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skillful_Wish5CF3
November 28, 2025
Answered

Lightroom AI Denoise silently fails on macOS 26.1 (Sequoia) + M1 – stops at ~15%

  • November 28, 2025
  • 2 replies
  • 1742 views

Hi,

I’m experiencing a reproducible issue with AI Denoise in Lightroom (cloud) 9.0 and Lightroom Classic on macOS.

 

Setup:

 

  • macOS 26.1 (Sequoia)
  • MacBook Air M1 (8 GB RAM)
  • Lightroom 9.0 (latest) + tried Classic as well
  • GPU: Enabled (Auto / Metal M1)
  • RAW files: Fujifilm X-E5 RAF
  • Creative Cloud: active subscription, signed in
  • Clean reinstall performed using Adobe Creative Cloud Cleaner Tool

 

 

Problem:

When I click Enhance → Denoise:

 

  • Processing starts
  • Progress reaches ~15–16%
  • Progress bar disappears
  • No enhanced DNG is created
  • No error message
  • Lightroom does NOT crash

 

 

This happens every time, in both Lightroom (cloud) and Classic, including after a full cleanup and reinstall. AI Denoise has never completed successfully on this system.

 

Question:

 

  • Is AI Denoise currently broken or unsupported on macOS 26.1 (Sequoia) with Apple Silicon?
  • Are RAF files from newer Fujifilm cameras (X-E5) affected?
  • Is there a known fix or patch planned?

 

 

Happy to provide logs or test builds if needed.

Thanks.

    Correct answer Anshul_Saini

    Thank you, @skillful_Wish5CF3, for sharing the sample file, screen recording, and system information. That helped a lot.

     

    I tested the provided RAF file on our end, and AI Denoise completes successfully here. This indicates the issue is not specific to the image content itself, but rather that Lightroom on your systems is likely not finding or loading the required AI Denoise model correctly.


    @matejk24720113 

    This can happen if the local Camera Raw AI model cache becomes incomplete or corrupted, which would explain why the progress stops silently around 13–20% without an error.

     

    Please try the following steps carefully:

    • Update to the latest Lightroom version from Creative Cloud. This ensures older components are fully replaced

    • Quit Lightroom completely

    • Delete the Camera Raw AI model folders:

    – System-level: /Library/Application Support/Adobe/CameraRaw/ModelZoo/

    – User-level: ~/Library/Application Support/Adobe/CameraRaw/ModelZoo/

    (Delete the entire ModelZoo folder and everything inside it)

    • Relaunch Lightroom

    • Try AI Denoise again on a single image

     

    Please let us know the result after trying this. Thanks again for your patience.

     

    Best regards,
    Anshul Saini

    2 replies

    Anshul_Saini
    Community Manager
    Anshul_SainiCommunity ManagerCorrect answer
    Community Manager
    December 29, 2025

    Thank you, @skillful_Wish5CF3, for sharing the sample file, screen recording, and system information. That helped a lot.

     

    I tested the provided RAF file on our end, and AI Denoise completes successfully here. This indicates the issue is not specific to the image content itself, but rather that Lightroom on your systems is likely not finding or loading the required AI Denoise model correctly.


    @matejk24720113 

    This can happen if the local Camera Raw AI model cache becomes incomplete or corrupted, which would explain why the progress stops silently around 13–20% without an error.

     

    Please try the following steps carefully:

    • Update to the latest Lightroom version from Creative Cloud. This ensures older components are fully replaced

    • Quit Lightroom completely

    • Delete the Camera Raw AI model folders:

    – System-level: /Library/Application Support/Adobe/CameraRaw/ModelZoo/

    – User-level: ~/Library/Application Support/Adobe/CameraRaw/ModelZoo/

    (Delete the entire ModelZoo folder and everything inside it)

    • Relaunch Lightroom

    • Try AI Denoise again on a single image

     

    Please let us know the result after trying this. Thanks again for your patience.

     

    Best regards,
    Anshul Saini

      M
      matejk24720113
      December 30, 2025

      Hey! This has solved it for me - many thanks! I actually had done this prior to your recommendation (chatgpt recommended something similar) but I only deleted files inside the ModelZoo folders, not the parent folder itself - which it now seems was a necessary step. All good on my side now. Have a happy 2026!

        A
        Community Manager
        AlekeCommunity Manager
        Community Manager
        November 28, 2025

        Hi @skillful_Wish5CF3, welcome to the community!
        It’s possible Lightroom thinks your GPU is unsupported. Try deleting the file Camera Raw GPU Config.txt as explained here:
        https://adobe.ly/4ipsFeR
        That will force Lightroom to reevaluate your GPU capabilities. After that, go to Lightroom > Preferences > Performance > Camera Raw and make sure Use Graphics Processor is set to Auto.


        If that doesn’t help, could you share your System Info? You can find it in Lightroom under Help > System Info. Just copy the info into a text file and attach it to your response, or share it via Google Drive, WeTransfer, or any file-sharing platform you prefer.
        Thanks so much!
        Alek

        *(If you mention me with an @, like @Aleke, I’ll get a notification and can respond faster.)*
        S
        skillful_Wish5CF3Author
        November 29, 2025

        Hi @Aleke thank you for the feedback. 

         

        I followed the steps mentioned and deleted the config file - unfortunately it didn't solve the issue. 

        The situation is same as before, the process just quits around 16-20% 
        Just to make sure we are on same plage -  I am working on Lr (web) mac os app. 

         

        Please find attached system info:

        Lightroom version: 9.0 arm64 [ 20251017-1944-414afc8 ] (Oct 17 2025)
        NGL Version: 1.42.0.5
        WF Version: 8.0 58cbd19
        VF Version: 1.0.164
        HIL Version: 40501
        CAI Version: c2pa-c/0.6.0 c2pa-rs/0.46.0
        PH Version: 5.2.3
        Adobe GSDK Version: 1.4.0.42
        CR Version: 29.5.0.202509162212_6e7a997

        Operating system: macOS
        OS Version: macOS 26.1 (25B78)
        Application architecture: arm64
        Computer model: MacBookAir10,1 / Apple M1
        Logical processor count: 8
        Real memory available to Lightroom: 8.192,0 MB
        Real memory used by Lightroom: 932,0 MB (11,3%)
        Peak memory used by Lightroom: 2.087,0 MB
        Memory cache size: 1.597,7 MB

        Internal Camera Raw version: 18.0 [ 2389 ]
        Maximum thread count used by Camera Raw: 5
        Camera Raw SIMD optimization: Neon
        Camera Raw virtual memory: 493MB / 2048MB (24%)

        Display: 2560x1600

        Graphics Processor Info: Metal: Apple M1
        Graphics Processor Detail: loaded: Yes, supported: Yes, compute: Yes, init: I4_GPU3, hard: success, soft: success, al: Yes, dl: No
        OS Media Capability: true

        Application Folder: /Applications/Adobe Lightroom CC
        Settings Folder: /Users/domagalski/Library/Application Support/Adobe/Lightroom CC
        Library Folder: /Users/domagalski/Pictures/Lightroom Library.lrlibrary

         

         

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