Lightworks: An Efficient Video Editing Tool

Thanks to the development of technology for shooting video, editing programs have also received additional development, which allow you to process one or several videos, composing them into a single whole. Today we will talk about the popular video editing program – Lightworks.

Lightworks is a popular video editing program, the main features of which include the presence of a free version, with which you can process videos quite comfortably, as well as a moderate load on the system. If we talk about the free version of Lightworks, its main limitation is the ability to export video to a computer - the program will only allow you to immediately start publishing videos on YouTube with a maximum resolution of 720p. You won't be able to save the video to your computer.

And despite the fact that the capabilities of Lightworks are somewhat inferior to such editing monsters as Adobe Premier or Sony Vegas, the program is also safely used by professionals in the field of video post-processing. Judge for yourself: with the help of Lightworks such popular films as “Shutter Island”, “The Departed”, “Pulp Fiction” were edited, and the list does not end there.

Beginning of work

1. To use Lightworks, you must have QuickTime installed on your computer. If you do not have this package, Lightworks will be able to install it itself during the installation stage.
   
   
2. When you first launch the program, you will need to register; you cannot skip registration at this stage.
   
   
   
   
   
3. As soon as authorization is completed, the program will prompt you to enter a name for the new project, and also, if necessary, set the refresh rate frames per second (by default, this parameter is set automatically by the program).
   
   
4. And finally, the program will display a file import window, in which you will need to select the data with which further work will be carried out.
   
   
   
   

Work process

If you have previously edited video in special programs, then you should not have any problems using Lightworks. I would just like to highlight the following distinctive features in the functionality and interface of the program:

1. Creation of rooms. When working on a single project, you can create several separate workspaces, which are called “rooms” in Lightworks. This allows you to completely separate individual fragments of the future film, breaking the editing process into separate stages.
   
   
   
   
   
2. Backup. The main fear of any user of editing programs is a sudden computer glitch, power outage or other unforeseen factor that can ruin long hours of hard work. Fortunately, using Lightworks, you have access to a backup function, which can be activated in just one click.
   
   
3. 3D video processing. An opportunity that is not available in all paid video editors has long been available in Lightworks.
   
   
4. Set your own hotkey combinations. When switching from one familiar editing program to another, one of the problems that users face is learning and remembering new hotkey combinations. Luckily, if the default shortcuts installed in Lightworks don't suit you, you can reassign them.
   
   
5. Supports most video and audio formats. To import a particular file into Lightworks, you do not have to first convert it - the program understands most files and works successfully with them.
   

Advantages of Lightworks

• Free version, which is not much different in terms of features from the paid one;
  
  
• Cross-platform. The program supports working not only with Windows OS, but also Linux and Mac OS;
  
  
• A huge range of possibilities for bringing any idea to life;
  
  
• Availability of settings that allow you to adjust interface elements and program functions to your taste;
  
  
• Works with all known audio and video formats;
  
  
• Relative undemanding (however, for comfortable operation of the program, it is recommended to have at least 3 GB of RAM, as well as a video card with at least 1 GB and support for DirectX 9:
  
  
• Data backup.
  

Disadvantages of Lightworks

• Lack of Russian language support;
  
  
• The interface is quite difficult to understand (fortunately, there are a lot of video tutorials on the Internet that reveal the features of working with the program).
  

Lightworks can hardly be called a program for beginners - its serious interface, serious set of functions and capabilities directly hint that it is aimed at working with professional projects. Perhaps, if we talk about free solutions, the program has no analogues, and the paid version easily becomes a worthy competitor to other popular combines for professional post-editing.

Download Lightworks for free

Download the latest version of the program from the official website https://www.lwks.com/