P: (Win) Consumes RAM during import and fails to release afterwards

[perfect_goal1587]

I notice that LR eats all memory when you start importing images.

When opened, it takes about 1.5-3GB ram. Then import 100 images, and RAM shoots up to +17GB

Iv been doing some tests with smaller raw files, same thing, always goes up to 17GB ram usage. The folder i imported as test contains only 5GB of raws, and LR uses more then twice that amount to import those images? When you delete the images, 17GB ram is still in use. Then tested less images, like 30, and memory still goes up, but less, around 5GB ram extra, for images that on disk only take around 1GB. Importing more images, like +300 will not make memory to increase more then 17GB.

Solution? Import images, restart LR to clear memory, edit... and ram usage will stay "normal" around 6GB during edit after some testing. Thats 10GB less then just doing an import. Whats up with that?

Im on 13.5 btw

[Moved from ‘Bugs’ to ‘Discussions’ by moderator, according to forum rules.]

[Lumigraphics]

Its also not helpful to assume the other way, that this is a widespread issue. That's why I said conflict or misconfiguration.

[tomasz_9638]

What kind of misconfiguration can cause memory leaks? Bug, conflict or whatever - it causes that LrC becomes unusable and Adobe should address it.

[Conrad_C]

Multiple people across multiple threads are reporting the same problem. Then you come along with "works on mine, so i call BS" attitude. Not very helpful or constructive, is it?

By @tomasz_9638

That isn’t the intention of his wording. He’s saying the same thing D Fosse is saying: The fact that it is not happening to everyone only means there must be something specific causing the problem, but until Adobe can be given a specific set of steps or conditions that can re-create the problem on any computer, such as one fresh out of the box, they can’t easily pinpoint the problem.

That might be one reason it isn’t listed as a bug yet. It’s typical (that is, not just at Adobe but other companies too) that for a bug report to be useful, it should contain specific Steps To Reproduce, and that means if anyone performs those steps on a different computer, the problem will happen. That gives engineers a good place to start investigating the problem.

This issue is challenging because the error might not be very specific. I wonder if there is a way for Adobe to help users get more information about the current memory state that is wrong. For example, the Adobe Premiere Pro team has posted about how to obtain a process sample for them to analyze. (I’m not saying that would help with this type of problem, it’s just an example.)

If this memory issue leads to a crash or freeze that results in a Windows or macOS crash report, definitely submit that. Because even if it doesn't get listed as a bug here, if Adobe gets enough reports through the MS/Apple crash reporters it may get logged as a bug internally.

[Lumigraphics]

We commonly see gaming video drivers cause all sort of problems. That's a configuration issue. Asa n example.

[XeoN_PL]

But you know you can have installed 2 different drivers, one for games and one studio version?

[Lumigraphics]

I'm not sure how that matters. We have widespread anecdotal reports of gaming driver settings causing problems with Adobe applications.

[FjCañero]

LIGHTROOM CLASSIC BLOQUEA EL PC, CONSUMIENDO EL 99% DE LA MEMORIA RAM.

Buenas tardes,

Contesto en este mismo hilo para comentar un problema similar con la memoria RAM y la solución alcanzada, por si puede servir de ayuda a alguien.

(Si he de abrir un hilo nuevo, por favor decídmelo.)

Sin realizar ninguna edición, solamente haciendo tareas de ordenación,  etiquetado de fotos y sincronizar con la NUBE, provocaba que LrC consumiese el 99% de la memoria RAM, siendo imposible (en 5 minutos) realizar tarea alguna en LrC y dejando el ordenador bloqueado.

He estado buscando por toda la WEB y he ido anotando las indicaciones que se comentaban en distintos sitios acerca del consumo excesivo de RAM.

Realizando dichos pasos, tengo mi sistema como sigue:

- Lightroom Classic actualizado a su versión 13.5. El catálogo está en un SSD (1TB) dedicado con 840GB de espacio libre.

- La caché de Camera RAW, está en otro disco dedicado, con un tamaño máximo de 150GB.

- La memoria RAM de mi sistema es de 64GB.

- Tengo habilitada la aceleración de GPU, en modo AUTO.

- Sistema operativo Windows 11 Pro 23H2, instalado el 2024/06/01 y totalmente actualizado, en dos SSD de 2TB cada uno (montados en espejo) y disponen de 700GB de espacio libre.

