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Extremely Slow on New M3 Mac (macOS Sequoia 15.5) – Unusable for Workflow

Forum|Forum|6 months ago
October 6, 2025
4 replies
601 views

Subject: URGENT: Lightroom Extremely Slow on New M3 Mac (macOS Sequoia 15.5) – Unusable for Workflow.

Lightroom is performing extremely slow on new Apple M3 (macOS Sequoia 15.5). Images take far too long to load in Develop view, causing major disruptions to the workflow. This is a critical issue that makes the software nearly unusable.

This is a machine with plenty of available storage and no performance issues elsewhere. Apple Support confirmed there's nothing wrong on their end.

Three Adobe technicians have already accessed the system remotely and still haven’t resolved the issue.
This level of performance and support is unacceptable, very disappointing from Adobe. A real solution is immediately needed.
Please escalate this and respond ASAP.

macOS

Correct answer johnrellis

"However, the main issue is the slowness in loading images when sorting through them - when going back and forth through unedited images during the selection process."

Definitely try disabling Automatically Write Changes Into XMP, as dj_paige indicated. If you use Denoise in conjunction with that option, a bug acknowledged by Adobe causes these symptoms:

https://community.adobe.com/t5/lightroom-classic-bugs/p-automatically-write-changes-to-xmp-can-t-be-used-with-denoise-on-large-numbers-of-photos/idi-p/15393188

But even if you don't use Denoise, there are some reports here of Automatically Write Changes causing similar symptoms. Adobe recommends turning it off:

https://helpx.adobe.com/lightroom-classic/kb/optimize-performance-lightroom.html#LeaveautowriteXMPturnedoff

I prefer having that option enabled, and it worked well for me for 15 years, but with this recent bug (and a couple others), I've disabled it.

YOURpageMaker

Known Participant

genau so finde ich es auch. Lightroom kann leider nicht mehr gebraucht dafür., wenn

es nicht mehr schneller geht.

Ian Lyons

Community Expert

What size are files in mega pixels?

Have you used Denoise or Super Resolution on the files?

A

aude.auAuthor

Known Participant

The file sizes are 25 to 30 MB each.
I've been testing this for a couple of weeks. The main issue is related to having the "Write Changes into XMP" option enabled.

Nonetheless, some slowness has been experienced even with this function turned off, though it’s not as severe.

Overall, "Write Changes into XMP" is a critical function, and this issue needs to be fixed. I don't think it's justifiable to risk losing even an hour of work.

A

aude.auAuthor

Known Participant

Hi, thank you for the reply.
1. Write Changes Into XMP’ has been turned on, given that the catalog has been corrupted in the past, resulting in lost edits.
2. However, the main issue is the slowness in loading images when sorting through them - when going back and forth through unedited images during the selection process.
Therefore, should "Write Changes Into XMP" have an impact during the sorting process, especially causing a lag of several seconds to load an image. Also, the issue is intermittent.

dj_paige

Legend

Hi, thank you for the reply.
1. Write Changes Into XMP’ has been turned on, given that the catalog has been corrupted in the past, resulting in lost edits.
2. However, the main issue is the slowness in loading images when sorting through them - when going back and forth through unedited images during the selection process.
Therefore, should "Write Changes Into XMP" have an impact during the sorting process, especially causing a lag of several seconds to load an image. Also, the issue is intermittent.

By @aude.au

It's easy enough to try turning off the write XMP option, and see if it makes a difference. We don't know your computer and this will give you an answer taking into account all of the unique characteristics of your computer.

johnrellisCorrect answer

Legend

"However, the main issue is the slowness in loading images when sorting through them - when going back and forth through unedited images during the selection process."

Definitely try disabling Automatically Write Changes Into XMP, as dj_paige indicated. If you use Denoise in conjunction with that option, a bug acknowledged by Adobe causes these symptoms:

https://community.adobe.com/t5/lightroom-classic-bugs/p-automatically-write-changes-to-xmp-can-t-be-used-with-denoise-on-large-numbers-of-photos/idi-p/15393188

But even if you don't use Denoise, there are some reports here of Automatically Write Changes causing similar symptoms. Adobe recommends turning it off:

https://helpx.adobe.com/lightroom-classic/kb/optimize-performance-lightroom.html#LeaveautowriteXMPturnedoff

I prefer having that option enabled, and it worked well for me for 15 years, but with this recent bug (and a couple others), I've disabled it.

johnrellis

Legend

"Images take far too long to load in Develop view, causing major disruptions to the workflow."

One cause of this: Have you enabled Catalog Settings > Metadata > Automatically Write Changes Into XMP?

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