Lightworks Reviews

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34 Reviews

- Industry: Design
- Company size: 2–10 Employees
- Used Weekly for 2+ years
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Review Source
Overall rating
- Value for Money
- Ease of Use
- Likelihood to recommend 8.0 /10
Martin Scorsese uses this video editor, But should you use it?
Reviewed on 2021/09/03
Pros
Lightworks is very easy to use, it's a video editor that I could recommend to any newbie, it's simple and you can make good videos with it, even great quality movies with this video editor, It's fast, flexible, and once you get used to its workflow you'll find it remarkably easy to use.
I think anyone looking for good quality editing should give this software a try, as its credentials stand it out, and compared to other video editors, Lightworks isn't difficult to use, in fact, it's very user-friendly.
Cons
Lightworks can feel somewhat... limited as I said, this video editor offers a great opportunity for people interested in joining the world of video editing to do it in a simple and attractive way, but for the average user it can be complicated to recreate some functions of other video editors in this software because its learning curve can be very unusual, Lightworks is managed and feels different from other video editors.
Personally, I would consider how used I am to work in other video editors before using Lightworks, because maybe by wanting to follow in the footsteps of our idols, we only get frustration and dissatisfaction in this video editor.
- Industry: Marketing & Advertising
- Company size: Self Employed
- Used Monthly for 2+ years
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Review Source
Overall rating
- Value for Money
- Ease of Use
- Customer Support
- Likelihood to recommend 10.0 /10
User-friendly video editing platform for all kinds of video projects.
Reviewed on 2023/01/14
Lightworks offers different packages to suit all budgets and needs. However, their free version...
Lightworks offers different packages to suit all budgets and needs. However, their free version offers plenty of features to allow users to produce professional-looking results. Lightworks is a great option for all types of video editing, from social media videos to professional promotional videos.
Pros
The Lightworks video editing platform is highly versatile and offers a range of features to suit all types of users, no matter the kind of project they are working on. It really does have something for everyone!
Cons
It can be difficult at first to find out how to do certain things, such as cuts or dissolves. Although there are plenty of tutorial videos on the Lightworks website, if you don't know the right term for the type of edit you want to achieve, it can be difficult to find the right video. Luckily, there are plenty of videos available online that are made by other users.
Alternatives Considered
Adobe Premiere ProReasons for Choosing Lightworks
I was using a Windows machine for a while and needed a reliable video editor that offered plenty of features.Switched From
iMovieReasons for Switching to Lightworks
Lightworks had great reviews and is used by professionals, just like Adobe Premiere Pro. However, it did not come with the hefty price tag.- Industry: Entertainment
- Company size: Self Employed
- Used Monthly for 2+ years
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Review Source
Overall rating
- Value for Money
- Ease of Use
- Likelihood to recommend 0.0 /10
Look for a different program if you desire easy to learn UI
Reviewed on 2024/01/11
Bad, I hate it so much please find another free video editing program.
Bad, I hate it so much please find another free video editing program.
Pros
I like that Lightworks is a freeware software. Importing media into the project files is simple and easy, uploading straight to youtube is useful.
Cons
For a program that I have used on and off for about 10 years, I would expect it to be easy to come back to and remember where I left off. That has never once been the case. The program makes use of the absolute least intuitive design features I've ever used and makes for a clunky, confusing, and disastrous workflow. I find that I can click on things on the timeline in similar fashions and produce extremely different results. The rest of the program works rather well, the effects are easy to use, but the fact that video editing is timeline intensive means that I am always running into problems with this software. Sure, you can study on how to use it and get it right, but if you find yourself not using the program for a long period you will easily forget how. Not to mention that internet searches for fixes during use often produce confusing results that don't help.
- Industry: Computer Hardware
- Company size: 10,000+ Employees
- Used Weekly for 1+ year
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Review Source
Overall rating
- Value for Money
- Ease of Use
- Customer Support
- Likelihood to recommend 7.0 /10
One of the best image processing app out there
Reviewed on 2023/04/11
Overall, no matter the price, it's still the best option out there.
Overall, no matter the price, it's still the best option out there.
Pros
Lightworks is my go to image processing app. It has many versatile tools that makes image editing a breeze. I also like its advanced AI tools that does very accurate selection and foreground and background separation. It also has a geometric scaling tool that I frequently use for tall object photos. It resolves the parallax issue in the images.
Cons
I which this app was a bit cheaper. While it has so many great tools built in,m I had to buy the complete suit of applications.

