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Lewiz
Lewiz
Inspiring
February 2, 2026

Why is After Effects v 26.0.0 dramatically slowing down all preview and export rendering?

  • February 2, 2026
  • 23 replies
  • 2418 views

Hi everyone, ever since I updated AE to version 26.0.0 I have experienced render times as much as ten times slower than it used to be in version 25.x.x. For now, I have rolled back installation to a 25 version, but I would very much like to keep up with the versions, including all new features.

I read somewhere that I'm not the only one bumping into this problem.

What can I do to solve it? To be clear: I can create a project in v 2026 and it renders terribly slow; when I save it as 25.x version and then switch to AE v2025 everything works at proper render times.

Will there be an update for v 2026 that solves this problem?

      23 replies

      Sam McKenzie
      Participant
      September 28, 2026

      Any fix for this yet? Still experiencing it in Sep 2026. Fixes mentioned in the thread haven’t worked for me.

      Vivacious_Rainbowf5b6
      Participant
      August 31, 2026

      Hey, so, I don’t know how to say this. Why do they have to make a thing this much buggy? My client is so pissed off at me. It used to take very low time to render no metter what I am working on. Just imported a bunch of png from a render of UE5 project. It’s taking forever to render it. 

      I use mac mini m4, to render 3000+ frames it took me 1.2 Hour only in UE 5.8.1. But, the fun fact is a soft like AE is taking more literally 30minutes to render 2000+ frames of it. This is pissing me off. It used to be so fast at this. Just after changing the version it’s cooking me. 

      innovative_curiosity5692
      innovative_curiosity5692
      Participant
      May 8, 2026

      Yep, same problem. Even worse in the latest update. Something like changing the font on a text layer can take 5-10 seconds to update on screen.  I’m using a MacBook Pro M4 Max with 128 gb RAM, I look forward to Adobe claiming me this is somehow the fault of the hardware as they always do. 

        Lewiz
        LewizAuthor
        Inspiring
        April 25, 2026

        Hi Everyone,

         

        After months of waiting for a response, update or solution the new version of AE, 26.2.1 is out. I haven't experienced the same amount of trouble yet, so something must have been changed. Heard nothing about a fix, cause of the problem, follow-up, whatsoever. But the problem seems to be gone.

        Lewiz
        LewizAuthor
        Inspiring
        April 25, 2026

        Alas, forget my previous post. Trouble is still here. As soon as I introduce an MXF on a timeline (might be MXF bound), all of After Effects turns thick and slow, and crashes within minutes.

        When are we going to hear good news about this crucial problem? Please Adobe, how can you release a new version of AE 26 and not having adressed this major issue?

          David_Casalgrandi
          David_Casalgrandi
          Participant
          March 23, 2026

          Bonjour, j’ai exactement le même problème décrit par Lewiz…quelle perte de temps. Les abonnements CC c’est vraiment du vol qualifié !!!

          nishu_kush
          nishu_kush
          Legend
          February 23, 2026

          Hi all,

           

          We need your system specifications (CPU, GPU, RAM, OS version) details in order to investigate the issue further.

          Looking forward to your response.

           

          Thanks,

          Nishu

          robby999
          robby999
          Participant
          February 23, 2026

          M4 Max; onboard GPU, 32-core; Sequoia, 15.6.1.

            nishu_kush
            nishu_kush
            Legend
            February 10, 2026

            Hi all,

             

            Really sorry for the delayed response. I am able to replicate the issue on my end as well. Thanks for reporting it. I’d really appreciate it if you could share your system specifications.

            I’ve filed a bug for further investigation. Moving this thread from Questions to Bugs.

             

            Thanks,

            Nishu

              real_5081
              Known Participant
              February 26, 2026

              The amount of bugs in 2025 and 2026 is absolutely unacceptable. Adobe has to stop rushing out broken versions. Stability is more important than your arbitrary release cycle. 

                vobrazovka
                Known Participant
                February 10, 2026

                I have the same experience with 25vs24 and 26vs24. AE24 renderes (hires bitmaps) ten times faster than AE25 and AE26. I often have to prerender some scenes in AE 24 if I am in hurry..

                  TomoyaOkazaki13
                  TomoyaOkazaki13
                  Participant
                  February 9, 2026

                  I was working on a project that was slow but managable. Then i upgraded to v26.0. It was EXTREMELY slow. Borderline unusable.
                  I almost spend money on getting a new SSD cause I legit thought it was a hardware issue (after all the fixes I tried). Especially since I just had a new PSU upgrade since my old one started to fail.

                  I switched back to v25.x and the speed was back to what I was expecting.

                  thanks adobe for making me install 2 versions of your software. I have other projects I already worked on using 26.0 and with Dynamic Links to Premier 26.0, so i cant just switch back to 25.x for both software..

                    AidanEdits
                    Inspiring
                    February 6, 2026

                    In Preferences->Disk there’s a new setting which compresses cache files to save disk space, which is enabled by default when updating to 26. I’ve found this to be a huge detriment to performance. Try turning that off. 

                      robby999
                      robby999
                      Participant
                      February 10, 2026

                      Did this earlier and things seem to be back to normal. Thank you!

                      Also, the setting is called “Enable Compressed Frames (Lossless)”

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