head to head · open source
LosslessCut vs lightcraft
LosslessCut has 44,504 GitHub stars, 2,212 forks, 300 open issues and last shipped 13 days ago. lightcraft has 11,069 stars, 3,918 forks, 347 open issues and last shipped yesterday. LosslessCut leads on adoption by 302% (44,504 vs 11,069 stars). LosslessCut is written in TypeScript under GPL-2.0; lightcraft is written in Rust under Apache-2.0. LosslessCut has attracted 5% as many forks as stars, lightcraft 35%. lightcraft was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee.
Two open source projects, one decision. Both are free and self-hostable — the differences are community size, license terms, language stack and release pace.
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Side by side
| LosslessCut | lightcraft | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 45K | ★ 11K |
| License | GPL-2.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | TypeScript | Rust |
| Last push | 2026-09-30 | 2026-10-12 |
| Forks | ⑂ 2.2K | ⑂ 3.9K |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick LosslessCut if
- You weight community size — 45K stars and counting
- You want the GPL-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick lightcraft if
- You want the lightcraft feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Rust
- You evaluated both and lightcraft fits your workflow better
About LosslessCut
LosslessCut is a cross platform desktop application for lossless editing of video, audio, and subtitle files. Built with Electron and TypeScript, it serves as a graphical interface to FFmpeg, enabling users to perform precise cuts, trims, merges, and track manipulations without re encoding, thus preserving original quality. It targets users who need to rapidly process media files—such as raw footage from cameras, drones, or smartphones—where re encoding would be time consuming and degrade fidelity.
read the full LosslessCut overview →
About lightcraft
LightCraft is an open source, clean room reimplementation of Adobe Lightroom written in pure Rust, aimed at photographers who want a native, non destructive photo library and raw editor on their own machine.
read the full lightcraft overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is LosslessCut or lightcraft more popular?
LosslessCut has 44,504 GitHub stars and lightcraft has 11,069. LosslessCut has the larger community by that measure.
Are LosslessCut and lightcraft free?
Both are open source. LosslessCut is licensed under GPL-2.0 and lightcraft under Apache-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between LosslessCut and lightcraft?
LosslessCut is written in TypeScript and lightcraft in Rust. The practical differences are community size, licence terms, language stack and release cadence — all compared in the table above.
Which should I choose, LosslessCut or lightcraft?
Choose LosslessCut if you want the larger community (44,504 stars) or its GPL-2.0 licence terms. Choose lightcraft if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.