.pek files constantly being recreated when working in a Production environment with other users

Issue

In a production shared by 4 different computers, all of them using shared storage, Premiere re-creates peak files constantly.

After a lot of testing and investigation (of which I can provide details later on if useful), I have worked out that the problem occurs when one user of the production uses a project and saves it, then other users, when opening that project, will have to generate peak files again. Regardless of whether they had created them already or not. This occurs on every occasion, but with no consistency in how much of the material will be recreated; sometimes it’s the whole of the media in the project, sometimes it’s just a part of it.

Only when one unique user is using the projects does the problem not occur, but as soon as a second user shares the projects, the issue returns.

Additional Context

The issue started when the project began, but as more footage was being added, it became quite evident. It occurs in all projects. I have also tested creating new productions, with new projects and different footage, and I recreated the exact problem, in both Premiere 2025 and 2026, so it’s not a specific issue with particular projects/production.

We used this same workflow in other films in the past, both in Premiere 2023 and 2024, and we never had the issue. Some of the computers are the same, some are different. All have the same settings (matching the ones we had in the past).

I have also tested and the problem occurs as well when using the media from an external hard drive, so it’s not an issue isolated in our shared storage unit.

Media Cache lives on the internal SSD drive of each of the computers, so there is no shared cache database. Preferences have been reset (and one of the computers went through a full drive formatting/reinstall, which had no effect on the issue). All computers have “do not delete” media cache in their settings.

The cache grows indefinitely, old .pek files are orphaned instead of reused, and if new files are created the same day, a suffix of “_1”, “_2”, etc. is added to the new files.

The film is a documentary mixing archive and fly-on-the-wall material. Everything is imported as Apple ProRes (Proxy) QT mov files and WAV files. The issue occurs with both types.

When the peak files occur, the audio is playable immediately; it’s the waveforms that are being generated.

I’ve tried to change things in the Settings, but nothing seemed to work. Happy to provide more details; I’ve run tests during the last few weeks trying to find a solution (or at least to find out when the issue occurs, which I think I have done). Happy to provide more info about it.

As the project grows in media, this is starting to become a big issue causing problems in to the production, so hopefully a solution can be found.

Screen Recording: Included a video showing the issue with text explaining the different steps.

Premiere Version: Premiere 2026. But it also occurs in 2025.

Operating System: macOS Tahoe (also tested with Sequoia, same issue)

Equipment: Working with a combination of Mac Studios (M2 Max 2023 and M4 Max 2025). Connecting via Ethernet to an Ugreen NAS DPX 4800 (or external storage G-Drives when tested in other drives)