Premiere Pro Crashing When Opening Project? Fix It with These 7 Tips

Does your Adobe Premiere Pro keep crashing on your system? While it's a top video editing tool, Adobe Premiere Pro has a bad reputation for frequent crashes, which leaves many users frustrated.

Some users experience crashes right at launch — sometimes without even seeing the splash screen. Fortunately, most of these problems have easy fixes. This post will help you explain the causes and share solutions to help you avoid crashes.

Part 1. Why Does Premiere Pro Keep Crashing?

Adobe Premiere Pro is a high-powered video editing tool, but it can sometimes lag or crash. This can be frustrating, but understanding the causes can help minimize issues and keep your workflow smooth. Here are some:

• Using outdated versions may have unresolved bugs that cause crashes.
• Incompatible or outdated third-party plug-ins can lead to instability.
• GPU acceleration settings can conflict with Premiere Pro’s processing.
• Accumulated cache files can slow down or crash the software.
• Unstable or outdated graphics drivers can cause frequent crashes.
• Low RAM or slow hard drives (especially HDDs) can affect performance.
• Large and uncompressed files can strain system resources.
• Running multiple background programs reduces available system resources.
• Certain third-party fonts may not work well with Premiere Pro.
• Non-standard codecs or formats can trigger crashes.
• Large imports or exports may overload Premiere Pro, causing crashes. Premiere Pro may struggle with certain video formats (HEVC and H.264) because decoding them requires heavy processing.

Part 2. 7 Solutions to Fix Premiere Pro Keeps Crashing When Opening Project

If Premiere Pro keeps crashing when you open a project, it can be frustrating. This problem can happen for different reasons, like software bugs, system issues, or file errors. The good news is that there are simple ways to fix it. Below are seven solutions to help you get Premiere Pro running smoothly again.

Solution #1: Update Your System’s Graphics Drivers

Premiere Pro requires significant processing power and memory. If your system barely meets or falls below the minimum specs, you may experience crashes, freezing, or lag. The table below shows the minimum system requirements for Windows and Mac.

Note: Sometimes, even if you meet the minimum requirements, editing high-resolution footage can still cause issues.

Premiere Pro relies on your graphics card for video processing, effects, and rendering. An outdated driver can cause crashes and slow performance. Here’s how to update Mac and Windows graphics drivers.

Mac

For Mac users, you don't need to worry. Mac’s graphics drivers update automatically with system updates. To update them, upgrade macOS to a newer version.

Step 1: Check your Mac’s graphics card. Click the Apple menu (top left) and About This Mac.

Step 2: Click More Info... to see details.

Windows

Meanwhile for Windows users, you need to check and update them manually. Follow the steps below:

Step 1: Right-click the Start menu and pick Device Manager.

Step 2: Hit the arrow next to Display adapters to see your graphics driver(s).

Step 3: Right-click your chosen graphics driver and hit Update Driver.

Step 4: Click Search automatically for drivers to let Windows find updates. If no updates are found, download the latest driver from the manufacturer’s website.

Step 5: Your system’s drivers will now update. Restart your computer if required.

Solution #2: Reset Premiere Pro Preferences Settings

Users customize Premiere Pro settings to fit their needs. But sometimes, misconfigured or corrupted preferences can cause the software to freeze or close unexpectedly.

Resetting Premiere Pro settings is a quick way to fix crashes when opening a project. This process does not delete your projects or media files, only your custom settings. It helps Premiere Pro start fresh, resolving crashes caused by misconfigured preferences.

To do this, see the below steps:

Step 1: Hold down the Alt (Windows) or Alt/Option (Mac) key while launching Premiere Pro.

Step 2: A pop-up will appear to ask if you want to reset the preferences. Click OK to confirm.

Solution #3: Turn Off GPU Acceleration

Premiere Pro uses GPU acceleration for faster processing, but it can cause crashes. Some graphics cards struggle with certain effects or high-resolution files, leading to freezing or sudden shutdowns when opening a project.

Turning off GPU acceleration forces Premiere Pro to use software rendering instead, which can improve stability. Disabling it can improve performance, especially on lower-end devices.

To turn off GPU acceleration, adhere to the following instructions:

Step 1: Open Premiere Pro and go to File.

Step 2: Click Project Settings and select General.

Step 3: Under Video Rendering and Playback, set Renderer to Mercury Playback Engine Software Only, then click OK.

Step 4: Reboot your device to apply the changes.

Solution #4: Close CPU Intensive Applications

Premiere Pro needs a lot of computer resources. Running too many programs at once can use up RAM and CPU, causing it to crash. For immediate prevention, keep vents clear of dust and ensure they are not blocked. To fix this, close unnecessary programs and web pages to reduce the strain on your system and improve Premiere Pro’s performance.

Follow the below steps:

Step 1: Right-click the bottom bar of your Windows PC and press Ctrl + Shift + Esc to open Task Manager.

Step 2: Find programs using too much RAM or CPU. Right-click them and choose End Task.

