Anyone else getting playback lag in Premiere Pro 25.3?

[FOediting]

Just updated to Premiere Pro 25.3 and getting severe lag during playback and timeline scrubbing, even at 1/4 resolution. Playback starts fine for a few seconds, then begins stuttering hard.

Tested the exact same project and footage (4K H.264, Canon R5) in Premiere Pro 22.2 — no lag at all. Same system, same settings. I’ve used 22.2 for a long time without any issues, even with high-bitrate 4K.

Seems like a regression in 25.3. I’ll probably revert to 22.2, but curious if anyone else is seeing this.

[FOediting]

Hi Adobe Community,

I’m encountering severe performance issues in Premiere Pro v25.3, specifically:

• Laggy playback, even at 1/4 resolution
• Choppy timeline scrubbing

Playback runs smoothly for the first 4 seconds, then suddenly starts lagging and stuttering. This also happens at 1/4 resolution, which should never be the case for basic 4K H.264 footage. Something is clearly off in this version.

To verify the issue, I tested the exact same footage and timeline in Premiere Pro 22.2; playback and scrubbing are perfectly smooth. No lag at all. Same system, same footage, same settings.

Operating System: Windows 10 Home, Version 10.0.19045 (64-bit)

Processor: Intel Core i7-8550U @ 1.80GHz (4 cores / 8 threads)

Memory: 32 GB RAM

Graphics:

Dedicated: NVIDIA GeForce MX150 (4 GB VRAM)

Integrated: Intel UHD Graphics 620

GPU Driver Version: 576.98

Primary SSD (C:): 238 GB NVMe, ~26 GB free (OS and applications)

Secondary HDD (D:): 932 GB, ~105 GB free (media and general storage)

External SSD (F:): 465 GB, ~152 GB free (project files)

My system meets Adobe’s official requirements for version 25.3. I have also confirmed that my dedicated NVIDIA GPU is recognized and properly configured. I’ve used Premiere Pro 22.2 for a long time without any performance issues, including editing 4K footage, and the difference is night and day.

This strongly suggests a regression or optimization issue introduced in 25.3.

I’ll probably just revert back to 22.2 for now, but I’m curious if anyone else is experiencing the same problems. Any confirmation or suggestions would be appreciated.

Thanks!

[R Neil Haugen]

As always, OS/CPU/RAM/GPU, what sort of drives in use abd their connection type, aby other effects used.

Personally not having any such issues oon a 24 core Ryzen 3960x 128GB 2080Ti and twin Nvme for OS/programs and several internal SSDs for Production projects and media.  BRAW up to 4.6K, ProRes, various Sony abd other log media. Some H.264. 

[FOediting]

Thanks Neil, appreciate the response.

System Information
Laptop Model: HP ENVY x360 Convertible 15-cn0xxx
OS: Windows 10 Home, Version 10.0.19045 (64-bit)
Processor: Intel Core i7-8550U @ 1.80GHz (4 cores / 8 threads)
Memory: 32 GB RAM

Graphics:
NVIDIA GeForce MX150 (4 GB VRAM)
Intel UHD Graphics 620
GPU Driver: 576.98

Storage Drives
SSD (C:) – 238 GB, ~26 GB free
HDD (D:) – 932 GB, ~105 GB free
External SSD (F:) – 465 GB, ~152 GB free (project files)

From analyzing all of this, I suspect the issue might be related to the available storage on my C: drive. Since Adobe applications can consume significant temporary space and memory during playback, 26 GB free might be on the low side. I will try clearing more space on the drive and report back here with the results. Hopes this isolates the issue.

Issue:
Playback in Premiere Pro 25.3 runs fine for about 4 seconds, then starts stuttering, even at 1/4 resolution (both time line and media playback window). Rendered sequence no issues. No effects are applied.
The same projects run flawlessly in version 22.2, which strongly suggests this is a version-specific regression or optimization issue.

I was actually quite enthusiastic about Premiere Pro 25.3, and as you can see from the version I was running before installing 25.3 (v22.2), I tend to stick with stable releases. I usually avoid updates unless absolutely necessary, because in my experience they often introduce new complications. That said, version 25.3 has some impressive new features, but unfortunately I am experiencing this playback issue.

[FOediting]

On a side note, I’ve been editing on this HP ENVY x360 for quite some time. Together with my external 4K monitor, it has been a compact and reliable workhorse. It handled 4K editing surprisingly well, especially with Premiere Pro 22.2.

That said, I’m starting to feel it might be time for an upgrade. With AI-powered tools and heavier version requirements, newer releases demand more from the hardware.

I’m considering having a custom-built PC assembled locally and I’m currently researching key components. Do you have any recommendations for graphics cards, or general specs?

Also curious how your setup with the Ryzen 3960X, 128 GB RAM, and 2080 Ti performs with the current versions of Premiere. It sounds powerful on paper, but I’d love to hear how it holds up in daily editing work.

[R Neil Haugen]

It's still working quite well in all. I am considering replacing the 2080Ti though.

[Peru Bob]

I’m considering having a custom-built PC assembled locally and I’m currently researching key components. Do you have any recommendations for graphics cards, or general specs?

