Lightworks

Lightworks is a commercial video editor for Windows, macOS and Linux that comes in three tiers: Free, Create and Pro.

Lightworks says the software has more than 30 years of development behind it and names feature films edited on it, among them Pulp Fiction, The Wolf of Wall Street, The Irishman and The King's Speech. The editor combines video, audio, effects and colour tools with a timeline that accepts footage of differing sizes and frame rates, and ships with more than 700 customisable titles and motion graphics. Lightworks links to cloud storage at Dropbox, Google Drive, OneDrive and Box.

Lightworks is published by LWKS Software Ltd, 16 Belmont Crescent, Swindon, United Kingdom, which trades as LWKS and Lightworks and is registered with the UK Information Commissioner's Office under ZA787819. The terms are governed by the laws of England and Wales.

The United Kingdom is outside the EU. The Lightworks privacy policy states that services and providers may process personal data internationally, including in the EU and the United States, and names no specific hosting location. No parent company is mentioned in the terms or the privacy policy.

Lightworks Free costs GBP 0, adds no watermark and exports MP4 at up to 720p. Lightworks Create exports up to 4K; Lightworks Pro exports up to 8K in AVI, MP4, image sequence, MOV, MXF and WAV and adds 10-bit support and plugin compatibility.

Create and Pro can be paid monthly, yearly with two months free, or once, in USD, GBP or EUR, but the public pricing page displayed no amounts for them when checked, which is why Lightworks does not rank higher. Lightworks fits editors who want a professional layout on three operating systems; anyone needing full-HD export for free should look at Kdenlive.

What Lightworks does well

• Lightworks Free adds no watermark to exported video
• Lightworks lists Windows, macOS and Linux for all three tiers
• Lightworks Pro exports up to 8K in AVI, MP4, image sequence, MOV, MXF and WAV
• Lightworks Create and Pro can be bought once as well as rented monthly or yearly
• LWKS Software Ltd is a UK company in Swindon, registered with the ICO under ZA787819

Where Lightworks falls short

• Lightworks Free is limited to MP4 export at up to 720p
• The public Lightworks pricing page showed no price amounts for Create and Pro when checked
• Lightworks notes that some Linux functionality may be restricted due to third-party limitations
• The Lightworks privacy policy says personal data may be processed in the United States as well as the EU

Standout feature. Lightworks is the only commercial editor in this comparison that runs on Windows, macOS and Linux and lets you choose between monthly, yearly and pay-once licences for the same tiers.