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Itam
Known Participant
May 31, 2020

Slow thumbnail generation in Premiere Pro

  • May 31, 2020
  • 38 replies
  • 10517 views

Hi,

I have this problem already for almost 2 years and I cannot seem to find a solution for it. And I am not the only one: https://adobe-video.uservoice.com/forums/911233-premiere-pro/suggestions/33849352-save-thumbnails-cache-for-project-panel-thumbnail

The generating of thumbnails in the project window is annoyingly slow. It really is the only thing in Premiere that slows the whole editing process down. Example: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UbCvkeJvLv4&feature=youtu.be

It is not really the generation of thumbnails itself I believe. The thumbnails can generate quite fast, but Premiere only generates the ones that are visible in the project window at that moment. So the moment I scroll down it has to generate those that become visible...than I have to wait...scroll down...etc. Only this way I can make all the thumbnails instantly available when needed. But once I close Premiere...and start up the project a next time it all starts over again. The thumbnails don't seem to be generated all in one time and also don't seem to be saved or cached in a way.

 

I already tried a lot, tweaking with cache settings. Using another drive especially for my cache, etc. But more and more am I convinced it is a Premiere problem, or am I (and the other people that voted on Adobe User Voice) doing something wrong here?

The files in the example movie are 1080p, 10-bit, h.264, 4:2:2 .mov files, straight from a GH5 camera. But I get the same problem with 8-bit files and other codecs/container formats.

My system setup is: I7-5930K processor, 32 gb of RAM, Geforce GTX 1060 6gb and I edit from a internal Samsung SSD 970 PRO 1TB M.2 NVMe drive (where also my cache directories are located...not ideal, but should be fast enough). I also tried to put my cache on another internal HDD (7.200rpm), but get the same results. Besides that I have the latest version of Premiere, latest version of windows 10 and I update my hardare drivers regularly.

Also good to mention that my OS and software is installed on a seperate SSD and that the Samsung 970 PRO is only used foor footage, project files and the caching.

The slow thumbnail generation was the reason for me to buy the Samsung SSD 970 PRO 1TB M.2 NVMe hoping it would speed up the process and also to try Davinci Resolve which indeed is much faster with stuff like this...but sadly has its own flaws.

38 replies

mertgrkm
Participating Frequently
September 6, 2023

I get demotivated every time because of this problem. It is not possible to understand how this problem cannot be solved for years.

Tristan_C
Participant
August 28, 2023

Over two years since this post and this issue is not fixed. I could almost get over how anoyingly slow thumbnail generation is (a few seconds per clip!), but the fact that they're not cached and have to regenerate everytime you open the project is insane. Slows down the whole system. Davinci does not have this issue. Premiere has more money behind it, why can't they fix basic freaking stuff like this?  They need to remove "Pro" from their name until they get their act together. No wonder people are dropping them left and right.

Alienware M15 R3 i7-10875H CPU @ 2.30GHz, 32GB Ram, RTX2070 , Premiere version 23.4.0

Participant
August 21, 2023

Still happening and slows us down a ton.  Please figure this one out asap!  Freeform view is unusable if we have to wait so long to even see a bunch of frames of video. 

GabrieleLS
Inspiring
March 24, 2023

Hello! I have the same issue.

 

A possible workaround is explained in this video: https://youtu.be/gCQfpimN0PI

 

Of course, disabling the "H264 hardware accelerated decoding" feature can create other issues, but my tests showed a massive improvement in thumbnails loading times: https://youtu.be/DibqbII1pws

Another option could be creating ProRes proxies and enabling them. Since ProRes is not hardware accelerated on Windows machines, I guess the thumbnail loading times could improve (I haven't tested that).

Participant
August 8, 2023

i have the same problem. Davinci?

 

demidrunk
Participant
March 2, 2023

is any admin handling this? I'm also getting similar issues on my workstation since 2 months ago. never had any issues with this previously for the last 3-4 years. 

 

system specs:

 

RYZEN 2700X

32GB RAM

RTX 2070

4TB HD (rushes go here)

512GB SSD (project file goes here)

 

 

Participant
February 20, 2022

WHY IS THIS NOT FIXED!!!!! It's 2022 and we are still having these issues with this. No, Adobe, it's not our machines. I have plenty of horsepower but its YOUR software. You are too busy changing crap that doesn't need to be changed. FIX THIS! 

Inspiring
February 20, 2022

I doesn't bother me that much because I have altered me editing a little bit but I do wish the thumbnails could be redrawn a little faster. 

Participating Frequently
May 2, 2022

Hi Andy. Kindly explain what you have altered so that I may give it a shot as well.

Participant
January 26, 2022

Thumbnail generation in project window and timeline is the single most time killing element when working on any edit. Please address this, allow for some permanent cache or SOMETHING.

Inspiring
January 26, 2022

I have a demonstration video of my own. 

Participating Frequently
June 9, 2020

100% Agreed.

This is such an annoying problem of Premiere which makes me wanna switch. Why the hell does it have to do it EVERY SINGLE TIME when opening the project. No matter how small or big the file, its slow AF. 

No helpful answers to be found from Adobe itself. Like always, the only one ur seeing are the common replies from them. 

I really wonder if they actually test this themselves. I mean, its so frustrating slow. 

Both on my desktop (max ram, geforce 1080gtx) as on my new razer (2070 super Max Q) its mega slow. 

One of the projects im working on has 1500+ clips. Showing thumbnails aint even an option here.  

Participant
May 10, 2021

How this not been addressed? I'm running a 16 core Ryzen 9, 64gb ram, 2080TI, etc, and the thumbnail loading is abysmally slow. Has there been any progress here?

 

Participant
September 6, 2021

I don't think so. I occasionally use Premiere Pro per project/agency request. It has always been slow doing this and it still is so slow for me even when loading everything up from the SSD. I am a MacBook Pro 16-inch user.

 

When I use Final Cut Pro, DaVinci Resolve, I just load up the projects and thumbnails of the clips appear almost instantly. But for Premiere, I am very hesitant and afraid to close the project, because it makes me wait a lot every single time.