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Charismatic_Unicorn4062
Participant
July 19, 2025
Question

High MP Files and memory pressure

  • July 19, 2025
  • 5 replies
  • 307 views

Hi Adobe Support Team,

I am reporting a critical issue regarding abnormally high memory usage in the cloud-based Lightroom, which appears to be a memory leak.

1. Summary of the Bug

After a standard editing session with high-resolution RAW files, Lightroom's memory consumption climbs to an extremely high level (over 26 GB in my case, as confirmed by Lightroom's own diagnostics). This memory is not released even when the application is idle or minimized. The only way to reclaim the memory is to restart the application completely.

2. System & Software Environment

Lightroom Version: 8.4 x64 [ 20250603-0500-10f89fb ]
Operating System: Windows 11 Pro (Build 2009)
CPU: AMD Ryzen 7 9700X 8-Core Processor
GPU: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 Ti (Driver 32.0.15.7688, 15.5 GB VRAM)
Total System RAM: 64 GB
Camera Model: Sony α7CR (61MP)
File Type: Uncompressed RAW (.ARW)

3. Steps to Reproduce

1. Import a batch of RAW files from the Sony α7CR.
2. Perform edits on several photos, specifically using AI-powered features like "Select Subject" masks and the "Denoise" function.
3. Observe the memory usage in Task Manager or Activity Monitor. It will increase steadily.
4. After finishing the edits, return to the Grid view or leave the application idle.
5. The key issue: The memory usage remains at its peak level and does not decrease over time. My attached screenshot shows ~29GB usage, and Lightroom's internal diagnostics confirm over 26GB is in use.

4. Observed Behavior vs. Expected Behavior

Observed: As shown in the attached screenshot from my previous session, Lightroom's process holds onto a very large amount of RAM indefinitely while idle.
Expected: Lightroom should release memory resources that are no longer needed after memory-intensive tasks (like AI Denoise or exporting) are complete, reducing its idle memory footprint to a more reasonable level.

This behavior significantly impacts overall system performance and strongly suggests a memory leak. I have the full diagnostic data from the "System Info" dialog and can provide it if needed.

Thank you.

 

[moved from bugs to discussions according to the community rules - Mod.]

    5 replies

    Rikk Flohr_Photography
    Community Manager
    Rikk Flohr_PhotographyCommunity Manager
    June 18, 2026

    Your similar posts have been consolidated into the original thread where your question was raised. 

    Apologies if I have it in the wrong thread.

    Rikk Flohr: Adobe Photography Org
    G
    Generous_view0D45
    Known Participant
    June 18, 2026

    The fact that the new Topaz AI sharpen feature was built so that it makes the user wait around for it to process and THEN fail with an error message stating that the resolution is too high, instead of just building a resolution check into the UI so you don't waste your time trying something that won't work, even when Adobe clearly was aware enough of this limitation to add a footnote about it on the site showcasing the new feature is exactly why I continue to ask if anyone is regularly testing with a library consisting primarily (or solely) of high resolution (≥61MP) raws.

    What a bizarre user experience choice.

    Rikk Flohr_Photography
    Community Manager
    Rikk Flohr_PhotographyCommunity Manager
    June 18, 2026

    “...exactly why I continue to ask if anyone is regularly testing with a library consisting primarily (or solely) of high resolution (≥61MP) raws….” 

    Asked and answered already. 

    Rikk Flohr: Adobe Photography Org
    G
    Generous_view0D45
    Known Participant
    June 18, 2026

    No, you told me that members of the team do shoot with high resolution cameras and that those images are regularly tested on. In fact, your exact words were:

    The team regularly tests with images up to and including medium format form factor. 100 MP images are not unusual, and we test with larger files. 

    We have several people on the team who routinely shoot files as large or larger than the 60 MP files in your mentioned Sony cameras.

    That's great, but that completely ignores the second condition of my question, which is that the regular testing be done on a Lightroom library that consists solely (or at least primarily) of these high-resolution photos. You have failed to ever address that specific point directly, and even went out of your way to avoid giving a simple "yes" or "no" response the last time I asked, and the last time I pointed out that you didn't in fact answer the question as I have asked it, I was just met with further silence. Why?

     

    Trust me, if you had actually answered my question (and I mean my question, not what you decide to change my question into), I'd stop asking it. Until then, a large portion of the issues I experience can be explained by no regular testing being done by someone who is exclusively dealing with these photos, and I will continue to press the point until I've been given an actual answer that informs me that I'm wrong. I have no desire to waste my time barking up the wrong tree, but stonewalling me with silence and indirect answers will only make me think you're avoiding addressing something.

     

    Related: As I stated in a recent comment, I have concerns about the synchronization between different components and the issues that have resulted from this. As I said in that comment, this primarily is caused by sub-optimal performance, and a library full of these high-resolution raws (particularly if they're lossless compressed raws) is one way that can happen. The other way that can happen is when using a system with specs that, while meeting the "minimum requirements", are still rather mediocre. This can, of course, be exacerbated even further by combining the two. I've asked about testing being done on these less-than-ideal systems in the past as well, and from what I recall, never got a straight answer about that either.

