MAGIX VEGAS Creative Software has launched VEGAS Pro 23, the latest iteration of its flagship non-linear editing (NLE) platform, promising a fundamental shift in performance, a modernized color grading experience, and crucial workflow enhancements. Announced on September 9, 2025, VEGAS Pro 23 is less of a minor update and more of a total rework, built around the new VEGAS Core Engine 1.0 to deliver smoother playback, faster rendering, and a more stable editing experience for professional creators.
The update focuses heavily on foundational architecture and workflow efficiency, aiming to make VEGAS Pro an even stronger competitor in the post-production space, especially for users working with high-resolution and complex projects.
Redefining Performance: The VEGAS Core Engine
The headline feature of VEGAS Pro 23 is the VEGAS Core Engine 1.0. This entirely new engine represents a significant architectural overhaul, designed to modernize the way the software processes video and effects.
- Smoother Playback and Rendering: The core engine upgrade is engineered to provide more efficient video processing, drastically improving the responsiveness of the timeline and reducing render times, particularly when utilizing GPU acceleration (compatible with Intel, NVIDIA, and AMD hardware).
- Extended Color Management: Under the hood, the new engine introduces Extended Color Format Conversion. This critical change improves color accuracy, especially for older, subsampled YUV source files (like 4:2:2 and 4:2:0), ensuring a more consistent and true-to-source color representation across different media types.
A New Era for Color Grading
Color correction and grading have received a major focus, with a completely redesigned, more intuitive, and highly flexible workflow.
- Redesigned Color Grading Panel: The new color grading interface is more adaptable and efficient, helping editors fine-tune colors with greater speed. The underlying Color Grading Engine has been rewritten for faster processing and playback.
- Mobile and Professional LUTs: New options have been added for using Log LUTs (Look-Up Tables) with media generated by popular mobile devices (like Apple and Samsung), allowing editors to take full advantage of color data from smartphone footage.
- High-Resolution LUT Export: VEGAS Pro 23 now supports the export of 65-point LUTs, offering more accurate and detailed color conversions for sharing looks between different software and projects.
Enhanced Workflow and Customization
MAGIX has listened closely to its user base, implementing several key features to improve day-to-day editing comfort and customization.
- Timeline OFX Keyframe Animation (Beta): A powerful new addition is the ability to create and edit keyframes for video effects directly on the timeline. This vastly speeds up the process of animating effects and is poised to become a core feature for motion graphics and visual effects artists.
- New Docking Regions: The UI now offers the flexibility to dock windows to the bottom, left, and right of the main timeline area. This is a huge win for users with ultra-wide or multi-monitor setups, allowing for a truly custom workspace.
- Redesigned Render Dialog: The rendering workflow has been rebuilt with better sorting, filtering options, and an easier way to locate frequently used templates. A simple but highly requested feature, ‘Shut down computer after render completes’, has also been added.
- Modern Audio Tools: The software includes a new Modern Equalizer audio plug-in for more precise sound shaping and mixing.