VEGAS Pro 23: Review of Exciting New Features that now make Creating Videos easier and faster!

This is the BEST version of VEGAS Pro to be released in many years!

A faster video engine, vastly improved colour workflow and so much more, makes this a compelling upgrade for content creators using VEGAS.

VEGAS Pro 23 is here!!! It's alive and kicking, upgraded to the max, has a new video engine and colour correction workflow,  and is ready to help you make that short film you're working on or that epic family holiday video, and also help create videos for wherever you connect with your homies on social media.

Anyone who has a YouTube channel today, will know the pressure and expectation to create regular engaging content, that looks and sounds professional. With VEGAS Pro 23, you can pump out new videos with great looking B-roll, sound effects and atmospheric music, all included with VEGAS Hub, that is an integral part of the program.

If you've never used VEGAS Pro before or used it many years ago and think only nerds from YouTube use it, get ready to be surprised. VEGAS Pro 23 will exceed your expectations, once you learn what it can do now in 2025! What I am sharing with you is my honest reactions and thoughts, after spending quite some time experimenting with VEGAS Pro 23. This isn't me regurgitating marketing spin. I am allergic to B.S. and can sniff it out from miles away, just like a white pointer sensing drunk & sunburnt English tourists, going for a sneaky midnight dip at Bondi Beach. Let's go!

Watch Video Review below:

Quick-links to Topics covered in this Review

Your time is precious, so I have created quick-links below, to help you navigate this meaty review for VEGAS Pro 23. I'm also from Australia, so we speak the Kings English down  here, so "Color" is gunna be written as "Colour"; no offence to my many American friends. 😉 Cheers, Derek (a.k.a. Dr Zen).

• Big changes & New Beginnings at MAGIX Software in Berlin!
• New Features in VEGAS Pro 23
• VEGAS Pro 23 New Features Help document
• Vegas Core Engine 1.0
• New Colour Grading Workflow
• New Extended Colour Management (under the hood)
• New Docking Regions at the Bottom, Left and Right
• Modifications to trial version usage
• Timeline-based Event and Track OFX keyframe animation (beta)
• Camera LUT options available for mobile formats
• 65-point LUT export
• Video Effects Package Management
• Redesigned Render Dialog box
• Shut down computer after render completes
• Modern Equalizer Audio Plugin
• Intuitive defaults for the timeline and playback
• Improved UI for Video Effect, Media Generator and Transition selection
• Bug Fixes and Improvements in VEGAS Pro 23
• Sad News about Mocha Vegas & 3D Video in VEGAS Pro
• VEGAS Pro 23: Version differences explained
• My Personal Buying Recommendations as a VEGAS Pro user
• Advice for VEGAS Movie Studio Platinum users
• Download Links for Free Trial, Upgrades, New & 365
• Release day for VEGAS Pro 23 is 9th September 2025

Big changes & New Beginnings at MAGIX Software in Berlin!

Skip to actual start of review below if you don't want to learn about some of the big changes that occurred behind the scenes at MAGIX & VEGAS Creative Software, leading up to the release of VEGAS Pro 23!

Robert RutkowskiA lot has happened during the last 12 months at MAGIX Software Germany, who were the owners of VEGAS Creative Software in the U.S.A., where VEGAS Pro is developed. MAGIX Software is now owned by RM Equity Partners (RMEP), which makes them the new parent company of MAGIX Software and VEGAS Creative Software. The old management team is out and Robert Rutkowski was appointed CEO of MAGIX Software in April 2025. MAGIX Software has now been completely restructured, with a new management team in place.

Gary RebholzThankfully, steady as she goes Gary Rebholz, is still there at VEGAS Creative Software and is now the CPO (Chief Product Officer) for Video at MAGIX. Back in the olden days, when broadband internet connections were a fraction of what they are today, Gary use to broadcast excellent webinars when Sony was the owner and still makes great instructional videos showing how new features work, which you can watch on the VEGAS Creative Software YouTube channel. I've learnt a lot of knowledge from Gary over the years and am extremely grateful for his skills as an educator and his calm personality. Knowing that Gary is still there, gives me great confidence in this next chapter for VEGAS Pro, because he understands the product extremely well and knows the actual user base.

