Lightworks is a pretty well-known video editing software; apparently, even Martin Scorcese uses the software for editing, but aside from that, it is still one of the best video editing software.
There is a lot that you are able to do on this software that you can expect on some higher-end video editing softwares. The reason I say this is because I use this software for editing my videos.
It has a free tier available that will allow users to edit videos for as long as they accept it to Lightwork’s conditions of not using it for commercial work.
In this review, I will discuss many things that make Lightworks a great video editing software and whether you should consider it or not. So let’s get started.
Also read: How to choose the right Video Editing App
Contents
Availability of Lightworks
Lightworks is luckily available on both Windows and macOS devices. This is a great reason alone because there are many different video editing softwares that are only available to specific OS.
Lightworks, however, is not available to use on mobile devices such as Android or IOS, and this could ruffle some feathers because a lot of people are actually tuning to their iPads to edit their videos, given how powerful the chipsets are on these devices.
However, if you still want to know some of the apps that you can download for the mobile devices that will help you edit your videos, then I have listed down a list of the best video editing apps that you can download.
The list includes some of the best video editing apps that are present right now, and it does contain some surprises as well.
Lightworks Price & Free Trial
Lightworks is available for free with its free tier plan. You will not see any watermarks on your videos when you export them, and you have the benefit of most of the features that are available on the pro model.
There are some ways that Lightworks has cut down on providing this free tier; for instance, you cannot use the videos you export for commercial purposes, and the export resolution is restricted to 720p.
If you can live with these restrictions, then Lightworks can be a good option for you to check out. If these reasons upset you a little bit, then you can pay for its subscription fee as well.
Lightworks offers two different subscription rates, and you can either choose to pay $9.99/month or $99.99/year to purchase all its PRO features.
It is a good bargain, and many people definitely use this service for editing their videos.
New Features of Lightworks
Lightworks receives new updates frequently, even on its free tier as well, and there have been some additions to the features list of Lightworks as well.
New Titles
Titles play an important role in any video, and with the latest updates, you can truly expect some new sets of titles and fonts to choose from for your videos. They are pretty good and do serve the overall look of the video.
Instant Colour Management
The new update involved is able to quickly colour correct and manage your videos. The program automatically reads the type of camera profile from which you shot the video and is able to colour-correct the video automatically.
Apple ProRes Certification
With this new update, Lightworks has got Apple’s ProRes certification that allows the users to encode and decode prores videos on other OS such as Windows and Linux as well. This is even available in the Free tier as well.
New 10-Bit support
With the new update, you are able to instantly export videos with up to 10 Bits export codecs, which was not available earlier. This allows users to export the full list of details to their export files without any compression.
Pros and Cons of Lightworks
Let’s discuss some of the pros and cons that you will find with Lightworks.
| Pros | Cons |
| ✅Powerful software ✅Great set of tools ✅Inexpensive | ❌Not a lot of learning resources ❌Not a simplified UI |
On paper, it seems like the pros of Lightworks do outnumber the cons of it. You are certainly able to do a lot with this software, and that is a great thing, but there are some cons to it as well.
You don’t see a lot of people using this software online, and all the help and tutorials related to Lightworks are for the older versions of the software.
This can make some people not use this software, plus given how the overall software works as well, it is not suited for beginners too, because a lot of beginners will find trouble using this video editing.
So that is the compromise that you have to pay for if you are remotely interested in using this software because, so far, Lightworks hasn’t found a solution to them.
Yet, at the same time, you do get a video editing software that is quite powerful and is capable of editing a lot of videos with functionalities that you can expect on some higher-end editing software.
Also read: Benefits of video editing
Specific functionalities of Lightworks
Let’s discuss some of the different lists of features and functionalities that are on offer with this software in detail.
User Interface
User Interface or UI for any software is something that is the most important aspect because it determines how the consumer is able to use the software. As I mentioned above, Lightworks does offer a UI that is not suitable for beginners, and that is true.
When I started using Lightworks, I had some experience in video editing, but it still took me some time to understand how the overall software works for editing videos because there is a lot that is on your face.
It is not as complex as something like Adobe Premiere Pro, where you have literally featured on every corner of the software, but it is also not as simple as something like iMovie.
You have to be an intermediate when it comes to video editing to understand how to use this software, and for some people, that might be a little too much.
So, that is something to look into before you start editing your videos on it.
Audio Editing
I have said many times before, and I will say it again. Any video is as good as the audio of it. You can shoot your videos in 4K or 8K resolution, but if the overall sound of the video is based, then people will not watch your videos.
