Clip Information and Metadata

Metadata is everything Lightworks knows about a clip beyond its picture and sound: its name, technical properties, source timecode, reel, scene and take, comments, markers, tags, and colour. The more of it you keep tidy, the easier your project is to search, sort, and organise - especially once it grows large.

The Info panel

The Info panel is the unified, context-aware home for clip information. It follows the active item - the clip in the source viewer, or the clip under the playhead in a sequence - and updates as you move around. You can set it to show Source, Sequence, or Auto (which switches based on what's active), and its content is organised into tabs:

• Metadata - the editable fields and technical properties.
• Associates - related clips, subclips, and the sequences a clip is used in.
• Versions - alternative versions of the item.
• Video and Audio - the source's own timeline. This tab appears in Source mode only, not for sequences.

Clip properties

Every clip carries read-only technical properties that describe its media, including:

• Format and codec - the source format and compression.
• Dimensions and aspect ratio - the pixel size and shape of the image.
• Frame rate - the clip's native rate.
• Bit depth and colour space - including any associated LUT.
• Audio channels - the number and layout of audio tracks.
• Duration and timecode - length, start, and end timecode.
• Dates - when the media was created and when the clip was added.

These properties come from the media itself and cannot be edited, but they are all searchable (see Bins, collections, tags, and searching).

Renaming clips

You can rename a clip at any time - in the Info panel, in a list-view Name column, or through the clip's menu.

Note: Renaming changes the clip's name inside Lightworks only. It does not rename the underlying media file on disk, so your original camera files are never altered.

Source timecode and reel names

• Source timecode is the timecode recorded with the media. Lightworks preserves it and uses it for conform, EDL, and interchange workflows. On the timeline you can show a second timecode row, so source time and sequence time are visible together.
• Reel names (and camera or audio reel identifiers) tie a clip back to the tape, card, or roll it came from. They are essential for conform and interchange, and are searchable. Where the source provides camera information such as manufacturer and model, that is preserved too.

Editable metadata fields

The file-card fields are free text you can edit and search, typically including:

• Name
• Scene, Shot, Take
• Description
• Notes and Comments
• Who / Owner
• Reel
• Tags

Edit them in the Info panel or directly in list-view columns. Changes are saved with the project and are undoable. For detailed logging, custom or extended metadata fields can be defined at the project level (see Projects).

Notes and comments

Notes and comments are the most flexible fields - use them for anything a future editor or you will want to find later: take quality, sync status, approval, or a job reference. Because they are searchable, a keyword in a comment makes a clip findable even when its name is generic.

Cue markers

A cue marker flags an important point on a single frame. Markers appear as coloured triangles on the viewer's scrub bar, and on the timeline ruler once the clip is in a sequence. Each can carry a name, a description, and a colour.

1. Move the playhead to the frame you want.
2. Press M or click the cue marker button below the viewer.
3. Optionally add a name, description, and colour.

To read or change a marker after the fact, click it on the viewer's scrub bar - its details open, and the pointer becomes a hand as you pass over it so you can see where to click. The panel holds the cue marker's name, description and colour, with a Delete button to remove it. The colour swatches show available colours that you can choose for the cue marker.

Marker text and colour are searchable, so markers double as a way to find moments across a project.

Ranged markers

A ranged marker flags a section rather than a single frame. Mark an in point with I, move to the end of the section, then add a cue marker - the marker spans the range as a coloured line. Delete a ranged marker by selecting its in point and deleting it.

Clip colours and labels

You can assign a colour to a clip as a quick visual label - for selects, rejects, categories, or status. Colours show on tiles and, when Show Colours is enabled, as coloured icons in list view. Like other metadata, colour can be used to sort and find clips.

Using metadata for search and organisation

Metadata is what powers the organising tools:

• Search on any field, property, marker, or date to find clips fast.
• Tag clips and combine tags with OR, AND, and NOT filtering.
• Sort bins by scene, take, date, or any column.
• Save searches and build collections from the results.

The payoff for good metadata is a project where the right clip is always a search away. See Bins, collections, tags, and searching for the full set of tools.

Tip: Log as you watch. Naming, tagging, and dropping a few markers during your first pass through the rushes costs minutes now and saves hours later.