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Again it could be argued that Lightworks is not a compositor, but the tools exist and should work as advertised. It’s fine for very simple effects, but try merging multiple chroma-keyed video streams and things quickly go south.

The node-based effects editor, a welcome, versatile tool, is often complicated and difficult to route properly. It could be argued that Lightworks is not an audio editor, but for most small productions it kind of needs to be. Audio adjustments are awkwardly split between track and clip settings, and panning is limited to a global mixer that can’t be key-framed.

Where Lightworks excels at cutting and trimming video, it fails in audio. Traditionally Lightworks has run on tightly controlled systems, so I have faith that stability will continue to improve as more users with varying workstations report issues. This instability makes it difficult to depend on Lightworks in a deadline-focused production environment. In all of my time with the program, across multiple versions and computers, I’ve experienced frequent crashes, maddening bugs, and a particularly bizarre instance in which I was locked out of one of my projects. Where Lightworks falls shortįor being a professional-oriented application, Lightworks is surprisingly unstable. It is exciting to see the program evolve and mature over time.

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While development has slowed considerably, the software has improved vastly in the years I’ve been using it, with key features such as the media manager being completely overhauled.

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It certainly doesn’t rival a dedicated effects program, but can still pull off some amazing movie magic. Lightworks also comes equipped with a surprisingly powerful node-based compositor including a wide range of built-in and community-made effects. Once mastered, the superb keyboard controls make editing in Lightworks fast and fun. It isn’t much of a stretch to move from Avid to Lightworks, though Final Cut and Premiere users will likely encounter a short but steep learning curve.

Design elements aside, Lightworks feels quite similar to Avid overall, and that’s a very good thing considering Avid is still the de facto editing solution for industry professionals. The trimming tools are in the same league as Avid, and the keyboard controls are natural and intuitive. Lightworks is a remarkably powerful application, with tools designed for speedy and precise editing.

While I jokingly refer to the Lightworks interface as UI by Playskool, this is not “My First Video Editor”. Depending on your expectations, philosophy, and available resources, Lightworks may or may not be a wise investment for your production studio. While Lightworks is still technically free (as in beer), it’s utility as free software is dubious at best, and it’s future as open-source software is uncertain. With this broader scope came a quiet restructuring of Lightworks’ roadmap which as of this writing has yet to be sufficiently addressed by EditShare, the current owner of Lightworks.

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Eventually the software was ported to Linux and Mac with promises of open source code in the near future, making Lightworks the only professional, open-source, cross-platform video editor.

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Traditionally marketed as a turnkey solution for production studios, Lightworks was not available to the general public until 2013, when it was astonishingly offered as a free download for Windows users. Lightworks is an Academy and Emmy award winning professional-grade non-linear editor that, in the past 25 years, has been used to edit numerous large-scale feature films including but not limited to Pulp Fiction, Batman, and The King’s Speech.