25.2 Horrible Playback Lag

[Mattie P.]

Hi I have just updated to 25.2 and opened my current project. Playback is incredibly laggy, even with proxies and at 1/2 resolution, a MASSIVE difference from yesterday when I was working on this project in 25.1. I can't even play through a basic cross dissolve between two clips, or a keyframed opacity on a single clip. Won't play just jumps ahead once it has caught up.

My Windows Task Manager shows Premiere using 30-60% of the GPU conducting "video decode" processes for the last 20-ish minutes since I opened the project, which I'm assuming has something to do with it. And like 65% of RAM. That's happening even while I the program is sitting in idle.

Does this have something to do with the new content search and analyzing of clips? If so, is there a way to turn it off? This is just a guess.

PP 25.2.0 Build 147

Windows 10.0.19045 Build 19045

AMD Ryzen 9 5950x

NVIDIA GEFORCE RTX 3080

64GB RAM

[aspenn]

@jamieclarke 

The latest Studio driver 572.83.

[jamieclarke]

Hi @aspenn - Can you send the project with the problem media to jamiec@adobe.com so that we can take a look.

[Akai 2.2.5]

Of course I'm not the only one having this new issue...

[FOTOimage]

Same issue here on a Mac. Absolute horrible performance once updated to 25.2.

Soon as i re installed 25.1 everything is back to working normaly, this isn't a user nor a hardware issue. Get your act together Adobe, when it's not PP it's CC or Lr, there is always an issue making me waste my time, while I am paying you dilligently each months. Do better.

[jamieclarke]

Hi @FOTOimage -We need a few more details to try to help with the issue. Can you check the pinned post and answer these questions.

[Mattie P.]

Hi @jamieclarke . Update on this. I am also seeing that PP is using about 20GB of RAM while sitting idle. Like, right now as I type this with my project open in the background but absolutely zero happening with it, my Task Manager is showing Premiere as using 19,200+/- MB of RAM. This is constant, it never stops utilizing this amount of system resources when idle, so I'm just posting that here because if that's what it's using when idle I can only imagine what it's using when I'm actually editing this large project. It is becoming like pulling teeth editing a long-ish documentary feature on this platform.

[jamieclarke]

Hi @Mattie P. - Do you have Media Intelligence on or off?  You can check in your preferences under the tab Media Analysis & Transcription.  

The high system usage you’re seeing is expected while the new Visual Analysis feature runs in the background. This process is designed to fully utilize available system resources to complete the analysis as quickly as possible.

If you begin playback or interact with the timeline, the analysis will pause to ensure smooth performance, and then resume once the system is idle again. Once the analysis completes, system usage should return to normal.

Let us know if you’re seeing different behavior.

[Mattie P.]

Hi @jamieclarke  thanks for the prompt reply. That isn't the issue, unfortunately. I tried turning it off and waiting several minutes and PP is still using the same amount of system resources. I'll walk away for hours with the machine on and come back and PP is using like 50% of my system's RAM. This is unusual and new to this version (25.x) of PP, as far as I can tell, but has been ongoing for a number of weeks I'm pretty certain.

[jamieclarke]

Hi @Mattie P. - Can you send the project to jamiec@adobe.com 

[FOediting]

I’m also experiencing the same issue, and I’ve done an in-depth comparison between an older version of Premiere Pro (v22.2) and the latest (v25.3) on my system.

Playback in v25.3 starts fine for a few seconds, then begins to stutter heavily, even at 1/4 resolution with no effects or plugins. The exact same footage and timeline play back perfectly in v22.2 under identical hardware and project conditions.

This issue has clearly been affecting multiple users since 25.2 and is still unresolved in 25.3. I’ve already upvoted this report and also documented my findings here, in case it helps Adobe or others investigating:

Anyone else getting playback lag in Premiere Pro 25.3? 

What really surprises me is that Premiere Pro 2025 (v25.3) is giving me worse performance with the exact same files. Playback starts fine, then quickly breaks down into stuttering, even at lower preview resolutions. This simply does not happen in 22.2.

I have now seen multiple reports from other users confirming similar performance issues in Premiere Pro 2025. It raises questions about how the expanded feature set and increased application footprint may be introducing overhead that affects playback efficiency, especially on mid-range or older systems (that still meet Adobe PP system requirements). While some users with high-spec setups report no issues, others are experiencing a clear drop in stability and responsiveness compared to version 22.2. It is striking that version 25.3 nearly doubles the install size of 22.2, yet under certain conditions fails to maintain the same level of timeline performance and runtime stability.. 

[X_STIVAN_X]

Check your Proxies, 

I had the same issue, and as i connected the proxies "did not checked the Proxie folder with Band name , i checked the Original Files due "Search"  in UHD 10 Bit:"

So my Playback was Really Choppy and i was unable to Edit anything -  i struggled 10 hours to for the issue:
Now i know why, because 12 Files used 12 Proxyfiles that had the same Resolutions and Bit.

I know, noone would be that "stupid" as me 🙂

but thats the solution for me.

Best Regards