as OpenColorIO, OpenEXR, and MaterialX.

ACES development will be guided by a technical steering committee comprising long-standing members of the ACES leadership and development community, ensuring continuity of the foundation’s open-source vision. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences stated it will continue to participate actively in the development of ACES at the ASWF.

This past spring, ACES 2.0 was released, offering improvements in color rendering, display consistency across different dynamic ranges, expanded support for custom output devices, and more.

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