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T
Techie1961
December 19, 2025
Question

AI Denoise performance degrades dramatically after repeated use and only recovers after OS restart

  • December 19, 2025
  • 1 reply
  • 287 views

Product:
Lightroom Classic (Windows, version X.Y.Z)

Description:
When using AI Denoise repeatedly in a single session, performance degrades non-linearly. Initial denoise operations complete in seconds, but after processing multiple images the same operation on the same image can take many minutes. Restarting Lightroom Classic does not restore normal performance. Restarting Windows immediately restores AI Denoise to normal speed.

Steps observed:
After launching Windows and Lightroom Classic, AI Denoise processes high-ISO RAW files at normal speed. After denoising multiple images in succession, AI Denoise becomes progressively slower. At a certain point, processing time increases by orders of magnitude even when applying the same denoise settings to the same image. Closing and reopening Lightroom does not resolve the slowdown. Restarting the operating system fully restores normal denoise performance.

Expected behavior:
AI Denoise performance should remain consistent across repeated operations within a session, or recover after restarting Lightroom Classic.

Actual behavior:
AI Denoise performance degrades significantly after repeated use and only recovers after restarting the operating system.

Additional notes:
This occurs when processing large batches of images, typically dozens to over one hundred files. The issue is most noticeable with high-ISO images common in low-light or concert photography. The behavior suggests GPU memory or compute context resources are not being fully released between AI Denoise operations. Restarting Lightroom alone is insufficient, but restarting Windows consistently resolves the issue.

1 reply

johnrellis
johnrellis
Legend
December 20, 2025

I don't observe those symptoms, and I don't think there are other reports here about it. It may be specific to your GPU / graphics driver. Try updating your graphics driver by going directly to the manufacturer's web site, rather than relying on Windows Update or a manufacturer's update utility:
https://helpx.adobe.com/lightroom-classic/kb/troubleshoot-gpu.html#solution-4

If that doesn't help, please copy/paste here the entire contents of the LR menu command Help > System Info -- that will let us see exactly which versions of hardware and software LR thinks you're running.

T
Techie1961Author
December 20, 2025

I realize this may not be showing up in other reports, and I suspect that’s largely because many users apply AI Denoise to single images or very small selections. The behavior I’m seeing only becomes apparent once batch sizes grow beyond that more typical use case ie a hundred or more images.

 

I should add that I noticed a similar pattern going back to the original introduction of AI Denoise, even when it was creating discrete output files rather than working more inline as it does now. At the time, the same kind of non-linear slowdown would emerge as workloads increased.

 

Because of that history, my suspicion has been less about configuration or individual files and more about something systemic — possibly memory management, resource cleanup, or pipeline behavior that only becomes visible under sustained or higher-volume processing. Those were thoughts I’d already had before raising the question here.

I’m mainly trying to understand whether this kind of scaling behavior is expected by design, or whether it’s something Adobe is aware of and tracking. I’m happy to provide additional detail if it helps answer that question, but I’m not looking to run through an exhaustive diagnostic process at this stage.

J
Community Expert
Jao vdLCommunity Expert
Community Expert
December 20, 2025

John is right. This is not a normal observation and yes many of us here apply denoise AI to 100's of images at the same time. I never ever restart my machine except for system updates. AI denoise just keeps chugging along. This is likely a graphics card specific memory management bug in the GPU driver. Making sure your driver is up to date (you'll have to go to the manufacturer's website - windows update does not keep GPU drivers up to date very well) is known to fix similar issues. Make sure if you use a Nvidea card you install the studio driver - not the gaming one. If the driver update doesn't help, make sure you relay the info john asks for as that might help chasing down if there is indeed a deeper problem in Lightroom's code - which is entirely possible.

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