Adobe Premiere Elements 2023 Extremely High Memory Usage

[JoeMiii]

Hello,

I upgraded to Adobe Premiere Elements 2023 for the ability to edit HEVC (h.265) files without the need to convert to h264 first.

I loaded a series of 4k HEVC videos from my GoPro into PE and edited them into a 1+ hour long video. Everything seemed to be working ok (although a little sluggish) until I went to export the video.

Exporting the video to 4k h264 (using a variety of different settings for testing, same outcome every time) the memory usage from Premiere Elements is off the charts. It'll spike my RAM close to 100% during encode and the encode will fail, stating that the application is low on memory and needs to restart. Once or twice the excessive RAM usage crashed my PC.

My PC is no slouch either:

32GB RAM
Intel Core i7 6700
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1070 GPU
Windows 10 Pro 22H2

As a further testing measure, I loaded the same project on my laptop and had the exact same results (although the specs on the laptop aren't quite as good as my PC).

Has anyone else experienced this? What could cause this ridiculous amount of RAM usage during encode??

[Steve Grisetti]

Premiere Elements can work with HEVC video if you've got the proper component installed in Windows. But it doesn't do well with HEVC 4K -- and will not work well at all on any 4K that is faster than 30 fps. What is your video's frame rate?

[JoeMiii]

I have the HEVC/HEIF extensions installed in windows. My video source is 60 fps 4k HEVC. Perhaps that could be the issue.

4k 60fps H264 worked flawlessly on earlier versions of PE. I assumed the 2023 version would be as capable with HEVC. Perhaps this isn't the case.

[Bill Sprague · Accepted solution]

I routinely use Premiere Elements to edit 4K/30 H.264 footage. It works very well.  Higher frame rates or HEVC footage has not been as reliable.   

If GoPro, 4K, HEVC/H.265 footage at high frame rates is your goal, please consider asking for a refund and trying some other video editors. 

[JoeMiii]

Thank you. I'm still experimenting with using the Voukoder plugin to see if I can get PE to export this video after none of the built-in encoders would work without crashing. If that's unsuccessful I'll see if Adobe would be willing to issue a refund.

[EverythingEpicGR]

What would be a good option for other editors?

[Steve Grisetti]

CyberLink PowerDirector is a good consumer editor. Although even it may struggle with that frame rate and 4K.

Your best bet is Adobe's Premiere Pro.

[JoeMiii]

Does anyone know if the new 2024 version of Premiere Elements solved the high memory usage problem with HEVC 4k video? I want to upgrade, but not if this problem still isn't fixed.

[Bill Sprague]

I've never thought it had a problem with RAM usage.  Maybe it does with specific camera footage.  Download the free trial.   Try it with your footage.  Even if you buy it (from Adobe), you have 30 days to get a full refund if it is not to your satisfaction.  

Can you share a clip from something that is causing you problems?  I would like to try it on my computer.