Adobe Premiere Pro is one of the most powerful video editors. But sometimes, it can run slowly. As a video creator, nothing is more frustrating than lagging in Premiere Pro! But what can you do about it?
In this tutorial, you’ll learn how to make Premiere Pro run faster. We’ll look at a series of tips and tricks that you can use. Any or all of these help make Adobe Premiere Pro speed up. Think of this as a comprehensive guide to use anytime you want to know how to stop Premiere Pro from lagging.
It’s possible to learn how to make Adobe Premiere run faster. Let’s learn how.
Why is My Premiere Pro Lagging?
Find yourself asking, “why is my Premiere Pro lagging?” Well, it happens to all of us! There can be several reasons for this. Consider these:
- Insufficient resources. Premiere Pro requires significant resources to run efficiently. For example, it demands a lot of RAM and high-powered graphics performance. If either of these is insufficient, you’ll likely experience lagging.
- Heat. If your computer is dusty or not well-ventilated, it will start to run at higher temperatures. Your computer throttles its performance at higher temperatures. This is detrimental to Premiere Pro performance (along with all other apps).
- Large files or projects. The larger the file, the more resources it will consume. It’s a good idea to optimize media files to streamline their size, in order to boost Premiere Pro’s performance.
- Premiere Pro settings. Settings that are incorrectly configured will often cause Premiere Pro to lag. We’ll explore ways to optimize these in the Tips section below.
- Caches. Premiere’s cache helps accelerate performance. But it can be detrimental if it becomes too large. You’ll learn how to fix this in our tutorial.
These are only a few of the reasons that Premiere Pro might be lagging or running slowly. Now, let’s dive into the heart of our tutorial: how to fix lag in Premiere Pro.
How to Make Premiere Pro Run Faster (Six Quick Tips)
Knowing how to stop Premiere Pro from lagging is a critical skill. Let’s face it: if you edit in Premiere Pro, you’ll likely find yourself in a situation where the app is lagging or running slowly.
Below, we’ve compiled six great ways to speed up Premiere Pro. They’re easy fixes to help Premiere Pro run faster. You can use these individually. Or, you can apply more than one to improve your daily editing workflow and process.
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1. Enable GPU Acceleration for Better Performance
Trying to make Premiere Pro run faster? Video processing is a high-intensity, resource-heavy process. Therefore it’s easy to see how it can slow down your computer. Fortunately, there’s a simple way to improve performance.
In Premiere Pro, it’s called GPU acceleration. Your GPU is your computer’s graphics processing unit. It really steers the visuals you see on your screen.
In essence, GPU acceleration transfers work to your GPU. It frees up processing power on your computer, while still getting your editing jobs done. It’s a great idea to enable GPU acceleration as one method for how to make Adobe Premiere run faster. It’s often enabled by default, but it’s easy to check.
Here’s an important step in how to make Premiere Pro run faster. To enable GPU acceleration in Adobe Premiere Pro, begin by going to the File dropdown in the upper left corner. Click File, then go to Project Settings > General. The Project Settings menu will launch.
GPU acceleration is enabled in the Video Rendering and Playback Group. To select it, choose Mercury Playback Engine GPU Acceleration (Metal) from the Renderer dropdown. If you see it displayed but grayed out, that means you have it enabled already. GPU acceleration is how to make Premiere Pro less laggy.
2. Clear Your Media Cache (Or Change the Location)
Wondering how to stop Premiere Pro from lagging? If you’re experiencing slowness, you may have an issue with Premiere’s cache. What is the cache? Think of it as a temporary storage location.
It’s where Premiere stores temporary media files that the app references as you edit and export. The idea of a cache is to speed up performance. But if you have too many files in a cached folder, Premiere will start to slow down.
Fortunately, it’s easy to clear your media cache in Premiere Pro. To do that, find the Adobe Premiere Pro menu in the upper left corner of your screen. Click on it, then hover over Settings. A menu with many options will appear. From it, choose Media Cache.
Near the top of the Preferences menu, you’ll see the Delete button beside Remove Media Cache Files. Click this, and your Premiere Pro cache will be deleted.
Now, another option here is to change the location of your cached media files in Premiere. To do that, choose Browse at the top of the Preferences menu. Specify a new folder storage location to move your cache. Both of these options are great ways to see how to fix lag in Premiere Pro.
3. Lower the Video Playback Resolution
When you work in Adobe Premiere Pro, you’ll constantly be previewing your finished work. This happens in the Program Monitor panel. Where’s the Program Monitor? Front and center! It’s the video preview that you see anytime you edit or work on a project in Premiere. But if you’re previewing often, it can become resource-heavy and cause Premiere Pro to begin lagging.