If you would like to learn a little more about the recent changes at MAGIX Software, I highly recommend an excellent interview posted at ProVideoCoalition, were they interviewed both new CEO Robert Rutkowski, as well as Chief Product Officer Gary Rebholz.

New Features in VEGAS Pro 23

• Vegas Core Engine 1.0
• New Color Grading workflow  
• Modifications to trial version usage 
• Timeline-based Event and Track OFX keyframe animation (beta)
• Camera LUT options available for mobile formats 
• 65-point LUT export 
• Bottom, Left and Right window docking areas 
• Video Effects Package Management 
• Redesigned Render Dialog box 
• Shut down computer after render completes 
• Modern Equalizer 
• Intuitive defaults for the timeline and playback 
• Improved UI for Video Effect, Media Generator and Transition selection

VEGAS Pro 23 New Features Help document

A PDF document is available for download from here, that explains in detail the main new features in VEGAS Pro 23. I highly recommend downloading and reading all of this very helpful document. It will speed up the learning process, for all the new tools!

VEGAS Core Engine 1.0

Image source: Vegas Creative SoftwareThe first BIG and very important new feature in VEGAS Pro 23, is the new VEGAS Core Engine 1.0. The VEGAS Core Engine brings state of the art technology to VEGAS Pro, providing efficient video playback and rendering and a new pipeline for processing video effects.

When I was testing VEGAS Pro 23 and trying to break it, this was one of the first things that made me say WOW out aloud! Firstly, I noticed much smoother playback generally, on the VEGAS timeline compared to older versions of VEGAS Pro. However, what really got my attention was when I started doing some rendering (export) experiments, using Nvidia NVENC encoding. I could see VEGAS chomping through the frames continuously, like a hungry man on a Food Network challenge - there was no stopping and starting over and over again, like in older versions.

I don't have an AMD Radeon graphics card for experimenting, but I have heard similar positive experiences with other VEGAS users who do use a modern AMD GPU. With Nvidia currently trying to rob everyone blind today, it's great to know that VEGAS Pro works just as well with an AMD Radeon graphics card, and if the new rumours are true, AMD is working on the some crazy shit that will finally level the playing field and give gamers and video editors a beast of a card for content creation! Let's wait and see. 🤔

If you currently own an older version of VEGAS Pro, I recommend doing this quick test as soon as you download the free trial or buy the upgrade. Chuck a few sample videos onto the timeline (make sure your frame rates match!), then go directly to the new Render window, select AVC (H.264) and an Nvidia NVENC or AMD VCE template that matches your source videos properties.

Gentlemen...start your engines......Go! You will see no pausing for cups of tea or crashes into the barrier. This upgraded bad boy is headed straight for the finishing line. The tortoise has been replaced by a hare. Very impressed with this new addition to VEGAS Pro! Thanks VEGAS developers for this one! To use a cricket analogy, you've scored runs on the board with this new feature and proves MAGIX is serious about improving VEGAS Pro.

Caveat: Please remember that there is a huge variance in hardware combinations and configurations, and in using different media types. If you want to see VEGAS Pro stretch it's legs properly, you will need to be using a modern computer and not an old dinosaur.

New Colour Grading Workflow

The new Colour Grading Panel and workflow is brilliant! It was another thing that I remember having a strong positive reaction to... seriously. A lot of folks get overwhelmed when thinking about Colour Correcting and Grading their projects, because it feels a bit too difficult to do, so anything that makes this important step in video editing easier, is a very welcome improvement. Just like the new VEGAS Core Engine, the Colour Grading Engine has been rewritten to provide much faster processing and efficient playback.

One of my pet peeves for years was the ugly Vectorscope in VEGAS Pro. As you can see below, it has also been upgraded and now has some sex appeal at last!

To see for yourself, open VEGAS Pro and add a video to the timeline. Go to the top menu and select View / Window Layouts / Colour Correction. This will now display the new Colour Grading Panel tools layout (see below). In older versions of VEGAS, the Colour Grading Panel was displayed the full length of the desktop (at the bottom) and left barely any room for selecting which video you wanted to work on.