- Used Weekly for 6-12 months
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Review Source
Overall rating
- Value for Money
- Ease of Use
- Customer Support
- Likelihood to recommend 9.0 /10
One of the best coincidences of my life, a comfortable and friendly software
Reviewed on 2018/05/30
Lightworks was an excellent option to get started in the world of video editing; easy to use,...
Lightworks was an excellent option to get started in the world of video editing; easy to use, excellent editing tools, cuts of videos, union of videos, sounds, images, compatibility with several video formats and a fresh and simple interface make me not to regret using this program. I recommend it a lot.
Pros
Like the edition of images and photographs, I am also an enthusiast of video editing, and one day reviewing software through the network, I got this excellent program of video editing, which is shown as a starting point for all that enthusiast , that like me, we have been learning to use video editing programs on our own.
Among the benefits of this program is its ability to edit videos and movies, with a tolerance level for several formats such as 2k, 4k, PAL, NTSC and high definition, making the user experience more rich and varied, as well as having an interface quite friendly and easy to use
Cons
While this program is quite successful in the world of film and some professional video editors, I think there is software to edit videos with higher quality and more innovative and elegant tools, however, this program is excellent for learning everything you need to know editing of videos and makes it a unique and quite useful software

- Industry: Writing & Editing
- Company size: 11–50 Employees
- Used Weekly for Free Trial
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Review Source
Overall rating
- Value for Money
- Ease of Use
- Customer Support
- Likelihood to recommend 10.0 /10
Lightworks and the show!
Reviewed on 2022/05/25
Pros
The variety of effects to be used for videos. Such as works of creativity and so on, projects to which be inspired trough writing and art.
Cons
The extreme lag I would get occasionally from working on specific projects and plans. It deters me from sufficient work.

- Industry: Market Research
- Company size: 51–200 Employees
- Used Weekly for 1+ year
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Review Source
Overall rating
- Ease of Use
- Likelihood to recommend 8.0 /10
My Review of Lightworks
Reviewed on 2019/01/26
Pros
I use the free version of Lightworks for creating tutorial videos, and in my usage it has proven to be a very reliable video editor; no crashes, easy to use (with a lot of video tutorials online to get you started), and features that you don’t normally find on a lot of free video software.
Cons
For the level of functionality it provides for free, I can’t complain.

- Industry: Entertainment
- Used Monthly for 2+ years
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Review Source
Overall rating
- Value for Money
- Ease of Use
- Customer Support
- Likelihood to recommend 8.0 /10
Pretty good. Free editor for starting youtube videos.
Reviewed on 2018/07/16
If you're starting out on youtube and you want a good free editor, this is the one.
If you're starting out on youtube and you want a good free editor, this is the one.
Pros
There's a ton of effects you can put onto videos, and if that's not enough you can always download more from the site, and there's more than 100 there. There's a flexible and fixed gui setting, the flexible is better for small monitors, and the fixed for larger. It also allows 60fps rendering, which is something i've only seen in paid software.
Cons
Probably the fact that you can't upload in more than 720p if you don't pay, but that would probably be it for me.

- Industry: Law Practice
- Company size: Self Employed
- Used for 6-12 months
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Review Source
Overall rating
- Ease of Use
- Likelihood to recommend 8.0 /10
Good to learn on
Reviewed on 2019/04/15
Pros
I like how this can be a powerful competitor for paid software. For someone learning about editing, this is an excellent / comparable suite vs premiere.
Cons
Perhaps because it is free, this software loses out on the refinement of the adobe competitor, which in turn makes it harder to master. It serves its purpose, but is far from easy.