- Procesador AMD Ryzen 9 3900X 12-Core Processor 3.80 GHz

- He actualizado los controladores de mi tarjeta gráfica NVIDIA Geforce GTX 1660 SUPER, instalado NVIDIA STUDIO version 560.81 de fecha 2024/06/08.

- He borrado las preferencias.

- He probado instalando nuevamente cada una de las versiones de LrC, desde la 13.1.

Por último, - He localizado las últimas ediciones realizadas, que por su mayor tamaño, pudieran generar problemas en el catálogo.. Las he sacado del catálogo, y esto ha resuelto el problema.

Espero que a alguien le sirva de ayuda.

Saludos desde Barcelona.

[FjCañero]

Rectifico.

Durante el tiempo que he tardado en postear la supuesta solución, LrC sigue igual.

[Broccolise]

Was there ever a solution found for this? I have a Mac and it keeps crashing because lightroom uses up to 80GB of my application memory, that's just insane. I am not even doing crazy stuff, just some default editing and masking. 

[perfect_goal1587]

can anyone else test this?

Its really awefull to work like that and close and restart LR after each import

[Rikk Flohr: Photography]

I've made multiple imports of 75-100 images in the past few days and have not observed the high-ram usage. 

I would recommend a clean reinstall (since 13.5.1 was released this morning)

Clean Lightroom Install Procedure

Close Lightroom

Restart the computer

Use the Adobe Creative Cloud App to uninstall Lightroom

Restart the computer

Install Lightroom via the Creative Cloud App without launching any other programs.

Restart the computer

Launch Lightroom

Wait 5 minutes

[Icaro_Rodriguez6758]

I am having a similar issue with my lightroom app. I am running a RTX4070 GPU, 13700i CPU with 32gb of DDR5 (basically a tank) and am still using 75% of my memory when editing pictures. My macbook air does it better than this. Not too sure what the solution is as I've checked for updates, tried deleting pictures from the cloud and all the restarts/resinstalls possible.

Would love to know if a solution is ever found 🙂

[XeoN_PL]

Man, there's no solution. We all here have the same problems and still noone could help us.

[GRPImagery]

Would be happy just to know adobe is taking this seriously.  

[XeoN_PL]

But they're not.

[Ganji12]

They really dont care...

[perfect_goal1587]

I will just add how mad I went yesterday when importing images again.

Step 1) open LR check ram usage: perfect about 3GB. Total system memory 35% used

step 2) import 1300 images

Check ram: 10sec later 17GB usage. Total system memory 95% used

Step 3) watch how LR becomes unresponsive. Cannot scroll or takesike 5secondes. Spinning bleu wheel... Unfreezes, then not responding again... O just wait till it take 10minutes now to import the images and fetch Initial previews. 

Step 3) breath, take a drink and wait till it's done...

Step 4) close LR

Step 5) open LR

Check ram: perfect 3GB usage.

Step 6) finally can start editing

This happens every time when importing images!

Drives me nuts

[perfect_goal1587]

I already did clean installs before. 

And 75-100 images it not enough. You need at least 300.

Yesterday imported 1300... Whole LR started to freeze all the time. Had to wait 10minutes for it to finish. 

Then closed and reopened it . Ram was back normal and could edit

[GoldingD]

step 2) import 1300 images

...

Step 3) breath, take a drink and wait till it's done...

This happens every time when importing images!

Drives me nuts

By @perfect_goal1587

Importing 13000 images? Importing 200 images would be a pain.

• When you imported, did you select Copy, Copy as DNG or ADD?
• I would ask what previews you created at import, but apparently Standard

A recommendation, when importing a large number of photos, say 100 or more. In order to get those images into the catalog quickly, try this method:

• Do not start LrC just yet
• Place the memory card (SD, CF, etc) in a card reader
• Use your OS File manager to copy the photos from the memory card to the desired hard drive and folder
• Open LrC, and select Import
• Select ADD
• Select Minimal (previews)
• Click on Import
• Go and do something else, Go and have dinner, whatever
• When the import is done, select all the photos and create the previews.

The above is what I do on a vacation photoshoot trip. For example a visit to Yosemite NP. In order to get those photos from the SD card, into the hard drive, and into the catalog, in the least amount of time and frustration. Yes, at the expense of time to create initial previews.