    G
    Generous_view0D45
    Known Participant
    May 6, 2026

    Cool. When will I get a response to any of the numerous times I've asked if you guys actually test using images from high-resolution cameras and why do I get the silent treatment every time I bring up the numerous issues that this team has been unable to reproduce, possibly as a result of not testing using high-resolution cameras?

    Rikk Flohr_Photography
    Community Manager
    Rikk Flohr_PhotographyCommunity Manager
    May 6, 2026

    The team regularly tests with images up to and including medium format form factor. 100 MP images are not unusual, and we test with larger files. 

    We have several people on the team who routinely shoot files as large or larger than the 60 MP files in your mentioned Sony cameras.

     

    ​@CMass  ​@Sameer K  tagging for visibility as ​@Generous_view0D45  has sprinkled this question liberally about the forum. 

    ​@Generous_view0D45 Greater than 90% of the bugs reported by customers are not bugs. The first step to verifying any bug is, “Can staff reproduce it?” Failing that, “Can any of our community experts or legends reproduce it?” Failing that, do we have significant traffic that says ‘me too’?  Failing that, it gets routed to questions to give it the greatest visibility and the best chance of being resolved. 

    The vast majority of ‘bug’ reports are usually a lack of understanding of how things are supposed to work. A misconfiguration, or device-specific, or environment-specific issue, or a combination of any or all of these, is the next most likely.  I am hard-pressed to recall a single specific instance of a bug related to megapixel size where too big meant fail. 


    The team will, as provided by the completeness of the information provided in a bug report, do their best to duplicate the equipment, environment, and workflow. If the bug exists and the information provided is complete, the bug will be written. If it cannot be reproduced, it will be sent to Questions. 

     

    Rikk Flohr: Adobe Photography Org
      G
      Generous_view0D45
      Known Participant
      May 6, 2026

      Yes, I've “sprinkled this question liberally” as without fail, every time I ask about these details on an individual post, staff responses stop near instantly and never resume again.

       

      The team regularly tests with images up to and including medium format form factor. 100 MP images are not unusual, and we test with larger files. 

       

       I am hard-pressed to recall a single specific instance of a bug related to megapixel size where too big meant fail. 

       

      To be clear, my question isn't whether individual 100 MP images are occasionally in the mix, but if anyone is regularly testing with albums consisting solely of high-resolution images (and in some cases, specifically lossless compressed raws which take more resources to load). Many of the performance problems I've reported in the past are issues that I've been able to easily reproduce on multiple machines and I believe are related to the performance hit of LR constantly processing multiple high resolution files in the background (syncing, etc.) as well as working on the one loaded in the foreground (e.g. the issue with the histogram lag that was dismissed due to no one being able to reproduce the issue).

       

      A more unique case that comes to mind that I believe could be directly related to the total resolution of the current file is the issue with linear gradient rotation that I reported a year ago that still hasn't been fixed. You stated that even after much trial and error, you were only able to observe the gradient rotating less than 1 degree, while on every one of my images, the rotation is much greater than that.

       

      So again, is anyone regularly testing with primarily high-resolution (optionally compressed) files on an average system that is not some $10,000 desktop workstation?

       

      Every time I ask this, I've been met with dead silence.

        Dranaj
        Dranaj
        Participant
        April 25, 2026

        Lightroom Classic > Catalog Settings > Metadata > Uncheck 'Automatically Write Changes Into XMP.'

         

        Check this detailed response from our

        G
        Generous_view0D45
        Known Participant
        April 25, 2026

        sigh

        Sameer K
        Community Manager
        Sameer KCommunity Manager
        Community Manager
        July 22, 2025

        Hey, @Charismatic_Unicorn4062. Welcome to the Lightroom Community. Thank you for sharing the details. 

        I have a machine similar to this, and the issue did not appear to happen when I tested it. Could you share the System information? 

         

        Is Lightroom Sync enabled while you continue to edit? Try pausing the Sync while you edit your images and enabling sync at the end of your edit session right before you exit Lightroom, and check how it goes. 

         

        Let me know how it goes. Thanks! 
        Sameer K

        (Type '@' and type my name to mention me when you reply)

        G
        Generous_view0D45
        Known Participant
        April 20, 2026

        I'm seeing this exact same behavior. Are you using an a7CR or a7R V? The OP specifically stated it was an issue with high resoluton raws and I've noticed a pattern here of encountering all sorts of bugs and performance issues on my end but getting told by staff that they can't reproduce the issue, and then getting completely ghosted by staff (this has happened on multiple occasions) when I ask if they're testing with at least an album of high resolution files, if not exclusively high resolution files throughout.

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