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Inspiring
August 23, 2021
Answered

Viewport and preview freezes after some time working

  • August 23, 2021
  • 3 replies
  • 7584 views

Hi, I´ve been working with after effects for quite some time and i have never had an issue like this. 

It started like a week ago, i tried to play a preview and the timeline wouldn't play and the preview panel stayed in the same frame, after this happens i can pause the preview, i can move the timeline slider but the preview will stay the same no matter what, even if i change composition or create a new comp viewer, the preview will froze and the timeline won't update when i hit play. I still can select everything, move around the software and even add effects or footage to the project but like i said it won't play, then i would save and after i try to close the app it will froze and i'll have to End Process through the Windows Task Manager. If i reopen the project it will happen again, the only workaround i found by myself is to open a new project, create a new comp and then open the project i'm working on to get the preview panel to start working correctly but this only lasts like 10 minutes or so and the i have to do the whole process again.

 

I alredy tried to:
- Close and open the After Effects App

- Restart my PC

- Clean the disk cache

- Purge All Memory

- Re install the After Effects App

- Change the After Effects version

- Delete the app preference when start

- I even format my computer and reinstalled Windows (since i thought that my drive was full)

 

And this is still going, i've only found someone with the same problem in a reddit thread from 2 years ago but there is no solution and this only started past week so i dont know what's going on i hope you all can help.

 

I'm working with AE 18.4.1 and 18.4

My PC is Dell Latitude 5520 and the stats are:

Intel i7-1165G7

16GB Ram

Intel Iris Xe Graphics Family

and a 512GB SSD

 

Thank you in advance for your help

 

Correct answer Roberto5E98

I'm sorry Justin, it turns out the graphics driver update was not installed yet, i check it again today and hit install and it work. Thank you so much!

3 replies

Participant
November 6, 2022

Same problem here for a year now. I can reproduce it when changing the workspace manualy (taking the preview window and snapping it to the right or something) 
Otherwise, it happens randomly. Super annoying and time consuming to restart AE all the time.

Participant
July 27, 2022

Ich habe das gleiche Problem. Mein Grafiktreiber ist auf dem neusten Stand aber das Problem bleibt weiterhin bestehen. 

Auch wenn ich eine neue Datei anlege, funktionier after effects für ein paar Minuten und dann friert wieder alles ein.

Hat hier jemand eine Lösung?

Participant
September 6, 2025

Me too, I have the same problem

 

nishu_kush
Community Manager
Community Manager
September 23, 2025

What are your system specifications (CPU, GPU, RAM, OS version)? Also, what's the version of the GPU driver you're using?


Thanks,
Nishu

Justin Taylor-Hyper Brew
Community Expert
Community Expert
August 25, 2021

Did you try upgrading your graphics drivers? Also, what format is the footage? Maybe try encoding to something easier to play back like ProRes 422.

Inspiring
August 25, 2021

I don't think that it's the footage because the viewer freezes with images and videos, no matter if its the same project or a totally new one with only shapes, it freezes. But let me try to find any driver update to see if that could work, thank you for the advice, i'll let you know any news about this issue