Memory allocation of 3 GB exceeds internal limits error (Fixes DON'T work for me)

[Ahmet26047475ozev]

I didn't have any issue until one day while my AE project is set to full, this error pops up:

I've already tried all the fixes. I emptied the disk cache, cleaned the database and cache, increased my maximum disk cache size (it was originally 100GB, I set it to 200GB), in the Memory settings I increased the allocation from 56GB to 58GB of RAM to be available for AE (I have 64GB of RAM total, so the max AE allows me to set it to is 58GB), and in the Project Settings I'm using Mecury GPU Acceleration (CUDA).

Why am I still getting this error when 3GB is not the max amount of memory I allocated to it?

[Mylenium]

None of this makes any sense if you're not explaining what you actually do. This is clearly caused by some effect you are applying, but without knowing which one, nobody can help you. Mucking around with the caches and all the other stuff doesn't do anything.

Mylenium

[Ahmet26047475ozev]

I said it in my first sentence. I said I set the project quality to full. That's what triggered the error.

[Warren Heaton]

You'll need to figure out how to get the layer that's exceeding 3GB when at Full Resolution to be smaller than 20,000 by 20,000.

If you are getting this error message while creating a new Composition, try reducing the width and height by half.

[Yardbird33]

For me, I had some looped textures that I brought in at 300dpi and very large. I brought them into Photoshop and reduced their size, imported back in Ae, replaced the large files and viola. 

[elTraja]

Hi there I had exactly the same problem... It is something in the newer version of AE as I havent had this before. The main problem was that My project was set up at 16bits and one of the effects that I was using it only works at 8bits... so I had to change the composition to 8Bits and it stopped guiving me errors

[javiere49339472]

This change to 8bits solved it for me. Thanks!

[anoira46802595]

Hello ahmet i have faced the same Issue i was using the motion tile effect  and i went over the value 500 that's when the error appeared (only on Full resolution) and by the way i have 128gb of RAM so i discovered that the error has to do with super scaling a layer when go and scale it  a lot or in my case the scale was made by the motion tile effect look for layer scaled and reduce the scale and this should solve the problem 

[OussK]

Here are some steps you can try to resolve this issue:

Adjust Secret Preferences:

After Effects has a "secret" preferences panel where you can force the system to purge cache more aggressively.
Open the Preferences panel (Edit > Preferences > General).
Hold down Shift and click on the "Preferences" text at the top of the window.
A new "Secret" menu should appear. In this menu, enable "Disable Layer Cache" and set "Purge Every X Frames During Playback" to a low number (like 5 or 10).
Disable Multi-Frame Rendering:

Multi-frame rendering can sometimes cause issues with memory allocation.
Go to Edit > Preferences > Memory & Performance and uncheck the "Enable Multi-Frame Rendering" option.
Check for Memory Leaks in Plugins:

Some third-party plugins can cause memory leaks, leading to this error. Disable all third-party plugins and see if the issue persists.
Re-enable them one by one to identify if a specific plugin is causing the problem.
Render with Software Only:

Switch to software-only rendering to see if the issue is related to GPU acceleration.
Go to File > Project Settings > Video Rendering and Effects and set Use to Mercury Software Only.

Clear Preferences:

Clear After Effects preferences to reset any settings that might be causing the issue.
Hold down Ctrl + Alt + Shift (Windows) or Command + Option + Shift (Mac) while launching After Effects.

[Andrzej2176208751hm]

first method is not working can you send screenshot? (menu not appears)

[OussK]

Follow the steps to get be able to see this window

[lukep60027779]

Not sure if anyone still running into this problem but i changed from 32 bit colour to 8 or 16 and it fixed this.

[VFX_Senior]

First, a GENERAL TRUTH: NEVER UPDATE SOFTWARE BEFORE ENDING A PROJECT.

In AE 2022, my project heavily using mattepaints for upcoming feature film worked without any issues.

Unfortunately, I installed AE 2024 and after loading the project it was throwing me a message:

After Effects: Memory allocation of 2.1 GB exceeds internal limits. Decrease the memory requirements for the rendering of this frame. (12802). For more information, see www.adobe.com/go/learn_ae_mem

and then the second one:

Decrease the memory requirements for the rendering of the frame. (12804). For more information, see www.adobe.com/go/learn_ae_mem
Image buffers of size 16318 x 8582 @ 32 bpc (2.1 GB) exceed internal limits.
( 37 :: 66 )

But worst of all, after loading the project into AE 2022, it also started throwing this errors.
So it's probably a problem with some add-on files that are installed alongside the actual AE files. Some helpers, dynamiclink dlls, parsers or other libraries.

So now I have to format the system and put everything from scratch on AE 2022 to be able to finish the project.

This is why: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9NB-jTQmcGU

[VFX_Senior]

And some supplemental info: dual Xeon workstation with 256 GB of RAM (where 34 GB is reserved for system and other apps).