Saving and Exporting

Lightworks always automatically saves your changes in the specified working directory. Additional backups are created using the sidebar menu and the Export dialog (press F2). Once you open it, you will notice the biggest difference between the free and the Pro versions. In the Free version of Lightworks, output is restricted to the MP4/H.264 format with a maximum resolution of 720p. All other formats – for distribution to other systems for direct output to DVD or camera formats – are reserved for the Pro version.

Lightworks "Free" designates this export format as YouTube and offers you the option of uploading the movie directly to Google's video platform, to which end it prompts you for your YouTube username and password. Lightworks also exports movies to your hard disk in this YouTube format. Simply enter the desired frame rate (25 or 50fps) and the output format (240p, 360p, 480p, 720p).

Conclusions

Lightworks gives you a professional video editing tool that has been used in major movie productions, such as Mission Impossible and Pulp Fiction. Even the Free version comes with numerous professional tools; the Pro version adds more major functions, especially in terms of export capabilities.

Using the program is not easy for newcomers: The procedure differs significantly from conventional video editing tools that target hobby editors. To compensate, Lightworks offers many ways of customizing the interface and aligning the individual controls on the desktop. Additionally, they offer a number of video tutorials online [3]. After an initial adjustment period, however, work will progress quickly with Lightworks. The ability to edit multiple sections in parallel and then later merge to form a complete work of art is really useful.