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Does Adobe Premiere Pro keep crashing on your Windows 10 computer? You’re not alone. This has been a problem for quite a number of users. Recent user reports indicate Premiere Pro problems on Windows 10, especially on versions 1803 and 1809. For instance, Adobe Premiere Pro crashes occur every 10-15 minutes, which is extremely frustrating and ruins the user experience.

In this post, we explore Premiere Pro crashes and slowdowns and explain what causes them and what you can do to solve the “Premiere Pro keeps crashing on Windows 10” issue.

Why Does Adobe Premiere Pro Crash?

The causes of the “Adobe Premiere Pro keeps crashing” issue vary. Most Premiere Pro crash problems are caused by software bugs and misconfigurations.

While bugs are the most likely cause of this problem, some other factors may be behind the issue:

  • Misconfigured acceleration preferences
  • Premiere Pro being outdated
  • An outdated graphics driver
  • Compatibility issues
  • Malware
  • Conflicts with third-party software, such as games, antivirus tools and firewalls
  • Overheating
  • Corrupted system files
  • Incompatible fonts
  • Corrupted media cache

Note: While these are the most common causes of the Premiere Pro crashing problem, there might be other factors specific to your device.

What to Do If Premiere Pro Keeps Crashing in Windows 10

If your Adobe Premiere Pro keeps crashing, you may need to try different methods until you resolve the problem. A few quick fixes to help you resolve the issue are listed below:

  • Turning off GPU acceleration
  • Scanning for malware
  • Checking for overheating issues
  • Resetting your preferences
  • Using a different font
  • Running the app as an administrator
  • Disabling imported workspaces

You can also use technical solutions like updating your graphics driver, removing media cache files, and reinstalling the Premiere Pro app itself.

We’ve detailed these solutions using step-by-step instructions in the next section to help you fix Premiere Pro’s constant crashes.

How to Stop Premiere Pro from Crashing

Although the causes of the Premiere Pro crashing issue vary, we’ve put together some fixes that proved to work for many users. You don’t have to use these solutions in any order – just try each one until you find the one that works for you.

Turn Off GPU Acceleration

If your Premiere Pro keeps crashing, you should first check and change Premiere Pro’s acceleration preference.

Your Premiere Pro will have different accelerations available for use based on your device’s hardware specifications. You need to turn off GPU acceleration and set the system to the “Software Only” acceleration.

Use the following steps to change the acceleration preference:

  1. Open your Adobe Premiere Pro app.
  2. Go to the File tab.
  3. Click the File tab, then click “Project Settings” on the drop-down menu.
  4. Now click “General” on the list.
  5. Under Video Rendering and Playback, locate Renderer, then change it from GPU Acceleration to Software Only.

Once done, relaunch the Adobe Premiere app and see if it is still crashing.

Scan Your Computer for Malware

Malware is a key cause of system errors, resulting in various problems, like the crashing of Premiere Pro. If you suspect that your computer is malware-infected, you may consider conducting a full system scan to remove the malware and fix the problem.

You can perform a malware scan using the built-in Windows Defender. Use the following steps:

  1. Press Win + I to open Settings.Press Win + I to open Settings.
  2. Select “Update and Security”.Click “Update and Security”.
  3. On the left pane, click “Windows Security”.Click “Windows Security”.
  4. Select “Virus & threat protection”.Click “Virus & threat protection”.
  5. Under “Quick scan”, click “Scan options”.Click “Scan options”.
  6. Select “Full scan”.Click Full Scan.
  7. Click “Scan now”.Click “Scan now”.
  8. If Windows has found malware, click “Remove” first and then click “Start actions”.Click “Start actions”.
  9. Wait for the process to complete, then reboot your PC.

You can scan your PC again using quality third-party antivirus software such as Auslogics Anti-Malware to eliminate any residual malware.

Run Auslogics Anti-Malware to check your PC.

Temporarily Disable Your Third-Party Security Software or CPU/Memory-Hogging Applications

Sometimes, Adobe Premiere Pro can crash because of a conflict with other third-party software in your system, such as games, security software, or browsers. In other cases, your third-party applications could be hogging your resources, limiting the amount of CPU or memory available to Premiere Pro. With limited CPU and memory, Premiere Pro can experience crashes.

You can check for any third-party software that you think might be causing Premiere Pro to repeatedly crash and disable it, then relaunch your Premiere Pro app. If the issue vanishes after disabling such software, you can be sure that the program was causing the problem.

You can disable such programs using the following steps:

  1. Right-click on the taskbar and select “Task Manager”.Click “Task Manager”.
  • In the Task Manager, go to the Processes tab.Navigate to the Processes tab.
  • Now, locate any processes that you think are conflicting.Locate conflicting processes.
  • Now, right-click on the processes and select “End Task”.Click End task.
  • Again, locate any process that is causing high CPU and memory usage, right-click on each process and click “Disable”.

Note: If disabling these applications still fails to stop the crashes, you can close all other open applications and keep only Premiere Pro open. This will leave more CPU and memory resources for Premiere Pro’s use and help stop the crashing.

