DaVinci Resolve Studio
Version 21.0.4 · Blackmagic Design · Windows 10 / 11 (64-bit) · ranked #12 in the library
Editing, colour grading, visual effects, motion graphics and audio post in one application, with the grading side still the strongest in the business and the studio edition removing every limit from the free build.
Read the installation section below before you start. The order of the steps matters on this release.
About this release
Overview
Resolve grew out of a colour grading system and it shows in the best possible way. The colour page is node based rather than layer based, which means a grade is a signal flow you can branch, key, mix and reorder rather than a fixed stack. Primary wheels, log wheels, curves, qualifiers, power windows with tracking, and the full range of colour management including ACES all live there, and nothing else on the desktop matches it.
Around that sits a complete post pipeline. The cut page is built for fast turnarounds with a dual timeline and source tape browsing, the edit page is a conventional and very capable NLE, Fusion gives you a full node based compositor with 3D, particles and paint, and Fairlight is a genuine digital audio workstation with unlimited tracks, buses and a proper mixer. You move between them with a click at the bottom of the window, on the same project, with no export in between.
The studio edition is what this listing is. The free version is generous but capped: it stops at ultra HD, limits frame rates, and locks out the neural engine features, temporal noise reduction, motion blur, deflicker, HDR grading tools, multi-user collaboration and hardware accelerated encoding for some codecs. Studio removes all of it, including the resolution and frame rate ceilings.
What it does
Feature breakdown
Node based colour grading
Serial, parallel and layer nodes with keys, mattes and mixers. Build a grade as a signal flow, reorder it at will, and copy a node tree between shots.
Fusion compositor built in
A full node based effects and motion graphics environment, with 3D space, particles, planar tracking, paint and rotoscoping, sharing the same project as the timeline.
Fairlight audio post
Unlimited tracks, a full mixer with buses and VCAs, ADR tooling, dialogue clean-up, and mixing up to immersive formats without leaving the application.
Neural engine tools
Magic mask, face refinement, super scale upscaling, smart reframe, speed warp retiming and voice isolation, all studio-only features.
Noise reduction and optical flow
Temporal and spatial noise reduction and optical flow retiming, which are the two things people most often notice missing from the free build.
Colour management and delivery
ACES and Resolve colour managed workflows, HDR grading tools, and a deliver page with render queues, presets and hardware encoding.
Changed in this build
Version 21.0.4
- Faster timeline playback on projects with heavy node trees and multiple noise reduction instances.
- Improved magic mask tracking through occlusions and fast subject motion.
- Updated codec support for recent camera formats, including newer compressed raw variants.
- Fairlight mixer redraw performance improved on very large sessions.
- Deliver page render queue now retries a failed job instead of stopping the whole queue.
Installation
Follow these in order
- Update your graphics driver first. Resolve is more sensitive to driver version than almost anything else.
- Go offline.
- Extract the archive.
- Disable real time protection.
- Run the installer as administrator, keeping the panel and control surface components if you use hardware.
- Launch Resolve, confirm the title bar reads Studio, then re-enable protection.
Release notes
From whoever packed it
- A dedicated GPU is not optional in practice. Integrated graphics will run it but grading will crawl.
- Set the cache and gallery locations to a fast drive in project settings before starting real work.
- Do not install over a running instance. Close Resolve and its background service first.
System requirements
Minimum and recommended
| Operating system | Windows 10 Creators Update or newer, or Windows 11, 64-bit |
|---|---|
| Processor | Modern Intel or AMD, six cores or more strongly recommended |
| Memory | 16 GB minimum, 32 GB recommended, 64 GB when using Fusion heavily |
| Graphics | GPU with 4 GB VRAM minimum, 8 GB or more recommended, current driver required |
| Storage | 20 GB for installation plus fast media and cache storage |
Questions about this release
Answered before you ask
- How is this different from the free version?
- No resolution or frame rate cap, plus noise reduction, optical flow, the neural engine tools, HDR grading and collaboration.
- Does it need a database server?
- No. Local disk databases work fine for a single editor. Collaboration is what needs a server.
- Will it import a Premiere project?
- Through XML or AAF, yes. Effects do not carry across, only cuts, transitions and basic transforms.
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