Major lag on timeline with Premiere Pro v 23.1 - macOS

[Mary Betsy]

Since updating to Premiere v 23.1, I'm experiencing serious delays when performing standard actions on the timeline (scrubbing, trimming, playback, etc). Restarting the application seems to provide temporary relief, but performance quickly gets sluggish the longer I edit.

The lag occurs regardless of:

• whether the playback resolution is 1/4 or high
• whether High Quality Playback is checked
• whether I've rendered clips on the timeline
• the type of media (compressed video, proxies, just audio)

I've also tried:

• updating macOS
• setting my audio input to none
• clearing the media cache
• resetting the workspace

I use Productions and am working on the same projects (now upgraded to the new version) that had no performance problems before the last update. If anyone can help me troubleshoot or provide insight, I'd really appreciate it. Thanks, y'all.

System specs

• macOS Monterey
• Version 12.6.2
• Mac Pro (Late 2013)
• Processor 3.7 GHz Quad-Core Intel Xeon E5
• Memory 64 GB 1866 MHz DDR3
• Startup Disk Macintosh HD
• Graphics AMD FirePro D300 2 GB

[kglad]

in the future, to find the best place to post your message, use the list here, https://community.adobe.com/

p.s. i don't think the adobe website, and forums in particular, are easy to navigate, so don't spend a lot of time searching that forum list. do your best and we'll move the post if it helps you get responses.

<moved from using the community>

[Peru Bob]

What are the hard drives (how many, what kind, what is on each, what capacity, and how full)?

[sercanerturk]

There are a few topics about this issue, i also created one and all the answers are similiar like "whats the video codec you're using" or "what are the sequence settings"

Issue is only about the 23.1 version. There is a UI bug in the 23.1 and whenever you switch sequences, it gets slower and slower and slower each time no matter your disks are SSD or HDD or External, or you're working with h264, or mpeg or mov. And i don't know why but people just don't accept this, like it must be about your codecs, not the software.

My only temporary solution is, just install 22.6.3 version. You don't need to uninstall 23.1. I kept it and also installed 22.6.3 and it works like charm. Doing the same video edit. So it's not about codecs or disk emptiness or operating system. its just 23.1 is broken. Hope 23.2 will fix this.

[Warren Heaton]

Sorry to hear that you're experiencing poor performance in Premiere Pro. 

If it shows in Creative Cloud Desktop, you could try installing Premiere Pro (Beta) and running it alongside Premiere Pro 23.1. As it's the newest Premiere Pro, it may run better under the latest macOS. If you have a personal plan with Adobe, it should be available. If you have a plan that an administrator manages, it may not be available.

Mod note: Edited for content.

[Benzonio]

Yeah, I literally spent three weeks troubleshooting and trying all the options above to no avail. I'm officially switching to Resolve. I spent yesterday working on it and it had none of the plethora of issues that I experienced with Premiere. It even cut 6k footage in real time without a hitch. The only reason I'm staying with Premiere is because of the transcript feature. It's unbbelieveable in 2023 that an app like premire is this dysfuntional. This is one of the biggest software fails I ever experiened in my life since I started using a computer. Regardless, I wish Premiere all the best in figuring it out their issues.

[Rett5DE3]

OS 12.4, Premiere Pro 23.1, Source footage is Sony FX3 & A7siii MP4/MOV H.264 10 bit 4:2:2. Effects vary, most clips are just lumetri with the occational warp stabilizer (which I've noticed is way slower than before), an adjustment layer for all footage with a LUT and crop. I've also noticed slow responces when trying to open simple .wav or mp3 files from the sequence in the source monitor.

[Nick27805432xyae]

Thanks for posting. I've had the same issues. 

[Kevin-Monahan]

Hey Mary,

Thanks for the report. Great info, thanks. Does the situation resolve if you roll back to 23.0? This may be a bug with this specific version on any version of macOS or model of Mac. It sounds from the outset to be some memory leak. 

I hope we get this fixed soon for you and others here on the thread.

Cheers,
Kevin

[Rett5DE3]

Do you really expect users to add hours to my their workflow for every project when this was something that was working just fine before the upgrade? I've been using these cameras and codecs for years. I was amazed at how well the M1 macs handled the footage but for some reason this latest version of premiere is the problem as it is not a problem in previous versions or other software. I've seen this posted throughout the forum and rather than suggest that there is a fix coming all I hear is the problem isnt adobe when obviously it needs a patch. I'm considering downgrading and hoping this gets resolved but I work alongside 2 editors using imac pros so the issue of being on different versions of premiere has its own problems. 

