Is Premiere Pro consuming a significant amount of RAM?
Is Premiere Pro consuming a significant amount of RAM?
CPU: Ryzen 7 2700X
GPU: 6750XT Challenger Pro
RAM: 24GB
HDD free space 589GB
Premiere Pro Version 24.4
I recently captured a 1 hour and 34 minute Hellblade 2 gameplay session using an AMD adrenaline recorder (at 3200×1800 resolution) and planned to edit it in Premiere Pro with only Lumetri Color as an effect and basic cuts.
My export configuration is: h.264, resolution 3840×2160 (scaled from 3200×1800), hardware encoding, render at maximum depth and quality, level 5.2.
After initiating the export, Premiere Pro began consuming RAM at a rate of about 1% every 5-10 seconds, quickly surpassing the allocated 21GB. It eventually caused a crash. The first error reported was "bad allocation while creating disk". I cleared the media cache and attempted to export again, but the issue persisted.
I experimented with adjusting the page file settings for my D drive—enabling it and setting it to "system managed"—and then proceeded with the export. However, after 80% completion, the system crashed again, displaying error code -1609629690.
This situation is unusual because I’ve successfully exported long-form gameplay videos in Premiere Pro before. This time, regardless of my efforts, I’m unable to complete the process. I don’t understand why this is happening.
Additionally, while exporting, the RAM usage increased steadily even when I didn’t interact with the "export" button. Every time I minimized or maximized the Task Manager, the RAM percentage dropped from 39% to 20%. However, this behavior stopped during the export process; it only decreased once the Premiere Pro application was fully closed.
Any possible solutions?
Your equipment isn't sufficient for extended 4K renders. Several possible solutions are outlined in this discussion by Toxos regarding proxy workflows that could help.
I've handled exporting in this manner before and it performed well, but I suspect there might be an issue. Even after stopping the export, RAM remains tied up with the last usage percentage, even after removing the main video file from my hard drive and deleting the sequence from the timeline. At this point, no other applications can run because the computer becomes extremely slow—automatically closing browsers or file explorer when I try to open them. The only solution is to completely close Premiere Pro.
It has been observed that exporting in this manner previously functioned well, but it appears there may be a recent issue due to changes such as reduced disk space, which has triggered a threshold that is now causing problems. I suggest reviewing the Reliability History/Monitor and Event Viewer for any error or warning codes recorded just before or during the crashes. Also, check Task Manager and Resource Monitor to monitor system performance while rendering. Focus on observing resource usage—especially RAM—to understand what is consuming it and whether specific applications are heavily utilizing it. It seems your hardware may no longer be capable of handling long renders effectively. Possible immediate steps include running "dism" and "sfc /scannow", visiting the provided links for repair guidance, and manually downloading, reinstalling, and reconfiguring Premier Pro, as a quiet fix might have been applied to resolve the bug.
I resolved the issue. I believed updating to Windows 11 was the cause, so I switched back to Windows 10 but the problem continued.
I created another 1.34-hour video split into three parts, each lasting 30 minutes.
I applied adjustment layers for effects instead of embedding them directly. I enabled page file on my D drive and configured it as "system managed."
Once that was done, everything functioned properly and the process completed within about an hour and eight minutes.