Massive memory leak in After Effects 2022 causes system instability & lockups

Report · Jan 30, 2022

Latest versions of After Effects 2022 and 2021 are causing system instability, using up 58GB of RAM and then freezing the entire computer even when the software is just idling in the background. There is a huge memory leak that no one is able to discover and "turning off multi frame rendering" does nothing to help the issue.

But I found a fix! I reverted to 2020 and now everything is working perfectly again. It's the exact same old after effects experience: slow, laggy, no real-time playback, except its 100 times better because it doesnt crash my entire system after 2 minutes of use.

Just a quick note, you have to directly contact Adobe using the support "Chat" to ask them to give you an installer file for AdobeAfterEffects17AllTrial and AdobeMediaEncoder14AllTrial and youll need AdobePremierePro14AllTrial if you want to be able to use dynamic link between Premiere still.

Have fun everyone! Maybe Adobe will one day fix the software we pay hundreds of pounds for yearly... I doubt it but who knows. Until then, ill just run software written two years ago.

Report · Jan 30, 2022

Just wanted to add that before I worked out it was an issue with AE2022 I spent over a month troubleshooting the issue:

I flashed my BIOS, tweaked my CPU timings, Replaced RAM sticks, Replaced my motherboard (*not joking*), clean reinstalled windows more than 6 times, bought a new GPU, tried every single available version of After Effects that Creative Cloud will allow you to download.

I was going nuts basically. So its a massive relief to know its just Adobe doesnt know how to write stable software and not something wrong with my computer. Lol, imagine if you could invoice Adobe for the time you spent troubleshooting their software issues. I would be able to retire by now.

Report · Mar 17, 2022

I have a very similar issue!

I have a complicated project with lots of expressions, but my Windows computer can handle that (enough RAM, memory, ...) But since the 2022 version of AE, my memory usages for AE goes form 5GB to 22GB or more in a matter of minutes. Even when I'm not doing anything in AE itself, the memory usage just keeps rising.

(I don't get an 83::2 error from AE itself, like most other people get.)

When I clear my memory via AE it goes down to 16GB or a little bit lower, but that's still very high.

Report · Apr 04, 2022

I am also suffering in this regard.

I open my After Effects project, do absolutely nothing, and watch as the memory usage rises from 2GB to 22GB in Task Manager in a matter of minutes. After it reaches this point, my computer is barely functional... It's hopeless!

This all started about a month ago when I updated to the latest version at the time. I just updated *again* from v22.2 to v22.2.1 and the problem seems even worse. Memory usage climbed up to 22GB in about thirty seconds. This version is unusable 😕

Report · Apr 05, 2022

Use AE 2022 and go to 'composition' < 'preview' and turn of the 'Cache Frames when Idle' function.

It worked for me, because AE was apparently cashing frames while the program was open but not actively used, and since I've turned it off, my memory usage is back to normal. Hope it helps!

Report · Apr 17, 2022

Geeenius! Thank you!

Report · May 24, 2022

So, instead of being a timesaving solution that helpfully renders frames when you're not doing much, it instead chews up all of your RAM to the point where your machine becomes the next best thing to a brick. Fantastic! Can't wait to see what the next version brings.

Thanks for the solution kathygraphy, that seems to be working for me!

Report · Aug 23, 2022

I did what you suggested and this does seem to be working. It's slow, but hey, at least I can function again. AE better fix their program because I'm about ready to shop around for something new. It's gotten to the point it's just not worth the trouble. Anyway, thanks for the tip!!!

Report · Aug 29, 2023

Dropping in to say I got hit with a memory leak when I upgraded to 23.6 and this fixed it. Thank you!

Report · Apr 25, 2022

The lack of response from adobe on this topic says a lot.

Report · May 11, 2022

Been experiencing the same issue for a while now. Using 2020 is a solution but what the heck are Im paying for then? 2 year old software?

Report · May 16, 2022

Have you tried this in the 2022 version?

go to 'composition' < 'preview' and turn of the 'Cache Frames when Idle' function.

Report · Aug 23, 2022

I bought a new station (for reasons not related to this problem) with windows 11 and After Effects is working fine now. My previous station was more than capable of running/rendering 3D and 8K workflows, this was an error on AE itself that somehow got fixed in the transition.

Report · Aug 23, 2022

Thanks for writing this up. This has been driving me crazy for a few weeks. My computer is more than capable of handling the files I was working on, but it would freeze up my entire computer, requiring me to restart and lose work.

Problems persist, and even get worse, after closing down AE. I just closed AE, and my computer came to a halt—my mouse was stuttering when moving, I could barely type anything. I had nothing else running at the time.