[nnme]

I'm having the same issue and it can be easily reproduced by just opening a project, and opening two timelines and switching between them forward and back. Scubbing the timelines become increasingly unresponsive. Closing the timeline and opening it again temporarily fixes/resets the issue, but the lag just starts increasing again as I switch just between them as I did before.

I'm on an intel mac, Ventura 23.1.

Most importantly, rolling back to 23.0 fixes this issue.

[Kevin-Monahan]

Hi all,

Sorry. This bug could be related, but the whole UI gets stuttery, not just the Timeline: 

https://community.adobe.com/t5/premiere-pro-bugs/23-1-update-gui-slowly-becomes-sluggish-while-worki...

Thanks,
Kevin

[Kasper Garam]

Hi Kevin.

My Intel Mac specs are as follows (no issues on the M1, so I wouldn't look into that):
iMac Pro 207
3 GHz 10-core Intel Xeon W
Radeon Pro Vega 56, 8 Gb
RAM 32 Gb

Mac OS Ventura 13.1

The source media is usually Sony XAVC-I footage from either an FX6 or an FX3, but there's the occasional drone footage, Canon footage, phone footage, you name it. But even with proxies, the issues are still there. It is definitely not a source media issue. So yes, I have tried transcoding and creating proxies, but there's absolutely no help at all.

I have tried clearing all caches, fully reinsstalling Premiere, resetting preferences, I've tried multiple different hard drives, I've tried setting my caches, auto-saves and all of that to a different location, I've tried going Hardware vs. Software only. Nothing helps in any way.

I have had dozens of new projects and new sequences. No change in performance. I've also tried to tweak both the project and the sequence settings. No help.

I have tried applying all kinds of effects and I've had projects without effects. But that's not the issue. No matter what effects I use, playback is normal. Everything works fine in terms of playback. The issues are with the interface, the UI. Changing the height of a track, tweaking  the size of the program monitor or the timeline, opening up an effects menu, changing panels, tweaking the effects controls.

All of this aside, the solution for me was to downgrade to 23.0. It works fine. So there's no point in trying to look for the issue in our computers or in what we do. If an older version works fine but the newer one doesn't, it's definitely a software bug issue. And it's a major issue.

[Kasper Garam]

Kevin, your latest link seems to be the same issue for sure. But for me, restart won't help.

[Rett5DE3]

Thank you Kevin. Also, anyone else having the part of the issue where it constantly seems they need to re-render some footage without making changes? 

[Mary Betsy]

Hi Kevin,

Thanks for moving this to the bug forum. I haven't tried editing a 100% brand-new project since the upgrade, but I've added existing projects into two new productions that have had the same issues.

I've also:

• split projects up to make them smaller
• reset preferences
• upgraded my external drive to an SSD (needed to do anyway)
• switched my media cache location

Don't know whether this is helpful, but thought I'd share just in case.

And I really appreciate the feedback on my tutorial videos. I've learned about so many cool features in Premiere by making them. Big fan!

[Mary Betsy]

@Rett5DE3 Having the same issue with needing to re-render footage. Sometimes it preserves a render. Other times not. Also seeing sporadic compression artifacts on footage.

[Jpaydirt]

I'm having the same issues, pro updated during my last video edit and now it's doing the strangest things, if I want to use the cut tool first I have to click on it but nothing happens, then all I have to do is click on edit, go back and click on the workspace and now I have the cut tool, same procedure to get any other tools or to apply any effects, empty the cache no help, I have plenty of memory and RAM.  could I just roll back to 22.6 until this gets fixed?

[Jpaydirt]

Oh and I have this strange noise coming from my speakers only when pro is open

[R Neil Haugen]

You can roll back through the 23.x versions without troubles with working in that 23.x version project file. An earlier 23 version might fix your ills at this time.

Neil

[Austin_Edits]

Currently in the same boat. Exact same problems and temporary solutions. Even replaced the Mac Studio with the exact model and had the same problems. UPVOTE 

[Austin_Edits]

Fixed this morning by rolling back to 23! 

I see others found the same conclusion. Hope this helps.

[Kevin-Monahan]

Hi, Austin,

Are you using any third-party plug-ins in the sequence? 

Thanks,
Kevin

[Austin_Edits]

No, I am not.

[Austin_Edits]

Thanks Kevin! 

[Kevin-Monahan]

Thanks for reporting back. We can count third-party plug-ins out as a source of the issue. It's good to know. Let's keep digging.