[Rikk Flohr: Photography]

I've opened a bug for the team to review. They may contact you directly for more information. 

Thanks for your report and the refinements. 

[GRPImagery]

I have been experiencing similar, system memory issues - not always associated with new imports, but rather just about any ongoing Lightroom activity (e.g., changing collections rapidly, updating keywords, enhancing photos, and yes, importing images).   Once the Memory climbed it would never release the memory and the system would start to glich untill it was unusable (Lightroom that is).   The only solution I found was to force windows to kill lightroom so it would release the memory and then start over.  

Today, I uploaded the most recent version of Lightroom, 13.5.1 and "knock on wood", I am seeing a noticable improvement.   Not convinced it's solved (the release notes do not mention anything about memory bug fixes), but since I loaded the patch version my Lightroom "system memory"  has not climbed above 40% and I am experiencing no inextricable lag.   

Give it a try.   Best of luck to you.  

[David Luery]

Let me add my tale of woe to this continuing saga.  To start, here are the specs on my computer and software:

> Dell XPX 8950 tower, i9-1290K CPU, with 128 Gb RAM, GeForce RTX 3070 with 8 Gb of VRAM (NVIDIA Study Driver version 560.81, which is the latest)

> Windows 11 Home, version 23H2, with latest updates (last updated 2 days ago)

> LrC version 13.5.1

The System Info is attached, but what I believe to be the most relevant information is as follows:

Lightroom Classic version: 13.5.1 [ 202408271704-d15d09cd ]
License: Creative Cloud
Language setting: en
Operating system: Windows 11 - Home Premium Edition
Version: 11.0.22631
Application architecture: x64
System architecture: x64
Logical processor count: 24
Processor speed: 3.1GHz
SqLite Version: 3.36.0
CPU Utilisation: 0.0%
Power Source: Plugged In
Built-in memory: 130796.1 MB
Dedicated GPU memory used by Lightroom: 5519.9MB / 8018.0MB (68%)
Real memory available to Lightroom: 130796.1 MB
Real memory used by Lightroom: 13654.9 MB (10.4%)
Virtual memory used by Lightroom: 21130.3 MB
GDI objects count: 1041
USER objects count: 3215
Process handles count: 3707
Memory cache size: 356.0MB
Internal Camera Raw version: 16.5 [ 1954 ]
Maximum thread count used by Camera Raw: 5
Camera Raw SIMD optimization: SSE2,AVX,AVX2
Camera Raw virtual memory: 1865MB / 65398MB (2%)
Camera Raw real memory: 1443MB / 130796MB (1%)

Cache1:
Preview1- RAM:17.0MB, VRAM:0.0MB, _MG_3035-Edit-Edit.tif
Final2- RAM:37.0MB, VRAM:0.0MB, 9060D407-E466-4446-85F4-F90A77A60220.dng
Final3- RAM:1171.0MB, VRAM:2984.0MB, _MG_3035-Edit-2-Edit.tif
Final4- RAM:148.0MB, VRAM:0.0MB, _MG_3035-Edit-2.tif
Preview5- RAM:22.0MB, VRAM:0.0MB, _MG_3034.CR2
Preview6- RAM:19.0MB, VRAM:0.0MB, _MG_3031.CR2
Preview7- RAM:19.0MB, VRAM:0.0MB, _MG_3032.CR2
Final8- RAM:167.0MB, VRAM:0.0MB, _MG_3035.CR2
Preview9- RAM:22.0MB, VRAM:0.0MB, _MG_3030.CR2
Preview10- RAM:22.0MB, VRAM:0.0MB, _MG_3033.CR2
NT- RAM:1644.0MB, VRAM:2984.0MB, Combined:4628.0MB

Cache2:
m:356.0MB, n:692.5MB

U-main: 2184.0MB

System DPI setting: 120 DPI
Desktop composition enabled: Yes
Standard Preview Size: 1680 pixels
Displays: 1) 2560x1440, 2) 2560x1440
Input types: Multitouch: No, Integrated touch: No, Integrated pen: Yes, External touch: No, External pen: Yes, Keyboard: No

Graphics Processor Info:
DirectX: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 (32.0.15.6081)
Init State: GPU for Export supported by default
User Preference: GPU for Export enabled
Enable HDR in Library: OFF