Creators using laptops and/or desktop computers with smaller 1080p monitors, will find this new configuration another helpful improvement. Also remember that VEGAS Pro is completely configurable, so if you're using a large 4K monitor, you may prefer to use the old layout. Speaking of layouts, check below here for some new updates in the VEGAS Pro user interface.

New Extended Colour Management (under the hood)

While I am talking about Colour Correction and Grading in VEGAS Pro, it's important to note yet another upgrade to the code base. VEGAS Pro 23 also introduces new Extended Color Format Conversion. This was created for modernizing the colour space handling, to make better interpolation of the colour plane for subsampled YUV source files (4:2:2 and 4:2:0) and correct coefficients for YUV>RGB conversion for colour spaces that VEGAS didn't know natively before.

In plain English, it means some video formats will display better colour accuracy in VEGAS Pro now, especially video that was recorded with older style cameras. So if you work with a lot of archival video in your projects, this new addition will improve the image quality.

This new Extended Color Format Conversion management system, can be turned on or off in the Internal VEGAS Pro Preference settings, for all you power nerds out there. I mention this, because I also noticed during my extensive tests, that the new colour management system gives an additional improvement to render times! If it is turned off, it slows things down a bit.

New Docking Regions at the Bottom, Left and Right

The main VEGAS Pro user interface window, now provides new options for docking windows to the left, right and below the main timeline. This gives users the ability to layout their UI (User Interface) in a way that best suits their project's needs. Users of ultra-wide monitors, will be rejoicing about this new configurable ability being added to the user interface.

To activate these new docking regions, hover your mouse to the extreme right or left of the VEGAS desktop or near the very bottom of window. When you're in the correct location, your mouse pointer will turn to 2 vertical/horizontal lines, intersected by a 2 way arrow. Simply drag to create space, then you can move windows into the new space created.

Modifications to trial version usage

Users are no longer restricted by the length of their projects when trying out VEGAS Pro with a 30-day trial. Users may also use the Text-to-Speech and Speech-to-Text features on a limited basis while using the 30-day trial.

  Download FREE TRIAL from here (opens new tab)

Timeline-based Event and Track OFX keyframe animation (beta)

Users may turn on an option, in the View menu, to create and edit Keyframes for Track or Event Video Effects directly on their Timeline. This provides a fast workflow for animating Video Effects. This is still in development, so not turned on by default, but it does work!

To try this very cool new feature, go to the top menu and select View / Show OFX Effects Envelopes (Beta).

To test this out, add a video to the timeline, then add some Effects to the video. For my example here, I added simply VEGAS Brightness & Contrast. Next press the Animate clock next to the Brightness slider. On the key-frame timeline below, add some new key-frames and set the slider for brightness to a different level at each key-frame point. Close window.

Tip: To reveal the vertical down/up arrows that open/close the new OFX Envelope area on the main VEGAS Pro timeline, you may need to make the Video Track Control box a little wider, by dragging it slightly to the right.

Camera LUT options available for mobile formats

Log isn’t just for the big expensive cameras anymore. Take full advantage of log footage from your mobile device for incredible and affordable color quality. New LUT options have been added for media generated by most mobile devices, like Samsung and Apple. You will find this new Log colour profiles in the new Colour Grading Panel.

65-point LUT export

VEGAS Pro 23 now allows for the export of 65-point LUTs, providing Lookup Tables with the most accurate and detailed color conversions. In the very top righthand corner of the Colour Grading Panel, press the 3 dots and select Export LUT. Simple!

Video Effects Package Management

In VEGAS Pro 23, you can now create complex chains of video effects and save those chains as effects packages which you can then call up and apply anywhere else without the need to rebuild the chain and all of its parameter settings. The new Video Effects Package Management features make it easy to access and manage these effects packages. This is yet another terrific addition to the program.

Oh man.., I'm starting to sound like a broken record with all this praise for VEGAS Pro 23. It's been a while since I've seen this many great additions and improvements to VEGAS Pro, so I'm a little bit excited. Let's keep going...

Using this FX management system is a two step process. First you need to save an effects chain and secondly, you need to find that effects chain and apply it to a new video.

