Skip to main content
Northbound Film
Northbound Film
Participant
April 15, 2026

AE 26.xx won't play back. Composition is 'frozen'. When quitting, then requires Force Quit.

  • April 15, 2026
  • 1 reply
  • 34 views

Hi team —

 

Starting a project per usual. Fine for the first hour or so. At a certain point the composition window freezes. Playing and scrubbing does nothing. I then quit, which freezes the app, making me Force Quit.

 

This has been an issue in all versions of 26. Currently still causing issues on 26.2. I have 25.6.5 which continues to work well. Have cleared caches, checked disk settings, reset preferences.

 

Any others experiencing this issue? This version isn’t usable.

 

**

Apple M2 Max

96 GB

Mac OS Tahoe Version 26.3.1 (a) (25D771280a)

    1 reply

    Nishu Kushwaha
    Community Manager
    Nishu KushwahaCommunity Manager
    Community Manager
    April 16, 2026

    Hi Northbound Film,


    Sorry for the unexpected behaviour. Are you getting this on new projects as well, or just on old ones? Are there any third-party plug-ins installed? Can you try running After Effects in Safe Mode with third-party plug-ins disabled?

    Let me know how it goes.


    Thanks,

    Nishu

    Northbound Film
    Northbound FilmAuthor
    Participant
    April 20, 2026

    Apologies for the delay on this!

     

    Just tested this. It appears to be an issue with the third-party plugin Dehancer, which is causing major issues in AE 26. They’re aware of the issue and are apparently working to resolve it. Just adding here for posterity for the many users that are experiencing this.

     

    Thank you!

    Chris

    Terms & ConditionsAccessibility statement
    Using the community Terms of use Privacy Cookie preferences Do not sell or share my personal information ad choicesAdChoices