Skip to main content
P
precise_Everglowaac4
Participant
August 18, 2026
Question

After Effects RAM Usage Exceeds 32 GB and Preview Drops Below 1 FPS

  • August 18, 2026
  • 1 reply
  • 13 views

Hi everyone,

I’m having a serious performance issue with After Effects 2020 and would appreciate any advice.

When I open After Effects and load certain templates, the preview becomes extremely slow—sometimes dropping below 1 FPS. At the same time, RAM usage suddenly increases until it exceeds my 32 GB of memory, and eventually Windows becomes unresponsive or crashes.

My PC specifications include:

  • NVIDIA RTX 2060 Super 8 GB

  • 32 GB RAM

  • Windows

I’ve already tried both upgrading and downgrading After Effects to different versions, and also templates(from light to heavy) but the same issue continues.

Has anyone experienced a similar problem? Could this be related to the template itself, memory/cache settings, GPU acceleration, plugins, or another After Effects configuration?

Any suggestions on what I should check would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance!

    1 reply

    Nishu Kushwaha
    Community Manager
    Nishu KushwahaCommunity Manager
    Community Manager
    August 18, 2026

    Hi there, sorry to hear about the issue. Since this happens only with certain templates, it's likely specific to the files rather than the application itself. To find what's actually causing it, open the template and disable layers one by one to identify the real culprit. I know that's time-consuming, but it'll help narrow the issue down.

    Before you do that, a few things worth trying:

    1. Import the template into a brand new blank project.
    2. Cap AE's RAM allocation: Preferences > Memory & Performance. Reserve more RAM for other apps (e.g., leave 12–16 GB for the system).

    Also, After Effects 2020 is 5 years old — rendering, memory management, and GPU handling have improved significantly since then. If possible, test in the latest version.

    Note: version 2020 has been retired. If you uninstall it, it cannot be reinstalled.

    Let me know how it goes. Moving this thread from Bugs to Questions for troubleshooting.

     

    Thanks,

    Nishu

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