I have a pretty beefy PC that has no problem handling large 3D renders and even 8K video editing (using DaVinci Resolve), so it's definitely not a matter of specs.

This needs to get resolved.

Report · Aug 23, 2022

The only things that seems to work for me are the plugins. I don't have any problems when using Element 3D but when I import video files, it won't play past the first frame. If I move videos around, it become unresponsive. If I purge it becomes unresponsive. Like you, my PC is more than capable of rendering BIG 3D files and hi res, so I know this isn't a me problem. I can't get any work done. So frustrating!

Report · Aug 23, 2022

I'm at wits end with these problems. Are you seriously saying I have to resort back to 2020 software? How will that effect updated plugins like video copilot and trapcode? I can't render more than a single frame and if I shift anything, the program becomes unrespsonsive. If I purge memory, it becomes unresponsive. This is a BIG problem; I can't get anything done.

Report · Oct 20, 2022

Thanks Kathygraphy for your suggestion to turn off "Cache frames when idle". However, this problem goes deeper because even after turning the setting off, and just RAM preview-ing a simple 1080p video with zero effects added, the memory usage jumps to a staggering 45 GB.

Report · Nov 06, 2022

Sorry to hear you've had trouble updating your software.

If After Effects 2020 works as expected while 2021 or 2022 do not, the most likely cause is third-party plugins that need to be updated.

If After Effects is stable, but "slow, laggy", no real-time playback", the current Composition settings likely exceed what the workstation configuration supports. Reduce the Composition Resolution (Full to Half, Half to Quarter, or Quarter to Custom) and use of the Preview options that skip frames to work more quickly. After Effects is only as fast as the workstation we run it on, but even on a very powerful workstation it's possible to ask After Effects to do more than what the workstation is capable of.

While After Effects, Media Encoder, or Premiere Pro can be used independently, they of course need to be installed together to be used together. Yes, Adobe Support is available if we have issues with installing software. If subscribed to the All Apps Creative Cloud plan, there is no need to reach out to Adobe support to install Premiere Pro. Just click the "Install" button next to Premiere Pro in Creative Cloud Desktop. If not subscribed, the button should show as "Try" instead of "Install" and reaching out to Adobe support should only be requried if that does not work as expected.

Report · Jun 26, 2023

Adobe, you have to acknowledge that there is a huge problem with RAM. I had someone from Adobe kindly drive my machine and we uninstalled all plugins and ran a simple scene. Within about 30 seconds or so - my 64gb memory was full and it crashed.

I run at quarter res, and press shift '0' to skip frame when ram previewing. But the ram fills up so quickly - I am having to race to purge every 5 mins or so - if I dont - it freezes.

Guy this ois a fundamental flaw. Ae is the bottle neck in everyones workflow.

I render 4k square huge smoke sims from 3d software faster than it takes to pre render the same sim in Ae. Itsgot to the point where we (as in EVERYINE in the professional industry) are looking desperately for alternatives. I love AE - been using it for 20 years. But its becoming seriously unusable.

I hope there is an update that forcuses purely on performance.

Thanks

Report · Dec 01, 2022

Just an update. Adobe 2023 still poses the same issue. It reaches a staggering 52 GB of RAM usage for me after around 20mins of usage and simple RAM previews. Its nothing to do with the composition exceeding the workstation capability.

I have to constantly keep my task manager on display so that once RAM usage reaches full capacity - I quit After Effects and load it again to have memory usage go down and enjoy 20more mins of non-laggy usage time, before it increases and I repeat the cycle again.

For reference here are my specs:

12th Gen Intel(R) Core(TM) i9-12900K 3.20 GHz

64.0 GB RAM

Nvidia RTX A4000 16gb dedicated memory

Windows 11 Pro

I'm on the "Creative Coud All Apps" plan...

Report · Dec 01, 2022

What third party plugins are you running?

Report · Feb 06, 2023

Sorry for the late reply Warren. No 3rd party plugin, to check AE 2023, I got a new PC and just used it fresh. Basic compositions also started resulting in massive memory usage.

This also causes Media Encoder to freeze halfway through export

Report · Jan 09, 2023

Same, just watching 256gb or ram slowly fill up, gets about :10 of the timeline done before it all completely falls apart and i have to restart....

Report · Jan 09, 2023

What third party plugins are you running?

Report · Jan 09, 2023

no third party plugins being used on this comp. I cleared out the remainder of the assets in the project bin that arent used in this section and its running smoothly. I'm getting the feeling its a video asset causing the issue which seems weird. I'll be adding things back in as I go and hopefully will be able to ID what's causing the issue.