Academy Color Encoding System (ACES) #1091
Description
Project description
ACES (Academy Color Encoding System) is a color management and image interchange framework designed to support motion picture and television production, mastering, and archiving workflows. Developed by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences in collaboration with industry professionals, ACES provides standardized transforms and metadata practices for consistent color fidelity across diverse tools and platforms. Originating from early digital color pipeline research in the mid-2000s, ACES has since been adopted in numerous feature films and episodic projects. Its significance lies in its role as a vendor-neutral, open solution that ensures creative intent is preserved from on-set through post and into archive, making it a cornerstone of modern professional image workflows.
Sponsor from TAC
Carol Payne
Proposed Project Stage
Incubation
Please explain how this project is aligned with the mission of the Academy Software Foundation?
ACES directly aligns with the ASWF mission to “increase the quality and quantity of open source contributions” to the motion picture industry. As an open framework enabling color consistency and creative fidelity, ACES is foundational to modern production workflows. Under ASWF, ACES will benefit from increased transparency, a broader contributor base, and infrastructure that aligns with other ASWF-hosted projects like OpenColorIO and OpenTimelineIO, fostering interoperability and shared innovation across the ecosystem.
What is the project’s license for code contributions and methodology for code contributions?
The ACES source code is currently distributed under a custom Academy license functionally similar to BSD/MIT. As part of the transition to the Academy Software Foundation, we anticipate the codebase will adopt a standard OSI-approved permissive license, such as Apache 2.0 or BSD-3-Clause, in alignment with ASWF policy. This transition is contingent on agreement around the appropriate protection of Academy trademarks and copyrights.
ACES already uses the Academy Software Foundation Contributor License Agreement (ASWF CLA) for all code contributions. Contributors are required to sign the CLA prior to submitting pull requests, ensuring compliance with ASWF’s intellectual property and licensing standards. Contributions are submitted and reviewed via GitHub, with merges handled by approved maintainers following the project's developing governance structure.
What tool or platform is utilized for source control (GitHub, etc.), and what is the location
(e.g., URL)?
ACES source code is currently hosted on GitHub at:
https://www.github.com/ampas/aces and numerous submodules and supporting repositories.
ACES CLA signatures are managed using CLA Assistant
https://cla-assistant.io/
What are the external dependencies of the project, and what are the licenses of those dependencies?
The ACES reference implementation depends on the Color Transform Language (CTL), which is licensed under a BSD-style license and maintained by the Academy. CTL provides a platform-independent way to define and execute color transforms and is central to the ACES architecture.
In addition to the core reference implementation, several ACES-supporting tools are actively developed and maintained to assist with production workflows. These tools are primarily written in Python and make use of widely adopted open-source libraries and frameworks, including:
• Flask (BSD-3-Clause License) – used for lightweight web applications such as the ACES Input Device Transform (IDT) Generator.
• NumPy (BSD License), SciPy (BSD License) – used in computational components and templating.
• PyYAML (MIT License) – used for configuration parsing.
For documentation, ACES uses MkDocs, a static site generator under the BSD-2-Clause license, along with the Material for MkDocs theme, licensed under MIT. These tools support the authoring and publishing of the ACES technical specifications and user guides.
All dependencies are selected with permissive licenses compatible with ASWF guidelines and are reviewed periodically to ensure continued alignment with best practices.
What roles does the project have (e.g., maintainers, committers?) Who are the current
core committers of the project, or which can a list of committers be found?
ACES currently operates under an informal contributor model, in which the majority of code contributions and reviews are performed by Academy staff. While community members occasionally submit pull requests or participate in discussions, all contributions, regardless of origin, are reviewed and merged by Academy staff. There is no formal structure in place for granting contributor or maintainer roles outside the Academy, and responsibilities such as code review, roadmap planning, and release management are primarily handled internally.
As part of the transition to the Academy Software Foundation, this model will evolve to adopt a more transparent and participatory governance structure, with clearly defined roles for maintainers and contributors drawn from both Academy and non-Academy stakeholders.
What mailing lists are currently used by the project?
ACES currently utilizes the ACESCentral forum and email system for communications https://community.acescentral.com which is a Discourse based forum.
Some communications come directly from Github such as discussions related to issues and pull requests.
What tool or platform is leveraged by the project for issue tracking?
ACES uses GitHub Issues for formal tracking of bug and formal feature requests:
https://github.com/ampas/aces-dev/issues
Informal bug and feature discussions are handled on https://community.acescentral.com
Does the project have an OpenSSF Best Practices Badge? Do you foresee any
challenges in obtaining one?
ACES does not yet have an OpenSSF Best Practices Badge. While many foundational elements are in place—including public source control, licensing clarity, and contribution guidelines—some work will be required to fully align with OpenSSF standards.
The most significant challenge lies in unit testing, as the core ACES reference implementation is written in CTL (Color Transform Language), which currently lacks a standardized unit testing framework. This limits the ability to implement automated test coverage in the same manner as more commonly used programming languages. Addressing this will likely require the development of custom tooling or adaptation of existing infrastructure to support testability in CTL.
We do not anticipate insurmountable obstacles and expect to make steady progress toward badge compliance with the support of the ASWF onboarding process.
What is the project’s website? Is there a wiki?
https://acescentral.com/ (community hub, discussions, blog, knowledge base)
https://docs.acescentral.com/ (technical documentation)
What social media accounts are used by the project?
ACES maintains a presence on Twitter via the @AcademyACES account, which is used periodically to share news, updates, and community highlights. In addition, communication with the broader community has primarily occurred through ACESCentral, which serves as the project’s main forum and knowledge-sharing hub, as well as through in-person and virtual industry engagements.
What is the project’s release methodology and cadence?
ACES follows a stable release model, with major versions developed through extensive testing, industry consultation, and implementation guidance to ensure consistency across tools and workflows. As a reference implementation, ACES prioritizes stability and backward compatibility, recognizing that its transforms are often reimplemented by third parties and integrated into critical production systems.
At the same time, the project actively addresses the need for new features and bug fixes based on community feedback and industry developments. The release cadence reflects a careful balance between maintaining consistency and enabling innovation, and the transition to ASWF is expected to further support this balance through broader engineering engagement and community participation.
Are any trademarks, registered or unregistered, leveraged by the project? Have any
trademark registrations been filed by the project or any third party anywhere in the world?
“ACES” and related logos, including those incorporating the Oscar statuette, are trademarked by the Academy. The transition plan will clarify licensing of trademarked materials for community use in compliance with Academy brand guidelines.
What existing maintainers and contributors does the project have? Are there
organizations involved that are committing resources to the project; if so
please describe.
The project has multiple contributors from across the industry, including studios, vendors, and independent technologists. The core team includes imaging scientists, engineers, and postproduction professionals. The Academy has historically provided the primary resourcing, but the transition to ASWF is expected to broaden institutional support. Initial partners will include representatives from organizations already active in the ACES community, with formal roles proposed during incubation.