A good idea here is to reduce the playback resolution of your previews. This way, you can still review your work. But it won’t be as taxing to your computer. An important note here: lowering playback resolution does not impact your exported videos.
In other words, the videos you save and share with your audience will still be in their full, chosen resolution. This only affects the preview clips that you see right inside of Premiere Pro. On export, the effects take place. Think of this option as an efficient way for how to make Adobe Premiere run faster while working.
To lower the video playback resolution in Premiere Pro, find the Program Monitor. Just below and to the right of the video preview, find the Resolution dropdown menu. Explore your options here.
Full means that the preview plays at full resolution. Other options, like 1/4 or 1/2, lower the resolution. Choose one of them. If you do, you’ll see improved performance in Premiere whenever you preview a video clip.
4. Optimize by Rendering in Sections
Rendering is the essential tool that Premiere Pro provides to you. It produces effects and lets you create finished amazing works to share with the world. But it can be an inefficient process. Depending on the complexity of your project – and your system settings – rendering can really slow Premiere down.
One of my favorite ways to reduce lag in Premiere Pro is to render my projects in sections. Why? Because this allows Premiere to render less content at once.
To render in sections, be sure that you have a sequence created. Then, in the Timeline, select only the content that you want to render. Hold down Shift on your keyboard as you click to select media.
Then, find the Sequence dropdown at the top of Premiere Pro. Click Sequence, and then choose Render Selection. This is a powerful way to reduce lag in Premiere Pro.
When you render, you won’t be rendering your entire project every single time. By being able to tailor what is rendered, you’ll really expedite the process.
5. Allocate Extra RAM to Boost Speeds
RAM (random access memory) is a huge part of how Adobe Premiere Pro performs. Generally, the more computer RAM you give to Premiere, the better it will perform. Keep in mind: you’ll be limited by the amount of memory that you have installed in your computer.
But whatever you have, you can choose how much to allow Premiere Pro to use at any moment. This is a tradeoff. While giving Premiere Pro more RAM helps this app, you might slow down others on your computer.
To allocate extra RAM to Adobe Premiere Pro, go to the Adobe Premiere Pro menu again. On it, go to Settings > Memory. The Preferences menu will launch. At the top, find the RAM reserved for other applications section. Notice that you can edit the number. The lower you make it, the more RAM Premiere Pro can use.
Input a new value, and watch what happens below. In the RAM available section, you can see exactly how much RAM you’re giving Adobe Premiere Pro to work with.
This is how to stop Premiere Pro from lagging each time you edit or work on a project.
6. Use Global FX Mute to Mute Effects
Effects in Premiere Pro are what makes your videos magical. But they’re also tough on your computing power. And once you add an effect, do you really need to see it at all times in Premiere? Learning how to control them is a key for how to fix lag in Premiere Pro.
That’s where using the Global FX Mute tool comes in. This way, you can hide effects temporarily to boost Premiere’s speed. You’re not removing the effects. You’re simply “muting,” or hiding them from your editing workspace. It’s one of the absolute best ways to see how to make Premiere Pro run faster.
To use Global FX Mute in your project, navigate to the Program Monitor panel. In the lower right, you’ll see a + sign icon. This is a menu that controls a ton of options and settings for previewing and editing in Premiere Pro. Click the +.
Then, in the lower left corner of the menu that launches, find the fx button. Click on it. This turns on Global FX Mute. If you’re editing a complex production with lots of effects, you’ll likely see a big performance boost in Premiere Pro. Try this whenever you’re editing and want to reduce lag in Premiere.
It’s easy to learn how to make Premiere Pro less laggy! Try these tips and tricks today. They’ll make your life as a Premiere Pro video editor much easier. You can’t afford to skip over them.
Learn More About Adobe Premiere Pro (How to Be a Better Editor)
Above, you learned how to make Adobe Premiere Pro run faster. This is a vital skill, because it makes everyday life as an editor much easier. But it’s just one of countless things you can do in Premiere Pro. Here, we’ve gathered some of our top Adobe Premiere Pro tutorials. Turn to these to elevate your editing skills in just moments.
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Make Adobe Premiere Pro Run Faster Today
In this tutorial, you learned how to make Premiere Pro less laggy. As you can see, you have a wide array of options to choose from. Whether it’s boosting your RAM or muting effects, you can easily improve Premiere Pro’s performance on your computer. Try out all of these techniques for how to make Adobe Premiere Pro run faster.
So, what are you waiting for? Put your new skills to use today! You’ll be glad you did. Your editing process will become smoother, more efficient, and less frustrating. It’s the key to success as an editor in 2024 and beyond.