To save your own custom chains of Video Effects, that have already been added to a video on the timeline, press Save Plug-in Chain as Filter Package in the top right corner of the Video Event FX window.

Now go to the Video FX tab and you will find a new button that says Filter Packages. Select it. To the left is where all your newly saved effects chains will live. Now simply drag and drop you Filter Package (FX Chain) onto a new video, and instantly it's done!

Redesigned Render Dialog box

The Render Dialog has been rebuilt from the ground up to provide better filtering options, better sorting, and an easier way to find your most commonly used render templates. At first glance, I had a bit of a freak out when I tried to use the new Render Dialog box or better known in the olden days simply as "Render As". I thought huge amounts of templates had been removed, however everything is still there. To see everything, press the Filter button and turn on Show all formats. You can sort for a huge amount parameters, to find the perfect template that matches your media on the timeline.

Another quick thing to note (to avoid a 2nd freak out!), is the very hand indicator that displays at the bottom of the window, if you have selected a Loop Region on the timeline for rendering only a portion of your project. You can press the button next to Render Loop Region Only, to turn it on or off. Very, very handy indeed!

Shut down computer after render completes

An option has now been added to the Render Progress dialog, which gives the user a switch to shut down their computer once a render completes. I love using functions like this, especially if the computer in use is in a bedroom and your desperate to complete a very long render before the sun comes back up. No one wants a noisy computer running in the middle of the night, if it doesn't have to be. Nice.

Modern Equalizer Audio Plugin

The Modern Equalizer provides powerful control over your audio files audio frequencies so that you can shape the sound as you need to. To use the Modern Equalizer, add an audio file your timeline. You can apply the equalizer (EQ) at any effects level.

After you press an Audio FX button to add an audio effect, make sure to select the All folder in the Plug-in Chooser window. Now you will be able to see Modern Equalizer for selection.

Intuitive defaults for the timeline and playback

Several minor changes have been made to respond to user requests to make editing in the timeline more comfortable to most users' needs. These changes include a change in the default behavior for the Spacebar when using it to start and stop playback, free movement when dragging the playhead, the option to prevent the timeline cursor from moving when selecting an event on the timeline, and more.

If you prefer a different configuration, you can change settings in the General tab for Preferences.

Improved UI for Video Effect, Media Generator and Transition selection

New sorting and display options are now available in the FX windows, making it easier for users to find the specific effects they want to use for their project.

Another thing existing owners of VEGAS Pro will notice, is some general styling improvements on the main VEGAS Timeline, in regards to colour, colour selection and labels, etc... Everything is really looking nice. Yeah, you can still use the word nice, especially when you mean it!

Bug Fixes and Improvements in VEGAS Pro 23

• The File I/O Surrogate has been rewritten to ensure improved error handling 
• Updated Smart Mask 2.0 models 
• Blackmagic RAW files are now decoded with the correct colors when GPU acceleration is disabled 
• AV1 Encoding improvements 
• Selectively Paste Event Attributes now properly lists video effects on multiple events at the same time 
• Revised the Edit Details window to work better with Adjustment Events 
• Duplicate frames are no longer created when decoding specific phone-based media  
• Fixed UX color issues in the Edit Details window 
• The Explorer window navigation bar now recognizes network paths 
• Excessive peak building is now eliminated when switching VEGAS out of and back into focus 
• A heavy amount of seeking on the timeline no longer reduces playback and render performance with NVidia GPUs 
• Progress dialogs launched for Video FX processes can now be repositioned on the user’s monitor 
• 32-bit color transform no longer results in artifacts when media height is greater than width 
• AC3 decoder is now available for clean Windows 24H2 systems 
• Black frames no longer appear with specific AVC VFR media 
• Improved results for Video Stabilization on interlaced media 
• Black Bar fill no longer leaves a thin border around the image 
• The Edit Details window no longer crashes projects containing adjustment events 
• The Save Snapshop function no longer causes a hang when called from a script 
• Resizing panes in the docking area is now much more efficient and smoother 
• White flashing of windows during resizing of dock windows no longer occurs 
• UI for the Mixing Console has been cleaned up for better handling of color skinning and High DPI displays 
• The Save Markers option which had been available before VEGAS Pro 21 is now available again 
• The status window now appears in front of the application window when doing a manual check for software updates 
• Soloist stretching method with 192,000 Hz audio no longer crashes 
• Fixed application hang that could occur when playing back some types of BRAW media 
• The Explorer window directory now recognizes and responds to keyboard input 
• Improved sort functionality in the Explorer window 
• More effective use of GPU processing when decoding BRAW 
• Filmconvert Nitrate plugin no longer causes a crash on startup 
• Improvements to the Upscale plugin 
• Added support for media from Brinno cameras 
• Improvements to the FX Package feature 
• Animate button will no longer disappear when deleting keyframes for some FX plugins 
• Fixed problems with import of some large files which could be read in earlier versions of Vegas 
• Playhead can now be freely dragged without audio scrubbing 
• The spacebar performs a Play/Pause action by default instead of Play/Stop 
• New preference to prevent the cursor from moving when clicking on an event