Check for Overheating

Premiere Pro uses both the device’s CPU and GPU for its heavy computations. If you leave Premiere Pro to run on your PC for an extended period of time, your computer may get overheated, especially when the PC’s cooling system is faulty.

Once Premiere Pro feels the overheating of the computer, it may crash without warning. If this is the case, cooling your device down can help save the day.

To cool down your PC, you may need to carry out the following:

  • Repair your PC’s cooling system.
  • Clean your PC of dust and dirt.
  • Put your computer in a cool environment away from heat.

Update Your Graphics Driver

In most cases, an outdated or broken graphics driver is the main cause of Premiere Pro crashing issues. This happens if you haven’t updated your driver in a long time or if the graphics driver is corrupted.

It is important to keep your graphics driver up to date because graphics card manufacturers such as Intel, Nvidia, and AMD keep updating their graphics drivers to fix bugs in previous driver versions and enhance their performance.

To update drivers, use the following steps:

  1. Press Win + X to open the Windows Quick Access Menu.Open Quick Access Menu.
  2. Select “Device Manager”.Click Device Manager.
  3. Locate the “Display adapters” entry and expand it.Click “Display adapters”.
  4. Now, locate the graphics card entry (for instance, Intel ® HD Graphics 4000).Locate the graphics card entry.
  5. Right-click on it and choose “Update driver”.Click “Update driver”.
  6. Select “Search automatically for drivers”. Windows will automatically check the availability of the best driver for your device.Click “Search automatically for drivers”.
  7. Follow the on-screen instructions to install the device driver.

You can also update your graphics driver through the manufacturer’s website. Use these steps:

  1. Visit your graphics card manufacturer’s website.Visit your graphics card manufacturer's website.
  2. Find the graphics driver that corresponds with your specific Windows version (for example, Windows 64-bit).Search for graphics drivers.
  3. Download the driver manually.Download the driver manually.
  4. Double-click on the downloaded file.Double-click on the downloaded file.
  5. Follow the on-screen instructions to install the driver.Follow the on-screen instructions to install the driver.

Once you’re done with the process of updating your graphics driver, reboot Windows 10 and check if the problem has been fixed.

Note: Download Auslogics Driver Updater to update all drivers on your PC in one click to prevent device conflicts and ensure smooth hardware operation.

Run Auslogics Driver Updater.

Reset Your Preferences

If turning off GPU acceleration has not solved the Premiere Pro crashing problem, you may need to reset your preferences.

Adobe acknowledges that resetting your preferences can help stop Premiere Pro from crashing. If you haven’t tried this fix after turning off GPU acceleration, you could give it a try now and see if it helps to fix the problem.

Use the following steps to reset your preferences:

  1. Hold the Alt key when you launch Premiere Pro.
  2. This will invoke a pop-up asking if you’re sure you want to reset your Premiere Pro preferences.
  3. Click Ok to confirm.
  4. Wait for the process to complete.
  5. After the process completes, relaunch Premiere Pro and see if the crashing issue persists.

Remove Media Cache Files

Sometimes, corrupted media cache files trigger the Premiere Pro crashing issue. The Media Cache is temporary storage that stores media files imported into Premiere Pro. It allows Premiere Pro to quickly access the files whenever you need them.

Although the application often automatically deletes the media cache by default, sometimes, the wait might be too long when you work on many different projects. This might cause the cache to get full, which can eventually lead to crashes.

If this is the case, you may need to delete the media cache files to free up some storage space. You can use the following steps:

  1. Launch Premiere Pro.
  2. Follow this path: Edit > Preferences > Media Cache.
  3. Once the Media Cache window opens, click the Delete button to remove the media cache files.
  4. Click OK and wait for the process to complete.
  5. Once the process completes, relaunch Premiere Pro and see if this fix has stopped the crashing.

Use the Default Font

Fonts in Premiere Pro dictate the way you see text. You can change and customize your fonts as you please. Oddly enough, some fonts don’t work well in Premiere Pro, especially with captions.

If you are using captions in your project and you start experiencing crashes, change your font and see if that helps.

Note that changing the default font to something different might conflict with the application’s engine if the new font is not compatible with your system. Some users have noted that changing back to the default font came to their rescue.

Update/Reinstall Premiere Pro

If none of these fixes work, you can try updating or reinstalling your Premier Pro app. Typically, reinstalling the Premiere Pro app using the latest version of the app will fix the crashing issue.

First, you may need to consider deleting all the files related to Premiere Pro and then reinstalling it afresh. This will help you remove error configurations (if any) and solve the crashing problem.

Before you start the reinstallation process, make sure you have your Adobe Creative Cloud credentials and then download a new version of Premiere Pro that is compatible with your system.

Uninstall your Adobe Premiere Pro, then download its newest version and install it on your PC.

Conclusion

In most cases, keeping your Windows OS, Premiere Pro, and drivers up to date will make sure you do not experience program crashes. Hopefully, this post helped you fix your Premiere Pro issue. Share your thoughts and feelings regarding the problem with us in the comments section below.