- Industry: Computer Games
- Company size: Self Employed
- Used Monthly for 1-5 months
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Review Source
Overall rating
- Value for Money
- Ease of Use
- Customer Support
- Likelihood to recommend 9.0 /10
An amazing software to produce industry standard high quality videos.
Reviewed on 2018/09/04
in the big picture, it honestly is a great software for people looking to make YouTube videos or...
in the big picture, it honestly is a great software for people looking to make YouTube videos or vlogs or short movies. It can definitely produce high quality stuff and you honestly don't need to learn a lot to use it. I mainly used it to edit my game play of the games I made in my company.
Pros
The thing I liked the most about lightworks is the small learning curve. After playing around for a few days I had complete control of the application. I used it to edit youtube videos for my game dev and it didn't fail me. Even the free version is very good and can be used by anyone. For quick and precise editing, this software is probably the only one that comes to mind.
Cons
For people who might've been using Adobe's Premier, it may be a bit confusing at first, the keyboard keys but after a while it slides like a glove. Foe people looking to use the free version, the only downside might be that the max resolution produced is 720p but that's still pretty good too !
- Industry: Writing & Editing
- Company size: Self Employed
- Used Weekly for 2+ years
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Review Source
Overall rating
- Ease of Use
- Likelihood to recommend 10.0 /10
A very able video editing tool, quite intuitive. Also has a free trial that can be renewed
Reviewed on 2019/12/11
I am a big fan of beginner-friendly creative tools. Lightworks allows me to make short advertisement...
I am a big fan of beginner-friendly creative tools. Lightworks allows me to make short advertisement videos for my freelance business, even though I have no formal education in video edition. It also allows me to create and edit those videos on a computer that is not a high-end machine by any means. I usually export my short videos (with a length of up to 2 minutes) to a YouTube-usable format, H264-720p, with no issues and little wait
Pros
I consider Lightworks' interface to be quite intuitive, as I required almost no time to get used to it. I usually have no issues importing images, audio or other clips to a video project. Exporting also usually goes smoothly. I happen to have other video editing softwares installed, but very rarely had the need to use anything other than Lightworks.
Cons
I have no complaints about Lightworks. Its frugal set of features - that for some other people could be a turn-off - was enough for the edition whole Hollywood movies such as Pulp Fiction and The Wolf of Wall Street, so a little getting used to it should go a long way, especially for most beginner video editors.
- Used for 1-5 months
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Review Source
Overall rating
- Value for Money
- Ease of Use
- Customer Support
- Likelihood to recommend 6.0 /10
Lightworks is to video what Gimp is to photos - powerful and free
Reviewed on 2018/04/30
Lightworks is free, capable, and flexible. For new editors, it's a good first step into the world...
Lightworks is free, capable, and flexible. For new editors, it's a good first step into the world of nonlinear editing, and it opens the door for Linux users to practice better digital creativity.
Pros
Lightworks is a capable, flexible, and valuable video editor that almost anyone can learn. The workflow is adaptable to most project types, and the system requirements are easily achieved.
Should a user require more advanced features, there is a "pro" version the company sells for a reasonable price, but this is optional. The fact that users can learn and evaluate the software, without spending a dime, is a huge plus.
Lightworks is also one of the few capable editors that has Linux support, so that is a huge plus. More Linux support is always a good thing, and this software opens up lots of value to those users.
Overall, Lightworks is to video editing as Gimp is to photo editing. Anyone can pick it up and learn for free, and it helps build creativity and technical skill for a diverse userbase.
Cons
The UI of Lightworks is archaic. This might seem like an arbitrary complaint, but for a video editing program the user needs clarity in what tools and windows are intended to do. Lightworks' iconography and relatively bright color scheme distracts from the work to be done.
Also, Lightworks changes the mechanics of certain basic editing tasks, notably edit replace and ripple edit. My displeasure with the differences might just be my muscle memory from other programs, but these are fairly normal tasks that should be as easy/standard as possible. Perhaps for new users, there will not be much transition pain, but for seasoned editors, it may be a bother.
- Industry: E-Learning
- Company size: 201–500 Employees
- Used Daily for 6-12 months
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Review Source
Overall rating
- Ease of Use
- Likelihood to recommend 10.0 /10
Very simple to use video editor
Reviewed on 2021/04/20
Very good experience, It does what I need and I managed to get it working without previous...
Very good experience, It does what I need and I managed to get it working without previous knowledge. The support in forums is very good.
Pros
I am not a professional editor, I use the software for academic purposes, basically editing Zoom recordings of university lectures. The software does what I need, trimming, adjusting audio, cutting video segments, with a low learning curve for somebody with almost no experience in video editing. It works fine, and it works in Linux.