Sad News about Mocha Vegas & 3D Video in VEGAS Pro
🥺😔😢

Unfortunately, I've left the sad news until last. There are two things that have been taken away from VEGAS Pro. The Mocha VEGAS tracking plugin from Boris FX, no longer comes with VEGAS Pro. Mocha is a premium Boris FX technology, that gives you the ability to do advanced tracking and stabilization of video. The software world can be a brutal place and is always changing, and so are licensing agreements. That agreement to provide a stripped down version of Mocha in VEGAS Pro, has come to an end. It hurts a lot that one of the best 3rd party tools is gone now. However, you can still buy or subscribe to Mocha Pro at Boris FX and it will function correctly with VEGAS Pro. Any tracking data created with Mocha can still be transferred into VEGAS.

The other function that has been removed from VEGAS Pro 23, is the ability to create and edit 3D Video. The amount of users editing 3D Video with VEGAS Pro has plummeted to very tiny numbers, so it's been removed from the program. 3D Video has become a very niche area and has suffered a similar fate that DVD Architect did and few years ago. Gone baby, gone😢

VEGAS Pro 23: Version differences explained

VEGAS Pro: Lifetime versus 365 Subscription options

Just like in previous years, you can upgrade to or buy the standalone version of VEGAS Pro, which you get to keep for life. During the natural lifetime of the standalone versions, you will receive free build updates for bugs fixes, improvements and new features. These free updates typically last until the next new version of VEGAS Pro is released.

365 subscription versions allow you to pay a monthly fee for access or pay for 12 months in advance. In theory if you subscribed to VEGAS Pro 365 in 9 months time and suddenly VEGAS Pro 24 was released, you would automatically be upgraded from version 23 to version 24. In 12 months time you will have to pay a yearly renewal fee for another 12 months access.

VEGAS Pro 23: Versions	VEGAS Pro 23	VEGAS Pro 365	VEGAS Pro Suite 23	VEGAS Pro Suite 365
VEGAS Pro 23 (full feature set)
Lifetime (keep for life)		-		-
Subscription (monthly/yearly billing)	-		-
VEGAS HUB Starter Pack
SOUND FORGE Pro 18	-	-
ACID Pro 11	-	-
Vintage Effects Suite	-	-
Studio Box Mk II: Complete Collection	-	-
VEGAS HUB Service Allowances
Text to Speech function (characters)	20k	1,440k	20k	1,800k
Speech to Text conversion (time)	1 Hour	24 Hours	1 Hour	48 Hours
Cloud Storage	n/a	20 GB	n/a	100 GB
Stock Footage Downloads	60 HD	600 HD	60 HD	Unlimited 4K
Purchase of additional quotas available

My Personal Buying Recommendations as a VEGAS Pro user

If you haven't upgraded your current version of VEGAS Pro for quite some time, I highly recommend you take VEGAS Pro 23 for a spin. Thanks to the new VEGAS Core Engine 1.0, you'll be happy to see a nice speed increase in rendering times, especially if you use your Nvidia or AMD Radeon graphics card for processing. The new colour grading panel and workflow, makes correcting your footage a lot less painful task now and the overall feel of the program is a joy to use.

Download the free trial (opens new tab) to test it out, and when you have discovered that VEGAS Pro is a remarkably improved content creation machine now.

