Premiere running out of application memory

Question

I know there are other threads about this issue but none of the suggestions seem to work and there are a few more variables with my issue.

I am cutting a feature length doc with another editor. We are both working on identical M2 Mac Studios, Premiere 25.6.6, Sonoma 14.8.7 and all the media is stored on a Qnap server. We’re working in a Production workflow and all of the Premiere settings are identical except for key commands and workspaces. One computer is working flawlessly and the other is basically a paperweight at this point. Any attempt at playback or render ends with the Mac OS force quit window opening saying the system has run out of application memory. We’ve emptied the cache, reset preferences...done everything we’ve seen suggested and we will get a temporary reprieve but it doesn’t last long.

We’re working with Sony camera footage, 8K drone footage proxied to 4K ProRes Proxy, and archival material proxied to ProRes Proxy.

This workflow and setup with hardware and media has worked very well for much bigger projects so I’m thinking there must me some setting in Premiere or the OS that is causing this one computer issues or maybe there is just something wrong with the computer. Either way we’re all very frustrated.

PaulMurphy · Answer

Since both machines and the Production are identical, I’d focus on what’s different about the failing Mac. Here are a few things to check, starting with the quickest.

1. Check free space on the boot drive

The “out of application memory” message comes from macOS, not Premiere. When memory runs short, macOS uses swap space on the boot drive, so if that drive is nearly full, you can hit this error even with plenty of RAM.

Open System Settings > General > Storage on the failing Mac.
Compare the free space with the working Mac.

If the media cache is on the boot drive, that would also explain why clearing it gives you a temporary reprieve.

2. Check that original media hasn’t been attached as proxies

If original media has accidentally been linked as proxies, that Mac would be playing 8K drone footage and full-resolution camera files even with proxies enabled.

3. Watch Activity Monitor during playback

Open Activity Monitor and select the Memory tab.
Start playback in Premiere and watch the Memory Pressure graph.
Note whether Premiere itself keeps growing, or whether another process is using the memory.

This will tell you whether Premiere is the actual source of the problem.

Test: Try a new macOS user account

If none of the above turns anything up, create a new user account on the failing Mac in System Settings > Users & Groups, then open the Production from that account.

If it plays cleanly, the problem is in the original user account.
If it still fails, the problem is system-wide on that Mac.

Let us know what you find.

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