Cons
The free version offers limited options for exporting video, so I must use ffmpeg to get to the final version. The H264 codec is not optimized for long videos, so I use ffmpeg to recompress the result.
- Used for 1+ year
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Review Source
Overall rating
- Value for Money
- Ease of Use
- Customer Support
Fantastic video editing software - no limits!
Reviewed on 2018/05/03
Pros
Lightworks takes the very complicated job of editing videos and makes it about as easy as it can be without sacrificing functionality. I tried several other packages and kept running into things they could not do. With Lightworks I had to work hard at researching and learning but I could always get the job done.
Cons
It's hard to come up with something bad to say. The learning curve is a bit steep but I would not want them to dumb it down in any way!
I was unhappy with a lack of sync between the audio and video several times. It was all fine outside lightworks but when I imported it things got out of sync. I could fix it but I should not have had to.
- Industry: Computer Games
- Company size: 2–10 Employees
- Used for 1-5 months
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Review Source
Overall rating
- Ease of Use
- Customer Support
- Likelihood to recommend 10.0 /10
My Lightworks Review
Reviewed on 2020/03/03
Try it now and thank me later!
Try it now and thank me later!
Pros
Lightworks!....IS to me a lifesaver and is the first video editing software I used to edit my videos and I could tell you that it does a Nice job!
I like how this app is easy to use-I only took me 5 minutes to know where everything is and what they do with out any help
Costumer service if fire(GOOD!)...I told them about my email problem and they sent me the email(AFTER I TOLD THEM ABOUT THE PROBLEM)3 minutes after!...Which is pretty quick!
Lightworks exports in HD 1080p and Higher Up to 4K!
Cons
It is a little problem when logging-in!..Not much but they took a whole 3 days to send a simple email I needed to log-in!
Alternatives Considered
FilmoraReasons for Choosing Lightworks
I just wanted to switchSwitched From
Filmora- Industry: Hospital & Health Care
- Company size: 51–200 Employees
- Used for 1+ year
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Review Source
Overall rating
- Ease of Use
- Likelihood to recommend 8.0 /10
experience with lightworks
Reviewed on 2018/12/16
pretty positive, nothing outstanding or special
pretty positive, nothing outstanding or special
Pros
pretty straightforward, easy to use, relativelt uncomplicated
Cons
there were sometimes snags and complications
- Industry: Information Services
- Company size: 11–50 Employees
- Used Monthly for 1+ year
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Review Source
Overall rating
- Ease of Use
- Likelihood to recommend 10.0 /10
Awesome
Reviewed on 2020/09/25
Once we learn the use of the program and practiced a lot, we've been able to create very awesome...
Once we learn the use of the program and practiced a lot, we've been able to create very awesome videos with nice transitions and also, if you need some basic audio equalizations, those can be done from the program itself, no need to use an audio processor unless you need to perform a special operation with audio.
Pros
It has lots of features, from the most basic crops to highly advanced customizations. In the forum is possible to find additional effects that also look great and save time. There are lots of tutorials in their site about how to perform some of the most commonly used functions.
Cons
Not sure if it's a con, but it has a very long learning curve since there are no menus to look for the different operations that could be done, many of them are done via keyboard shortcuts (can't compare with other software since Lightworks has it's own approach on edition: nodes instead of layers).
- Used for 2+ years
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Review Source
Overall rating
- Value for Money
- Ease of Use
- Customer Support
- Likelihood to recommend 8.0 /10
Used it for short videos editing, and clips
Reviewed on 2018/04/27
Pros
I like the feeling ot this software and the way you can organize your desk. It's really a game changer ! You can focus only on your work and the way your cut should be without all the fancy buttons or timeline you find in other software. And the export, the first I find a software able to export a nice and neat video without spending hours with retries.
Cons
It can be difficult to adapt to the look and feel of Lightworks at first and the cuting philosophy behind the tool it's the same that "traditionnal" video editing software, be advised !
- Industry: Higher Education
- Company size: 11–50 Employees
- Used Weekly for 1-5 months
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Review Source
Overall rating
- Value for Money
- Ease of Use
- Customer Support
- Likelihood to recommend 7.0 /10
One of the best free options available, but suffers from a lack of options compared to some...
Reviewed on 2019/07/31
Lightworks was a terrific entry point into Non-Linear Editing solutions for film. I found the...
Lightworks was a terrific entry point into Non-Linear Editing solutions for film. I found the workflow and interface intuitive. Ultimately, a lack of options compared to other free software, and especially restrictions on the resolution of a rendered project has led me to look elsewhere for my go-to video editing solution.
Pros
I love that Lightworks is free, and I found the workflow appealing and fairly intuitive, especially compared to many other free video-editing software solutions.
Cons
I was annoyed by the difficulty in adding text, color-editing and other effects, and was most annoyed by the resolution restriction on file exports.

