Photoshop 27.2 Crashes with Potential Memory leak on Mac M3 Ultra 15.6.1

[Sami_PA]

Hi Team,

Issue: When opening certain larger photoshop files in PS 2026 it crashes when trying to open the file (and other larger files), which can be successfully opened quickly in PS 2025 26.11.2. I kept activity monitor open to try and gauge what is causing the issue suspecting a memory issue as it crashes my Wacom tablet (historically is the first signs of memory issues). The file has smart objects inside with many layers but I've never had this issue before.

Photoshop Version: Photoshop 27.2

OS Version: Mac M3 Ultra Sequoia 15.6.1 with 256GB memory

File Size in Finder: 104mb

Activity Monitor Memory 

PS2026 - 176.96 GB (peaked and crashed)  

PS2025 - 7.15 GB (opened successfully)

Currently I'm utilising using PS 2025 as a work around but this really isn't ideal moving forward.

Thank you.

[Aleke]

Hi @Sami_PA, thanks for reaching out!
Does this only happen when you’re opening large files? If so, try creating a new document and then check Photoshop > Settings > Scratch Disks to make sure you have enough space on the selected disk. Here’s a helpful guide:
https://adobe.ly/44CPN3N
Let us know how it goes, we’re happy to help!
Alek

[D Fosse · Accepted solution]

We see this often enough that I suspect there's a real bug in here somewhere - but the good news is that a complete reset of preferences seems to fix it in most cases. That means moving the entire "Adobe Photoshop 2026 Settings" folder to the dektop so a new one can be built.

The real culprit isn't Photoshop in itself, but the GPU using system memory executing tasks called by Photoshop, eventually eating into the system pagefile and bringing the whole system to a halt. Smart objects, notably, don't use the scratch disk, but the system pagefile. So do all the newer AI-based/GPU-based advanced functions.