By @FOediting

Take a look here:

https://www.pugetsystems.com/solutions/video-editing-workstations/adobe-premiere-pro/hardware-recomm...

[FOediting]

I just tested the same clip again and can now confirm with 100 percent certainty that the exact same footage plays back smoothly in Premiere Pro 22.2 at 1/2 playback quality with no issues at all. Playback at Full resolution in Source Window also no issues noted?!

Footage details:

Type/Codec: MP4 (H.264)
Resolution: 3840 x 2160
Frame Rate: 59.94 fps

Codec: MP4 H.264 4:2:0 

Source: Canon R6 UHD 4K (3840 x 2160) footage shot 59.94p (NTSC)

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.

It’s not so much that I absolutely need version 25.3, but what really frustrates me is that I can’t pinpoint the root cause of this playback issue. I’ve tested everything I could think of: different drives, cache resets, GPU settings, project rebuilds, and footage comparisons.

I’ve tried to isolate every variable, and yet the performance difference between 22.2 and 25.3 remains consistent. The fact that 22.2 plays back the same footage flawlessly makes it even harder to ignore. I don’t mind switching back if needed, but not knowing why it breaks in 25.3 is what bothers me most.. 

I have 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. 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.. 

[R Neil Haugen]

Are those files mts, by chance? There are issues with Canon mts files across the forum. Needing at this time to go back one update of Pr.

[IanB_360]

Hi @FOediting 

and welcome to the Premiere Pro Forum community.  Thank you for taking your time to report a problem. Would you be able to help us trouble shoot what is happening by file sharing with the team a project file and some of the files associated with the project? You can direct message me a link to the project file and any other elements you would like to share. What are your sequence settings and what is the source medias resolution, is it 3840x2160 or varied resolutions ? Is there a specific camera you are using in the project ? And I greatly appreciated the detailed run down , but could you also help and go to the link here How to Report a Problem , it has steps to providing more information about your bug that can help us identify the issue. 
Here to help.

Ian

[FOediting]

Hi Ian,

Thanks again for your help. I’ve just sent you a private message containing the ZIP folder with both project files (v22.2 and v25.3) and the matching Canon R6 footage.

Let me know if you need anything else or if you’d like me to include a screen recording as well.

[ChampagneandToasts]

Having the exact same issue. Feels impossible to edit. I've trie pther versions too but nothing is helping

[FOediting]

Hi @ChampagneandToasts , out of curiosity; which versions did you try?

[FOediting]

Just wanted to follow up and close the loop on this issue.

After some help in another thread, I now understand why Premiere Pro 25.3 gave me serious playback lag while version 22.2 ran perfectly smooth on the exact same system and project.

It has to do with how newer versions of Premiere handle hardware decoding. My laptop has an NVIDIA MX150, which doesn’t support hardware H.264 or HEVC decoding or encoding. From what I've understood another thread reply: 

My laptop (HP ENVY x360 with Intel i7-8550U, 32 GB RAM, NVIDIA MX150 + Intel UHD 620) does not have proper hardware support for H.264/HEVC decoding or encoding.
The MX150 chip (GP108) is based on the low-end GT 1030 GPU, which has hardware video decoding permanently disabled at the factory level, and no NVENC encoding block.
As a result, all decoding and encoding is offloaded to the CPU, either via Intel Quick Sync or software fallback.

In Premiere Pro 22.2, this was still somewhat manageable. But newer versions of Premiere (like 25.3) prioritize integrated or dedicated GPUs for decoding. If Premiere detects a discrete GPU (like MX150), but sees it lacks decode/encode support, it disables Quick Sync fallback entirely.
This forces the entire decoding pipeline to run purely on the CPU, which explains the sudden lag in 25.3.

So in short, the issue wasn’t the footage, the timeline, or the settings. It was the way Premiere changed how decoding is handled in newer versions. If your system depends on Quick Sync and you have a weak or unsupported discrete GPU like the MX150, playback will suffer in recent updates.

Correct me if I’m wrong, but this really seems to be the root of the issue..

[R Neil Haugen]

Very informative post, thanks for making it.

[OmarElEmam]

I tried every solution and playback keeps lagging.

My laptop is MacBook Pro 13-inch M3 Max 65GB Ram macOS Sequoia 15.5
I'm working on a full online course - footage shot on Blackmagic Ursa - and it is 4K used to work on Premiere on the older versions smoothly. But now, I tried to switch from version 25.3 to 25.1 and it is the same thing. I'm considering reverting to 24 or maybe 23 I don't know. But this issue needs to be resolved.

[jon_4308]

Yes, I also have the playback issue.

I am using Intel Ultra 265k, RTX4080, 64GB RAM, and Gen 5 NVMe SSD's.

The playback issue occurs even on a powerful machine with Premier Pro v25.3 (Build 84).

My footage is only 1080p AVC1 45.1Mbps with Constant/Progressive 30fps. 

I troubleshot GPU pipeline and ran the same footage through CapCut without issue. Seems I'll need to reinstall an older version of Premiere.