Pro-level video editing software Lightworks has a new owner and a renewed vision for the future.
Editshare has sold Lightworks (along with QScan, an automated video quality checking workflow) to a new company made up of former employees — employees who directly worked on developing and promoting the software.
“We are superbly positioned to develop and enhance Lightworks”, its new owners say
And if anyone knows what’s best for the non-linear video editor it’s the people who actually made it, right?
The new owner is LWKS Software Ltd and it describes itself as “a new, dynamic and forward-thinking company” focused on providing powerful tools to media makers.
“With […] teams of software and product engineers now part of the LWKS family, and having worked alongside more than a million customers for over three decades, we are superbly positioned to develop and enhance the Lightworks and QScan software,” they say.
Naturally changes are coming, as are new features and toolsets to ‘provide a fresh and innovative creative environment’ for content creators.
A major update to Lightworks, the first under its new owners, will be available to download in November.
It’s not clear (yet) wether Lightworks will remain a “freemium” app (it’s free to download and use but a license is required to unlock 1080p exporting) or if it will be made open source (something Editshare had on their roadmap).
Despite being one of best video editors for Linux (it’s available for macOS and Windows too) Lightworks has never quite achieved the sort of user-base that other (equally free) video editors have among ‘hobbyist’ editors.
But with the right direction the editor could yet cut through its pro-level competition to better meet the needs demanded by modern content production.
Or to put it another way: Lightworks is once again a core software product and not just an extra in someone else’s film.