Solution #5: Uninstall Third-Party Plug-Ins and Effects

Professional editors usually use After Effects to render and export video effects, then import the clips into Premiere Pro for smoother performance. However, if your Premiere Pro freezes on the splash screen, the issue may be caused by an incompatible plug-in.

If this happens, try rendering the clip in After Effects and then importing it back. You can also use Dynamic Link.

Step 1: Right-click the clip.

Step 2: Select Replace with After Effects Composition.

Third-party plug-ins may also cause issues. If Premiere Pro crashes, try rendering clips individually or avoid using problematic plug-ins.

Solution #6: Troubleshoot Crashes During Import/Export

If Premiere Pro crashes during import or export, it might be due to handling too many clips or large files at once.

Importing too many clips at once can cause Premiere Pro to crash. Try importing a few clips at a time. Dragging and dropping files may work better for some users. You can also right-click the Project Panel tab, select Import, and add files this way.

When exporting, make sure you have enough free space on your drive. If your internal SSD is full, consider using an external SSD. You can also use Adobe Media Encoder to transcode files, which may help prevent crashes during export. This can resize the file into smaller sizes before editing to improve performance.

Solution #7: Delete Corrupted Cache Files

Premiere Pro stores cache files to speed up editing. But if these files become corrupted, they can cause crashes when opening a project. Over time, old or damaged cache files may interfere with smooth performance, leading to errors or freezing.

Clearing these files helps refresh the software and prevent issues. It also frees up storage space, making Premiere Pro run more efficiently. If your project keeps crashing, deleting corrupted cache files is a quick and easy fix.

Follow the steps below to do so:

Step 1: Open Premiere Pro and go to Edit. Hit Preferences and Media Cache.

Step 2: Click Delete to remove the corrupted files.

Step 3: Click OK and wait for the process to finish.

Step 4: This will help prevent Premiere Pro crashes and speed up your editing.

Part 3. How to Repair Damaged Premiere Pro Video Files?

Imagine spending hours editing a video in Premiere Pro — perfecting transitions, adjusting colors, and syncing audio — only to discover that the file is corrupted. You try to open it, but Premiere Pro crashes or shows an error message. Maybe the video plays, but it’s choppy, pixelated, or missing parts. It’s frustrating, especially when you’re on a deadline.

File corruption can happen for many reasons. Your computer might crash while saving, a sudden power outage could interrupt the process, or importing files from an external drive might cause issues. Sometimes, a simple software glitch can damage your project. No matter the cause, losing your work can be stressful.

But don’t worry — there’s a solution. Repairit Video Repair is a simple and effective tool that can fix corrupted video files. It can handle severe damage, missing frames, and playback errors. See its remarkable features:

Wondershare Repairit - Video Repair

Try It Free Try It Free

1,010,994 people have downloaded it.

• Repairit can fix corrupted videos in over 20 formats, including MOV, MP4, M2TS, MKV, MTS, 3GP, and BRAW — formats commonly used in Premiere Pro projects.

• Repaired videos are more compatible with professional editing software such as DaVinci, Composer, Final Cut Pro, and Premiere Pro.

• Repair damaged or corrupted videos caused by video compression, system crash, video format change, etc.

• Improve the quality of your restored videos with AI-powered upscaling, stabilization, and noise reduction.

• Repairit has a quick and advanced scanning mode. You can use either depending on the level of corruption the video file has undergone.

• No limit to the number and size of the repairable videos.

• Support Windows 11/10/8/7/Vista, Windows Server 2003/2008/2012/2016/2019/2022, and macOS 10.12~macOS 15.

If you’re dealing with Premiere Pro file corruption, try Repairit Video Repair and avoid the hassle of starting over. Simply do the following steps:

Step 1: Open the Repairit Premiere Pro Video Repair tool. Click the +Add button to upload your corrupted Adobe Premiere Pro video files.

Step 2: Press Repair after uploading the Adobe Premiere Pro video files.

For severely damaged Adobe Premiere Pro video files, choose Advanced Repair. Upload a sample Adobe Premiere Pro video file (from the same device and format). Repairit will analyze it and fix the corrupted Adobe Premiere Pro video files.

Step 3: Once repaired, preview the fixed Adobe Premiere Pro video files. If the quality satisfies you, you can now save them. Choose your folder and hit Save or Save all. Avoid saving repaired Adobe Premiere Pro video files to the original location to avoid the same corruption.

Conclusion

If Premiere Pro keeps crashing, it can be frustrating, especially when you're in the middle of an important project. Fortunately, these seven troubleshooting steps can help you fix startup crashes, freezing, and unexpected shutdowns. Keeping your software updated, optimizing system performance, and managing cache files are key to a smoother editing experience.

However, if crashes lead to corrupted video files, you don’t have to start from scratch. Repairit Video Repair offers a quick and effective way to restore damaged Premiere Pro files, ensuring that your hard work isn’t lost. Try these solutions and get back to editing without the hassle.