Preview often freezing and going back a frame + audio problem

Report · Jan 02, 2026

Hello, my preview has often been freezing and bugging out when I press spacebar to view the preview. It's not all the time, but it happens a lot. Additionally, my audio is bugged (and I assume the audio is connected to the problem) where when I press play the audio doesn't play immediately and instead buffers for a second or two before cutting back in and correcting itself. I've tried practically everything and went over my audio hardware multiple times, making sure my output is to the right source— my headphones that aren't bluetooth. The only solution to the freezing is to restart the program and I've went over some of the many threads that discuss this problem but haven't been able to fix it.

I'm relatively new to after effects, but my specs are good and this error didn't occur on my macbook pro with worse hardware.

I truly would appreciate any help or suggestions for other places to look.

Report · Jan 06, 2026

Hi adison,

Thanks for reaching out and sorry to hear about the issue. Would you mind sharing the following details?

1. What are your system specifications (CPU, GPU, RAM, OS version)?

2. Is it happening in all the projects or a specific one?

3. Have you tested with the audio files from a different source?

Here are a few things you can try:

1. Run After Effects in Safe mode with third-party plug-ins disabled.

2. Clear media cache (Edit > Purge > All Memory & Disk Cache).

3. Test with a media from a different source in a new project.

Thanks,
Nishu