I’ve Ditched Microsoft Clipchamp for Lightworks
Wayyyyyy back in the late 1990s I started poking around with video editing. Since I was Windows guy I purchased what was then called an M/JPEG card for my computer which came with a copy of Ulead’s remarkably complex MediaStudio software. It was so useful and packed with so many features that I’d probably still be using it to this day except for the fact that while it claims to be a 32-bit program, Windows 11 flat-out refuses to install it even if I set the Compatibility Mode. While I can load it in an Windows XP virtual system (and most certainly did to take the screenshot below), file size limitations built into the software and the inability to use modern video codecs (compression schemes) without a whole lot of file conversions keep me away from doing so.
Interestingly, I can copy the complete program to Windows 11 after it has been installed on the Windows XP machine and if I copy the “mfc40.dll” file from the old machine’s Windows\System into the program’s folder it will run, but the quality of the output formats are abysmally low compared to modern options.
I began toying with Windows Movie Maker when it arrived with Windows Me in 2000. I found it serviceable for simple cuts but gravitated toward continuing to use the older Ulead program due to its vast array of bells & whistles. I used MediaStudio as late as 2007, when I was merging original scores I had composed with scenes from Alfred Hitchcock’s “The Birds” (the film contains no orchestrated score — another good option for practicing composers is “No Country for Old Men” if you must know!). By the time Microsoft had rebranded Movie Maker to be part of the “Live Essentials” tools and then discontinued it in 2017, I had found little need to edit video for about ten years.
My recent work on sync music rekindled my need for a decent video editor. Introduced in 2022, I used Clipchamp for a time and appreciated its ability to output 1080p resolution files. However, the inability to direct the software to use a different hard drive has been frustrating to say the least.
The software cannot save to an alternate hard drive directly and must use your system’s C: drive. This became a problem for me since Clipchamp itself was hogging a lot of drive space for processing media files. While you can limit its use of available data space, it still has to operate solely on a computer’s main drive.
To be fair, I actually like the software except for that sticking point. It has some decent features, is very simple to use, and I like the title generator formats which are included. But its inability to use a hard drive other than the primary drive frustrates me.
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Enter Lightworks!
Lightworks has been around for nearly thirty years. I first heard about it when I read that the Oscar-winning film “The King’s Speech” was cut on it. Actually, quite a number of movies you’ve probably seen or heard of were cut with it. From “Pulp Fiction” and “Con Air,” to even more recent fare like “Killers of the Flower Moon” and a whole lot more! You can review a list of over fifty features which were cut using it here.
I downloaded the free version of the program in 2011 after “The King’s Speech” story crossed my eyes but never got around to using it. Just over two months ago I became frustrated with Clipchamp’s drive C limitation and decided to try Lightworks again.
It is a breeze to work with! For starters, you are not committed to using a mouse to move throughout major points of your editing project. You can use the A and S keys to jump right or left to edit points and then use the right and left arrows on your keyboard to skip frame by frame. The free version limits output to 720p but at this point I haven’t been required to provide higher resolution videos to clients or even needed a sharper image for instrument library demos I’ve been uploading to YouTube. And Lightworks does NOT hog your hard drive. It can work with any file at any location in your system with ease, the “reference” files it creates are miniscule compared to the bloated ones Clipchamp generates, and it can save your completed work at any location as well.
Lightworks also handles large files easily. To learn how to use Lightworks I decided to make a complete extended edition of the three “Lord of the Rings” movies using uncompressed source files culled from my DVD collection. I learned to cut, to dissolve in, out, and between clips, how to layer audio, how to insert titles, and more. When all was said and done the final output was nearly twenty-six gigabytes! I once tried to output a file in Clipchamp that I’d estimated to be about five gigabytes and the program choked, unable to complete the process even though there was plenty of space on the C drive at the time.
Speaking of that, I have used Lightworks for multiple projects since installing it (from professional to personal — I finally made that “Version that Goes to 11” edit of “This is Spinal Tap” including all the deleted scenes!) and cannot recall a single time it locked up or shut down unexpectedly. I cannot say the same for Clipchamp. It seemed the faster I moved through an editing timeline, the more likely Clipchamp would crash. And other times Clipchamp would fail to play audio I had recently dropped into a project unless I closed the app then re-opened it. I’ve read that Clipchamp is essentially an internet app, which may explain the random issues. But Lightworks just plain works, lets you work from any hard drive in your system, is quite snappy, and is my favorite video editor at this time.
Will I keep using Clipchamp? From time to time, yes. It’s okay for simple cuts and I do like the formats of some of the included text generators. But it feels like a clunky toy compared to the finesse of Lightworks. While the limited drive use was my primary reason for seeking an alternative, Lightworks has proven to be an elegant solution for my video editing needs.
Lightworks is compatible with modern Windows, MacOS, and Linux systems and is available to download here.
This is not a paid testimonial! I’m just a fan of Lightworks and wanted to share my experience.
