Error: Unable to create image buffer (Premiere crashing)

[jmacleod92]

Hey - I'm hoping someone can help with a Premiere issue that I've been dealing with for close to a year now. Basically, Premiere just freezes up randomly: UI panels go black, the save dialog turns into a blank white box, playback stops working entirely etc... Only way to fix it is to restart Premiere, which is obviously a pain, especially since this has been happening every few hours, sometimes even more frequently.

I kept hoping an update would solve it. Unfortunately, it's still a problem, and it's become so distruptive that I figured I finally decided it would be worth posting.

Here’s a quick rundown of my setup and everything I’ve tried to fix it.

Specs & Setup:

• OS: Windows 11 [23H2]
• Premiere Pro Version: 24.6.3 (but issue has persisted through past versions too)
• Hardware: Intel i9-13900K, NVIDIA 3070Ti, 96GB RAM

What's Happening:

• UI glitches/ locks up (panels freeze or go black etc...)
• Error message: "Unable to create image buffer"
• Not easily repeatable (seems to happen randomly after an hour or more of editing)

Troubleshooting I’ve Tried:

• Reinstalled Premiere
• Updated graphics drivers
• Reset preferences
• Cleared cache files

I installed an extension recently (Timeline to Clip Marker converter from EditingTools.io), but this problem started long before that, so I doubt it’s the cause.

Any ideas or fixes would be amazing—I’m open to it being something in my setup, but at this point, I’m just looking for anything that works. Thanks in advance for any help!

Here's the error code that keeps being repeated in the Premiere logs:

Ticks = 52706594      <39600 (main)> <exception> <4> Caught exception!
	{
	context (StringValue): "FE.ApplicationErrorManager"
	description (StringValue): "Unable to create image buffer. Size: 300x140 (0)"
	error_id (std::uint64_t): "29"
	error_level (std::uint64_t): "1"
	package_id (std::uint64_t): "101"
	report_to_user (bool): "true"
	result_code (std::int64_t): "-127598562"
	type (StringValue): "dvacore::config::ErrorManagerException"
	}
Callstack: 
[
    dvacore::config::dva_exception::dva_exception ( @ 0) (dvacore.dll+0x00000000000D5108)
    dvacore::config::dva_exception::dva_exception ( @ 0) (dvacore.dll+0x00000000000D5579)
    dvacore::config::ErrorManagerException::ErrorManagerException ( @ 0) (dvacore.dll+0x00000000000D369D)
    dvacore::config::ErrorManager::ThrowError ( @ 0) (dvacore.dll+0x00000000000D302C)
    dvacore::config::ErrorManager::ThrowError ( @ 0) (Frontend.dll+0x00000000003BB3A9)
    dvacore::config::ErrorManager::ThrowErrorDispatch ( @ 0) (dvacore.dll+0x00000000000D311E)
    dvacore::config::ThrowError ( @ 0) (dvacore.dll+0x00000000000D4B26)
    dvaui::drawbot::GetUIFontAvailableOnSystem ( @ 0) (dvaui.dll+0x00000000005DF4C1)
    dvaui::dialogs::OS_FolderChooserDialog::RunModalWindows ( @ 0) (dvaui.dll+0x00000000005D64A5)
    dvaui::drawbot::NewOSSupplier ( @ 0) (dvaui.dll+0x00000000005E1476)
]

[Rach McIntire]

Hi @jmacleod92  ,

Welcome to the Premiere Pro forums! We are glad to see you here. You've given us a lot of great info to work with.  We need a few more details to try to help with the issue. Please see, How do I write a bug report?

Thanks for submitting your bug report. I hope we can help you soon. Sorry for the frustration! 

Thanks,
Rach

[jmacleod92]

• Issue - Premiere will lock up several times a day, requiring a program restart to become functional again.  
• Adobe Premiere Pro version number: v24.6.3
• Operating system - Windows 11 Pro [23H2]
• System Info: CPU, GPU, RAM, HD:

  • CPU - i9-13900K

  • GPU - Nvidia 3070Ti

  • GPU driver (PC) - Studio (32.0.15.6590)

  • RAM - 96 GB (48GB x2 - Corsair Vengeance DDR5 5600MHz CL40)

  • Hard Drives

    • C:Drive = Sabrent NVMe Gen4 SSD (2TB)

    • Media Cache = Crucial P3 Plus Gen4 NVME SSD (500GB)
    • Proxy = Samsung 990 Pro NVMe SSD (2TB)
    • Media = SanDisk Extreme Portable SSD - USB-C (2TB)

• Video format:
  • Mixed, based on different projects.  Normally I'll be using transcodes of the rushes, either DNxHD36 or ProRes422 Proxy.  However, I will frequently have projects where I pull in h.264 assets.
• Workflow details: Again, mixed depending on project.  Sometimes this includes multicam sequences.  Most of the time I'm in a straight Premiere project, however I'm currently using Productions for the first time.
• Steps to reproduce - (Very important!) I can't reproduce it.  It seems to happen randomly.  But it consistently happens several times a day.
  Expected result - A stable platform
• Actual result -  Program lock up, often accompanied by error message (Error: Unable to create image buffer).