Application folder: C:\Program Files\Adobe\Adobe Lightroom Classic
Library Path: C:\Adobe\Lightroom\Lightroom Catalog\Lightroom Catalog v13-1.lrcat
Settings Folder: C:\Users\david\AppData\Roaming\Adobe\Lightroom

Installed Plugins:
1) DxO PhotoLab 7
2) DxO PhotoLab 7 Importer
3) DxO PureRAW 4
4) DxO PureRAW 4 Importer
5) Nik 7 HDR Efex
6) Plugin Parameters
7) ProShow
8)ProShow Web
9) Topaz Photo AI

Config.lua flags:

Adapter #1: Vendor : 10de
Device : 2488
Subsystem : c9031028
Revision : a1
Video Memory : 8018
Adapter #2: Vendor : 1414
Device : 8c
Subsystem : 0
Revision : 0
Video Memory : 0

In the spring LrC would crash unexpectedly, no warning and no error message.  After being unable to solve the problem on my own and through postings here and at Lightroom Queen, I contacted Adobe tech support and an agent logged onto my computer.  He made the following changes:

> First, in Windows 11 Settings>System>Display>Graphics, he added LrC to the list of applications for which custom graphics settings could be specified, and for LrC he specified 'High performance'

> Second, in the NVIDIA Control Panel, under 'Manage 3D settings', in Program Settings he added LrC as a program to customize. Unfornately I don't know which, if any, parameters he changed.

These changes solved that problem.

Then in July LrC was running noticeably slower, to the point that it was becoming almost unusable (I don't remember which version of LrC I was running when I noticed this problem, but as I pretty promptly update when a new version become available, I was probably running 13.3 or 13.4 at that time).  For instance, there would be a very noticeable lag between trying to move a slider and seeing the slider actually move, which also meant a long lag before whatever edit I was trying to make was actually implemented.  I struggled with this for a couple of months, and finally called Adobe tech support at the end of August.  The rep logged on to my computer, went through what seemed to be to be an exhaustive diagnostic procedure and could identify no problem with my hardware, including the video card, and no problems with my installation of LrC.  His recommendation was that I create a second user account and do my Lightroom work in the new user account, as in his diagnostic process I did create a 2nd user account, created a small test catalog, and proceeded to try to edit an image in LrC in the new user account.  And, indeed, LrC did perform better.  However, once I started processing in the new user account images I had been working on in my original user account, the problems returned.  So no joy.

It was only after working with the Adobe rep that I finally realized that the problems I was having tended to be with images with a lot of masks.  Unfortunately for the Adobe rep, whenever he asked me to demonstrate the problem I was having, I would start to process one of my 'problematic' images by making a global adustment using the tone curve.  I would pull down in the dark tones, with the result that there would be a very obvious lag before LrC responded.  So he had no reason to suspect that masks might be involved.

The image I have been using as a test case is an urbanscape  with 10 masks, as follows:

> sky, with the use of 13 brushes to 'perfect' the mask

> inverted sky, 17 brushes

> inverted sky minus the foreground, 18 brushes

> the 7 remaining masks are a combination of masks created with a brush or object selection

The System Info, above and attached, is from working on this image.  Working with this image is very difficult -- sliders move with a lag and changes are implemented by LrC very slowly.  In fact, it is often the case that a rectangle containing the top, say, 1/4 of the image will turn black while LrC is 'thinking' about what I have asked it to do.  Other things I have noticed include that it scrolling in the left hand panel can be, tough not always, very slow and with a lag; also LrC can be very slow to refresh when I click on a prior state in the History panel.  Today I just noticed that positioning and repositioning a new radial gradient was very, very, very slow.

So that is my tale of woe.  One last observation, though -- in reading through posts both here and elsewhere about LrC performance as possibly related to masks, it seems to me that the vast preponderance of people complainign about this problem also mention having Nvidia GPUs.  Now this might reflect that Nvidia has an overwhelmingly dominant market share, which it may (but I don't know if it does) or that there is something about Nvidia's GPUs or driver software that contributes to these problems.  Note that I am not saying either of these things are true, as I simply do not know, so I am only making an observation.

One last thing -- In the System Info, I noticed that there is reference to "Adapter 2" which has 0 video memory.  What does this mean?

Best,

David