Answered

RAM for After Effects

Forum|Forum|2 months ago
May 25, 2026
4 replies
172 views

My computer has 32.0 GB RAM but I often see 92% of RAM is used when I worked with certain Ae. I wish to increase the RAM. Is 64 GB enough for Ae or I have to go for 128 GB.

Correct answer Warren Heaton

With complex Compositions, After Effects is very likely to use all of the RAM that you make available.

64GB is better than 32GB, but 128GB is better than 64GB.

That said, you should be able to get plenty of work done with 64GB.

ceznov

Inspiring

I don’t get it. From what I've read as of version 25.2 AE added High-Performance Preview Playback and it should use much less RAM to store previews and use Cache Disc instead. So how in the world my project immediatly occupy 90% of RAM? What changed?

M

michalem

Inspiring

Doesn’t matter how much ram you will have - After Effects will destroy it all - every single time. It’s just so bad. One of the worst programs out there in terms of RAM usage - and I run CFD simulations for a living.

sskaz

Inspiring

AE caches everything possible, including the entire Undo stack, into ram before offloading to disk cache. Unless you’re working with caps lock on, those cached uncompressed rendered frames are going to use a ton of memory. This is by design.

If your system has unused, free ram, it’s going to use it, because unused ram is wasted ram. If your other apps need more ram, then your OS will do its best to manage it all, but setting memory limits in AE preferences will set a hard cap for AE.

M

michalem

Inspiring

That is exactly what I meant - it will needlessly destroy any RAM you might have for no reason other than to protect itself from bad design.

MahaB82A_Author

Thanks for the explanation.

Warren Heaton

Community Expert

Hi @MahaB82A:

Adobe After Effects really benefits from extra memory once compositions get more complex. A jump to 64GB+ would give you a lot more headroom. 64GB or 128GB is a good upgrade.

MahaB82A_Author

Recently RAM price has increase 6 times because of less supply in the market. Because RAM manufactures prefer to manufacture RAM for AI servers. I prefer to choose 64 GB because of my budget. Is this enough for the purpose?

Warren Heaton

Correct answer

Community Expert

With complex Compositions, After Effects is very likely to use all of the RAM that you make available.

64GB is better than 32GB, but 128GB is better than 64GB.

That said, you should be able to get plenty of work done with 64GB.

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