Despite its many advantages, Adobe Premiere Pro has a habit of crashing. Here’s how you can solve the problem.
Adobe Premiere Pro is popular — very popular. Even in an ever-expanding landscape of competing NLEs and other platforms, it remains a favorite option among indie filmmakers, thanks to its excellent features, user-friendly interface, and gentle learning curve. But there’s one issue that users often complain about — Premiere Pro keeps crashing on Windows.
If you’ve run up against this problem frequently, you know how maddening it can be. So, here’s a quick guide on what you can do to prevent Adobe Premiere Pro from crashing on your PC.
Check Minimum System Requirements for Premiere Pro
For Premiere Pro to work in a glitch-free, efficient manner on your PC, you first need to check tosee if your PC meets the software’s system requirements. For Premiere Pro, you need a 64-bit multi-core processor (Intel 6th Gen or AMD FX), an operating system of 64-bit Windows 10, 2 GB VRAM, 8 GB RAM, and a storage capacity of 8 GB.
The first step will be checking if all these requirements are in place. If not, your first step is to upgrade your hardware. Post-upgrades, if the problem persists, you can move on to further troubleshooting, which we will discuss below.
Reset App Preferences
An easy way to get your software up and working again is to reset its preferences. Resetting preferences requires barely any time, and it might instantly resolve the issue of Premiere Pro crashing on your PC. All you have to do is hold the ALT key on your keyboard, after which you can launch Premiere Pro (while still holding the ALT key). You’d then see a pop-up asking Are you sure you want to reset your preferences? Click OK, close the application, and then restart your PC.
Open Premiere Pro (the way you usually do) and check if the issue has been resolved. If you still find your software crashing, you have no reason to worry — move on to the following troubleshooting methods.
Turn Off GPU Acceleration
Another common issue that causes Premiere Pro to keep crashing is GPU acceleration. You can temporarily disable the GPU acceleration and then check if Premiere Pro is working just fine. You’d have to launch Premiere Pro, so head to Files > Project Settings > General to try this method. Select Mercury Playback Engine Software Only as the Renderer option in the Video Rendering and Playback section. Save the changes.
Resetting the GPU acceleration should help you resolve the frequent crashes, but note that Premiere Pro will take extra time to finish the rendering process because you disabled GPU acceleration. But at least the software won’t crash as often!
If the problem still persists, we’ve got another option you can try!
Clear Media Cache
The cache is nothing but temporary files that become redundant over time. Clearing media cache works for almost every other software application, so you can try it with Premiere Pro. However, some corrupted media cache files may cause Premiere Pro to crash frequently, so you’d have to remove the media cache files for the software to work well.
You need to launch Premiere Pro for this troubleshooting method; head to Edit > Preferences > Media Cache. You’ll see a Delete option on the screen — click on it, and removing media cache files will begin. It may take some time, but you can restart Premiere Pro and check if it is working well or still crashing after it’s done. If this fix doesn’t work, you can move on to the next method.
Reinstall the Application
Before you reinstall the application, remember to uninstall the existing version completely. You can then install the latest version of Premiere Pro on your PC. When you choose this option, you won’t have to reset any settings or preferences manually — the entire process of installing the app again would reset everything to default while getting the newer updates and features. Reinstalling the app should help fix the app crashing problem.
Shut Down Other Applications
Premiere Pro’s hardware requirements are high, which also means it consumes more CPU resources. If other apps are open simultaneously on your PC, Premiere Pro may not be able to function well because other apps will be consuming more of the system resources — this could be a possible cause of the crashing issue.
To reduce the burden on your CPU and ensure Premiere Pro works without glitches, you need to end other processes via the taskbar. Right-click on your Taskbar, and select Task Manager. You’ll then be directed to the Task Manager Window, where you can see the Process tab. Here, you can view all the processes currently running on your system — and the resources they’re consuming. Next, you can right-click and End Task to shut down the application for all the apps consuming too many resources. After doing this, your CPU will now be better equipped to meet Adobe Premiere Pro’s demands.
Check for Overheating Components
Premiere Pro heavily relies on the CPU and the GPU for all the complex tasks it performs. If the cooling mechanism of your PC isn’t working well, Premiere Pro may face glitches and keep crashing repeatedly. Premiere Pro will crash without any warning on an overheated computer, so you first need to get the cooling mechanism in place before you restart Premiere Pro.
To cool down your computer, you need to clean the fans and vents in your PC and ensure your computer is in a cool place. If you notice that the cooling mechanism of your PC isn’t working as well as it should, you can always try and use a better, upgraded tool for your PC. Once the cooling mechanism is set, you can relaunch Premiere Pro to check if it’s working fine.
Summing Up
We hope one of these troubleshooting methods helps you resolve the Premiere Pro crashing issue. Then, once your software is up and running smoothly, you can then use all its features, like Premiere Pro templates, Green Screen backgrounds, and all of its other complex tools, without worrying about the software crashing again.
Cover image via Adobe.
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