Which version of VEGAS Pro 23 should I buy ?

VEGAS Pro 23

If you only need the included features of VEGAS Pro and would like to keep this program for life, this is the version for you. There is a new purchase price for VEGAS newbies and a special upgrade price for owners of older versions.

VEGAS Pro Suite 23

If working with Audio is an important part of your creative workflow, I highly recommend VEGAS Pro Suite 23. The suite also gives you keep for life versions of SOUND FORGE Pro 18 and ACID Pro 11, plus extra effects and music. SOUND FORGE Pro and ACID Pro can be integrated seamlessly with VEGAS Pro 23. There is also a 365 subscription version, which gives you extra allowance to use the features in VEGAS Hub - details below!

VEGAS Pro 365

VEGAS Pro 365 is for creators who like to use plenty of cool B-roll video footage in their projects from the VEGAS Hub service and also appreciate the ability of using AI to automatically convert Text to Speech and Speech to Text.

VEGAS Pro Suite 365

VEGAS Pro Suite 365 is the hamburger with the lot version, best suited for power users who like to collaborate with other creators and enjoy making regular high quality 4K content. It offers the maximum allowance for VEGAS Hub services, before additional quotas are needed, if you are a video making machine!

Advice for VEGAS Movie Studio Platinum users - Upgrade!

95% of VEGAS Movie Studio Platinum users should know by now that their beloved program was officially retired back in July 2021. There is no VEGAS Movie Studio anymore 😔😢😢😢. There is a MAGIX Software replacement called Video Deluxe (that use to be called MAGIX Movie Studio and recently was renamed to what it always should have been called!), but that program has nothing to do with the original VEGAS Movie Studio versions.

MAGIX Video Deluxe is an excellent program (I do mean that quite sincerely) and I do plan to start making tutorials for that in the next 6 months, however, if you already know how to edit with VEGAS Movie Studio Platinum and don't want to re-learn everything you know from scratch, I would highly recommend you upgrade to a VEGAS Pro 23 version. Yes, it will feel a little overwhelming jumping into the deep end of the pool, but there are many lifeguards on duty at the official VEGAS Pro Forum and also at the Movie Studio Zen Forum here! There are also countless tutorials on YouTube and here at Movie Studio Zen.

I am also working on a massive amount of new video tutorials, all focusing on how to use VEGAS Pro. You will begin to see them very, very soon 🧐🤓. If you haven't already done so, download my free VEGAS Pro Shortcuts Guide and that will also put you on my email newsletter list. As soon as I publish new training videos for VEGAS Pro, I'll let you know via email.

As long as MAGIX's policy hasn't changed (I don't think it has), anyone that owns VEGAS Movie Studio Platinum will qualify for VEGAS Pro 23 Upgrade pricing!

Download Links for Free Trial, Upgrades, New & 365

  Download link for free 30 day Trial of VEGAS Pro 23 (opens new tab)

  Upgrade link for VEGAS Pro 23, if you already own an older version of VEGAS (opens new tab)

  Buy New link for VEGAS Pro 23, if you're new to VEGAS (opens new tab)

  Subscription plan for VEGAS Pro 365 (opens new tab)

Release day for VEGAS Pro 23 is 9th September 2025

This is just a personal observation, that half of you may laugh at and the other half may find is an interesting anecdotal fact. The official release day for VEGAS Pro 23 is the 9th of September 2025. It's one of those rare times where I can write the date 9/9/2025 and it will mean the same thing in all countries. In Australia and Europe, the first number of a date always refers to the actual day and not the month, but the reverse is true in North America.

The 9th of September 2025 is an auspicious day! The 9th day of the 9th month in a Universal Year 9.

In numerology, a Universal Year 9 heralds the beginning of a new nine-year cycle and symbolizes completion, a time to wrap up the old cycle, release the past and prepare for and be open to new opportunities, possibilities and beginnings.

I thought that was a nice fact to end this mammoth review with, because we all need to be positive in the here & now and also in the future! Expressing your creativity can open a doorway to happiness, and happiness can be very infective, indeed. Peace ✌️

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Update History for VEGAS Pro 23