I am happy to attach any logs that might be helpful.  I have started to save them after a crash in the hopes that a pattern will emerge.

For what it's worth, based on how things look when the issue occurs, it feels like it might be GPU related.

Happy to provide any more information I can  -thanks in advance for the help!

[jamieclarke]

Hi @jmacleod92 - Are you using the transcription feature or enhanced speech feature in the Essential sound panel?  Are you using any effects on your clips?  Do you have any plugins installed?  Do you get a crash dialog popup or does Premiere just ghost quit?

[jmacleod92]

Hi Jamie - I'm not using the enhanced speech feature  (I don't tend to use anything in the Essential sound panel).

I do use transcription quite a lot, however not in my current two projects, which have both been experiencing the same issues.

The text panel is open on one of my tabs, but besides that, nothing.

I haven't got a massive number of effects on anything.  One of my current projects has a few Drop Shadows and Gausian Blurs, as well as Motion Graphic Templates and Dynamic Linked After Effect files.  But nothing too crazy.

On the other edit I'm working on (feature film, using Productions).  I have zero effects applied, and all of the footage is DNxHD36.

That project has crashed over 8 times today (I've been saving log files after every crash - incase they're helpful?).

I have a decent number of markers (split so their duration spans the length of takes).  However, that's a very recent workflow change for me, and I've been having this issue for months before I started doing anything with markers.

I've found that anything to do with metadata (like search bins, or the metadata panel) can cause a series UI lag.  But can't say if that's related to crashing.  Just not used to relying so much on metadata in Premiere and I've discovered that it's very slow.

In terms of plugins, the only thing I'm aware of is an extension that I installed about a week ago.  It's called 'Timeline to Clip Marker Converter'  from EditingTools.io

There hasn't been any noticeable change in performance or stability since installing it.

The only other relevant things I can think of are a couple of the outputs listed in Mercury Transmit.  Apparently I have 'Blackmagic Playback' and 'Nobe Omniscope Transmitter' installed.  However, they're both unchecked, as I use the one of the Adobe outputs instead.

I get a red popup error message in the bottom right hand corner of Premiere about 50% of the time.  The message tends to say something along the line of 'Unable to Create Image Buffer' (although not always).

Premiere doesn't typically quit itself.  The UI glitches and the program becomes fully unusable.  But most of the time, I have to force quit myself.

I've attached some screenshots of some crashes from today.  Not the most impressive examples (they can get much crazier!), but they hopefully give a rough idea of what I'm seeing (obviously the lines covering things like file name aren't part of the glitch).

Let me know if there's any other info that could be helpful!  Cheers

[jamieclarke]

Hi @jmacleod92 - Can you uninstall the blackmagic and Omniscope Transmitter software and let us know if that helps.  Can you navigate to the menu bar under sequence and select "Delete Render Files".  Can you also try to backup your settings in the documents folder, remove them and then open Premiere Pro and let us know if you are still having issues.

Can you email me the crash logs at jamiec@adobe.com 

[jmacleod92]

Cool - I'll uninstall those and see how I get on.  I've also just emailed across the log files.  Thanks!

[jmacleod92]

Sadly, uninstalling those two plugins hasn't helped.  I've just had another error.

At least this time the resulting Adobe UI x Glitch art was more interesting....

[jamieclarke]

Updating Status to Acknowledged

[jmacleod92]

Quick update for anyone coming across this in the future:

TL:DR - it seems to be sorted in v25.2 (Beta).  

The issue was eventually identified as a GDI object leak that triggered every time I switched between sequence tabs. This was diagnosed by monitoring the 'GDI objects' column in Task Manager under the Details tab (you may need to right-click the header bar and add the column). When the GDI object count exceeds 10,000, Windows stops allocating new objects, causing the UI to become unresponsive.

By keeping an eye on the GDI figure while editing, I was able to figure out the interaction causing the number to spike. I was advised to try the v25.2 Beta, which seems to have resolved the issue (based on a quick test while monitoring the GDI objects count), athough I haven’t done extended testing. For now, I'm working in v24.6.3 while I wait for a stable release of v25.

Big thanks to @jamieclarke for all the help!

[jamieclarke]

Updating Status to Fixed in 25.1

NOTE:  This issue may have other reproduction steps that lead to similar errors. However, the specific case described here has been resolved.