Any video editing requires some form of edits for its audio, and Lightworks does provide in this category. You are able to adjust certain bits and pieces of your audio on this software.
It is not like you can completely change the overall way your audio sounds; for that, you would need a dedicated audio editing software, but you certainly can do little things to make the audio work smoothly with your video.
Things such as cross-fade, adjusting volume levels, etc., allow users to make the overall sound of the audio being bearable for the video.
Also read: How to add music to video?
VFX
On Lightworks, you will find a dedicated tab that is named ‘VFX’, and for those of you who don’t know, VFX stands for Visual Effects, and that is exactly what you can do in this section as well.
You have a number of different features available on the VFX tab, such as 3D and 2D rotation, transitions, etc., that you can choose from these tabs.
They are all available in the free tier of the software as well if you were thinking that it is only available on the PRO plan, and that’s the thing that I like about Lightworks; it treats its Free tier plan seriously.
There are tons of different things that you are able to do on the ‘VFX’ tab, and every time I use the software, I find something new on the VFX tab that allows me to make the type of video that I want to make.
Effects
All video editing softwares are required to have some form of effects that are available on them, and Lightworks is no different. You can access its line of effects from the VFX tab only, and there are plenty of different effects.
The effects of Lightworks include transition effects, stylised effects, texts, and many more types of effects on this software. Trust me, there are a lot of different types of effects available on this software.
While there are a number of effects available on this software, they are all not that easy to use as well. You can simply apply them, and it might end up making your videos worse than they already were.
That’s where the con of Lightworks comes in when you don’t have enough resources available online to learn and use these effects properly for your videos.
So you are restricted to learning all the effects on your own.
Plugins
There are not a lot of video editing softwares that offer the ability to use some third-party plugins on their software, but Lightworks is not like the others.
Through Lightworks, you are able to download some third-party plugins that are certified for Lightworks. Plugins are generally helpful, and many professional video editors do use these plugins or sometimes even make plugins.
These plugins allow users even more list of features that were not available on the software in the first place. You can use plugins like BorisFX, Boris Graffiti, Fusion, GenArts Sapphire, etc., on Lightworks.
All of them offer a different range of functionalities and usage, and if you are a professional video editor, then you might also know how you can use them for your own videos.
Titles
As I mentioned above, all video editing softwares do require titles in their programs because titles do allow users to match the overall tone of the video that they are trying to make.
On Lightworks, you will find a number of different titles to choose from. You have your usual Arial, Calibri, etc., but you will also find a surprising amount of titles and fonts that you might not have seen before.
There is a huge list of fonts for you to choose from for your titles, but if that’s not enough for you, then you can also download some fonts from online.
Lightworks would immediately learn the new font that you have downloaded and reflect that font style in the video editing library.
It is a quick and easy way to make your videos turn out better.
Performance of the software
Of course, any software is as good as it performs, and Lightworks performs fairly well in the category as well.
In the time that I have used this software, I have found myself having not a lot of issues with it, but there have been some times when I have faced issues with it.
There have been times when I was exporting a video, and the sound of the video wouldn’t be exported with it, so when I used to play the exported file, there was no sound attached to it, and I didn’t switch the audio timeline off.
I had to try exporting the video couple of times before I could get any audio or sound in it. There are also times when the file size is too heavy that the app automatically closes down on itself.
This could be because, at that time, I wasn’t using a powerful laptop, but it is a problem that I had faced sometimes while editing the videos on it.
Overall, the software does work pretty well and smoothly, but there are definite times when it can annoy you, and you are not able to get the video that you have wanted in one go.
Colour correction and Management
Colour correction and management is also an important aspect that a lot of video editing softwares do look into, and you get a separate section of colour correction tools on the ‘VFX’ tab on Lightworks.
With the latest update, you will find more colour correction tools that are much more user-friendly and, at the same time, offer some more range of features for you to choose from.
The colour correction tools aren’t as advanced as something like DaVinci Resolve or even Adobe Premiere Pro, and you don’t have a lot of resources available online from where you can learn more about these tools.
So you have to manually learn this tool and see how well you are able to enhance the overall look of your video; you can also try downloading some plugins for this software as well.
Exports
As I mentioned above, Lightworks now offers lossless video exports with up to 10 bits codecs. So you can easily choose the type of video resolution and how much compression you want from the software.
The free tier of the software allows exports in 720p resolution at 24 – 60 fps, and for most people, that just might be what they are looking for, but you can easily get more if you are using the PRO version of the software.