- Industry: Higher Education
- Company size: 501–1,000 Employees
- Used for 1-5 months
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Review Source
Overall rating
- Value for Money
- Ease of Use
- Customer Support
- Likelihood to recommend 9.0 /10
Liked the product, but there was some issues
Reviewed on 2018/05/01
Pros
It was fairly easy to use, I was able to splice videos together and get some pretty nice transitions for the software. Conversion was pretty easy, and I was very happy with the layout and design.
Cons
The biggest issue I experienced was that it didn't work with 4k MTS files. This was after splicing and cutting videos I had into one file. It didn't import the audio. I learned from their forums that this file was too new and not incorporated yet. It kinda put me in a pinch to find something else to spice my videos...
- Industry: E-Learning
- Company size: 10,000+ Employees
- Used Weekly for 1-5 months
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Review Source
Overall rating
- Value for Money
- Ease of Use
- Customer Support
- Likelihood to recommend 10.0 /10
Lightworks for a student...
Reviewed on 2019/05/28
Pros
Now I'm an online student, and I'm not into video editing too much, but recently this past semester I have had to do presentations and group projects in the form of videos. This software has saved the day on many of those video presentation projects.
Lightworks is easy to use from importing videos, cropping them, all the way to the upload to save onto my computer. It's been great! I especially love that I can zoom in super close to the time line of the project I'm working on, and whether it be the video or sound to cut, I can cut it EXACTLY where I want to because I was able to see it well.
Cons
The menu was difficult to find at first when it came to wanting to finish my project and upload it. I wish the menu was easier to find.
- Industry: Mechanical or Industrial Engineering
- Company size: 501–1,000 Employees
- Used Weekly for 1-5 months
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Review Source
Overall rating
- Value for Money
- Ease of Use
- Customer Support
- Likelihood to recommend 7.0 /10
Powerful tool indeed
Reviewed on 2020/09/24
Light work surely a good tool. I am using the free version but still I can do the most of my work...
Light work surely a good tool. I am using the free version but still I can do the most of my work there.
Pros
Editing with Lightworks is really easy especially different windows for preview and the main editing is super helpful.
Cons
Learning it might take some time and VFX editing need to made more user-friendly for wide range of user.
- Industry: Music
- Company size: 2–10 Employees
- Used Daily for 1-5 months
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Review Source
Overall rating
- Value for Money
- Ease of Use
- Customer Support
- Likelihood to recommend 10.0 /10
Does exactly what i need!
Reviewed on 2022/03/12
overall experience is great.
overall experience is great.
Pros
i love the connection to video clips and still frames.
Cons
havent found any flaws yet in my daily use of this product.
- Industry: Music
- Company size: 501–1,000 Employees
- Used Monthly for Free Trial
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Review Source
Overall rating
- Value for Money
- Ease of Use
- Customer Support
- Likelihood to recommend 0.0 /10
Overtakes all audio settings on desktop - extreme PITA.
Reviewed on 2022/02/19
A lot of people seem to like this software, but the time I would have spent using it was spent...
A lot of people seem to like this software, but the time I would have spent using it was spent troubleshooting my sudden and complete loss of audio. The time that this software would have saved me was made up for by the time I spent trying to work around the grayed-out IO hardware settings. The fact that a decision to lock the user out of audio settings in editing software can even be made in this day and age, is enough to call Lightworks a hot mess and move on.
Pros
I liked that the software was free, and got exactly what I paid for, minus most of my Saturday morning.
Cons
The audio only exports through System Sound, which by itself is not bad. But who the hell wants to toggle between audio devices, let alone rearrange speaker cables in an audio rack, just to open a piece of software? Furthering my annoyance, was the fact that ALL software on my computer defaulted to System Sound upon opening Lightworks.
- Industry: Food Production
- Company size: 51–200 Employees
- Used Monthly for 6-12 months
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Review Source
Overall rating
- Value for Money
- Ease of Use
- Customer Support
Convenient and easy to use.
Reviewed on 2018/07/09
Pros
The best thing about this software is the price tag, it's FREE! It's extremely powerful and I would happily pay for a product of this quality.
Cons
There are some functions that aren't consistent with other media editing software. Some of the functions aren't intuitive.