You can have Blu-Ray and DVD-specific targets for your video exports; it supports up to 2160p resolution and even square and portrait exports with different media files.
So there’s a lot that you can achieve from your exports on Lightworks, and if you are a professional video editor, all these export files should be enough for you.
FAQs
Let’s discuss some of the frequently asked questions regarding this topic.
Does Lightworks leave a watermark?
No, Lightworks doesn’t leave a watermark on your videos, even in its free tier.
That is one of the best things about Lightworks that it takes its free tier seriously and not as a medium to make people switch to its Pro model.
You do have to agree to its agreement that asks you to use the videos that you export from the free version; only use them for your personal work and not for your commercial work. Otherwise, Lightworks has the right to take down your subscription.
You will find a lot of video editing softwares that allow their users free tier plans, but when they export their videos from it, they find a big watermark on the videos and are only able to access some of the features.
With Lightworks, that’s not the case.
Is Lightworks good for beginners?
Lightworks can be used by a beginner, but that beginner might find trouble navigating through the entire software. Lightworks is best suited for intermediates and professional video editors.
You need a basic level of understanding, in regards to video editing, before using Lightworks because there is a lot that you have on this software.
You can’t be easily knowing all the features of the software, and it will take you some time to learn how it all works, and that is normal for any video editing software, but for beginners, that might be a little too much.
So I wouldn’t recommend using this software if you are a beginner, even its free tier, because it is not designed for beginners, and you need some level of understanding before using this software.
Is Lightworks the best video editing software?
This very much depends on your use case of this software.
You are certainly able to do a lot on Lightworks, and it has some advanced tools that you get on some higher-end video editing softwares, but I wouldn’t go as far as calling it as the best video editing software.
It can be put in consideration as one of the best video editing softwares or one of the best free video editing softwares because there is genuinely a good list of features and functionalities available on this software.
I like using this software, but I do know that there are lots of different video editing softwares present right now in the market that are better than Lightworks.
Is Lightworks better than DaVinci Resolve?
This is also a very subjective question and depends on what basis you are asking this question. Is it better than DaVinci Resolve in terms of colour correction tools? Then the answer is plain and simple: no.
DaVinci Resolve is an industry-standard when it comes to colour correcting your videos, and Lightworks colour correction tools, even though pretty respectable, fall flat when compared to DaVinci Resolve.
Although DaVinci Resolve is not just for colour-correcting videos, it is also a video editing software on its own, and in that comparison, Lightworks could be considered better than DaVinci.
Simply because Lightworks runs less into the problems that are related to DaVinci’s video editing tools and functionalities, which is why it is only used as a great colour-correcting tool and not much else.
Disadvantages of Lightworks
As I have mentioned above, there are some definite flaws to Lightworks. For example, you can’t use this software as a beginner. It is not made for someone who is new to the world of editing. It is a bit too complex.
Lightworks isn’t as popular as some other video editing softwares like Final Cut Pro, Adobe Premiere Pro, etc., and this popularity restricts it to partial video editing libraries.
You are not able to learn a lot about this video software online because not a lot of people use this software, and the videos that are available online are for the old models.
Lightworks is fighting this by making its own YouTube videos where it tries to explain the new features, so that might be one way to learn about this software.
Final verdict and Review
So, what’s my final verdict and review on Lightworks? Well, I like this software a lot and use it for all of my video edits. It is a fairly powerful video editing software that has loads of features and functionalities available.
Every time I use this software, I find something new about it that I hadn’t known before, whether that could be because of the regular updates or because it has so much to offer that all of it is not available in one go.
That being said, it is not a perfect video editing software. In fact, there are no perfect softwares, and this one does have some flaws to it as well.
As I mentioned right now, there are new features that are available on this software, but I don’t have enough resources online to learn those features.
This is why I don’t use half of the features that are available on it, and it is also not a super easy UI to learn. You have to figure all of it out on your own.
So if you are up for the challenge, then this might be a good video editing software for you as well.
Conclusion
Well, there you have it. An in-depth review of Lightworks where I discussed about the different list of features and functions that this software is able to perform.
It is a pretty good video editing software, and many people should try out its free tier as they can use it for as long as they want and export their videos without any watermarks on them.
That being said, it is not a perfect video editing software, and I have listed down some of the flaws that I find with this software.
As always, these have been my thoughts about this software. What about you? Do you use Lightworks and agree with my points?
Whatever your thoughts are, do let us know about them in the comments down below!
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