why is fcpx so slow?

These abnormalities don’t happen all the time but are usually triggered by certain activities. Here are some examples:

You can see choppy playback with skipped frames:

Slow updating of preview in Final Cut can happen:

General sluggishness of Final Cut’s interface can occur:

There are several key reasons why such kind of sluggishness can happen:

The good news is there are ways of making video editing less annoying and more enjoyable for you. Let’s the story begin!

Things always work better if you get the main settings right from the beginning. Every time you start working on a new project that needs denoising, it is worth making sure that Neat Video is set to use optimal hardware parameters. That will allow the denoiser to achieve the best performance.

In FCP X's Inspector panel, go to Neat Video’s Options window, then to the menu Tools > Preferences > Performance > Optimize Settings…  and click Start. When the test is complete and you see the best speed Neat Video can achieve on your computer (please keep in mind that the number of the FPS in this test shows the maximum speed that Neat Video can reach without the overhead of Final Cut and other effects using the same resources), click the Accept Best Combination button.

Also check the GPU memory usage reported in Preferences > Performance page. Allowing Neat Video to use too much GPU memory may cause the denoiser and other GPU users (including Final Cut) to hinder each other, which will lead to some extra slowdown. On the other hand, giving Neat Video too little GPU memory will make the filter itself slower. Try experimenting with the slider and see what value gives you better result. The ‘Check speed’ button is helpful for a quick speed estimation. If you need a more accurate measurement (for example, before starting a several hours render), you can also measure the time needed to fully process a short project with Neat Video in Final Cut and adjust settings accordingly.

We have created this video for more guidance:

Seems to me that if the previous version of FCPX was working just fine with all those conditions, and yet not when updated to 10.6, then that's a problem with the update (or maybe the interface with Monterey, or a combination of the two). I asked that the issue be kicked upstairs to Engineering for a closer look.

This is indeed frustrating, especially when so many of us are on deadlines. One would think that an update would be rigorously tested and spanked before release, even using 3rd party plug-ins and AVCHD like we do in the real world.

Here's one work-around: turning off Background Rendering in FCPX Preferences stops 10.6 from crashing. You'll have to render manually — Render All in the Modify tab. But unfortunately, that doesn't affect the sluggish, snail-like issues.

And of course, we still have the issue which started with the 10.4.9 update where previously rendered material has to be re-rendered every time you launch FCPX. Why does it lose the link with those pre-existing render files? Another colossal waste of time, especially when the clock is ticking and clients are breathing down your neck. If FCPX wants to compete in the Pro market, then these types of issues have to be addressed and fixed ASAP.

For now, I'll re-install the earlier version of FCPX from Time Machine and use that until 10.6 is re-spanked and ready to go.

Whether you work remotely or in a movie studio, modern post-production tools now allow people to collaborate in real time from anywhere in the world. Among dozens of programs available, Apple's Final Cut Pro X (Final Cut, Final Cut Pro) stands out in the community.

In the hands of a pro, Final Cut Pro is a powerful piece of tech that can achieve stunning results at the highest level, as seen in the movies like The Social Network and The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo. However, Final Cut Pro's easy-to-use interface also allows hobbyists to create clean and professional content on a smaller scale.

With a high price tag, you'd expect high quality and performance too. Yet, it seems that whenever you are in a hurry — your Final Cut Pro slows down or even grinds to a halt, frustratingly affecting your workflow.

Final Cut Pro boasts some impressive features: 360-degree video editing, motion graphics, 4K HDR support, and advanced color-correction tools. But despite the software running as a 64-bit application, which means more powerful usage of RAM, Final Cut Pro still needs substantial file space and processing power and can cause the most robust setups to crash.

Retailers and repair shops usually suggest buying an external graphics processing unit (eGPU) or additional RAM. However, these days most Macs don't have the option to upgrade their RAM! So before you start investing in expensive hardware, follow these genius tricks that could save you time, effort, and money.

An ever-so-simple hack to speed up video Final Cut Pro uploads is to change your settings to import your footage as optimized media. Doing so will encode your media as ProRes 422 codec, meaning that your footage will run smoother on the timeline, require less time rendering, and provide better color quality for compositing. Here's how you can change import settings.

Switching off background rendering is a very effective way to speed up video Final Cut Pro processes. Background rendering is the process of creating temporary files for segments of your project that can't play in real time. By doing this, Final Cut Pro takes power away from what you're working on and doesn't allow your processor to run efficiently.

Unless playback in real time is a must-have, stop it to free up processing power:

If you have assets spread across several drives, Final Cut Pro slowness is inevitable, as it has to go back and forth between the drives. To avoid this, move all of your Final Cut Pro project files to a single folder within a single drive.

Paying attention to your storage is an important part of keeping Final Cut Pro running smoothly, as a filled-up hard drive is one of the key contributors to making Final Cut slow.

Start by having a good spring clean of your preference files, which are a type of cache files that store data on how you use your apps.

Next, delete unnecessary render files, which can accumulate due to automatic background rendering.

For a thorough cleanup, delete all the render files from your library:

It's' useful to know that what makes Final Cut slow is having other programs and applications running in the background. To avoid this, close all of these apps using Mac's native task manager, Activity Monitor.

Another contributing factor to your Mac not running at its full potential could be a cluttered desktop. This is because it stores the files as preview thumbnails which take processing power to generate. If you must have access to these files on your desktop, try to use stacks instead:

If your disk space is fragmented, it slows down processing speeds, as your Mac must search through different parts of the disk to put together a single file.

When it comes to managing your file storage, you should look at your computer's memory drives. A good rule of thumb is to have a minimum of 100 GB available. See for yourself how much disk space you have by going to your computer's system information.

Tired of the manual cleanup? Still finding Final Cut Pro slow? It's possible that you haven't deleted some heavy clutter somewhere in your system. Well, thankfully, we have other professional software to do this for us.

Consider installing a smart tool that gives your Mac much-needed attention. CleanMyMac X takes care of the cleanup, speedup, and protection at once, so you don't have to. It works automatically like a charm and is free to try.

Once done, repeat the process with Optimization, Maintenance, and Uninstaller scans, which will take your cleanup process even further and delete all the junk automatically, making your Mac feel sparkly and new.

I have an older 2011 iMac that struggles with 4K footage. After editing several 4K projects, I have found a few ways to speed things up and keep FCPX running smoothly while editing 4K footage from my GH4.

There are several other ways you can improve Final Cut Pro speeds, here are a few extra tips to keep you editing smoothly.

Keeping your mail, safari and other apps open while editing will slow down Final Cut Pro and impede your work. Use the Activity Monitor app (found in Applications/Utilities) to see what might be hogging your computer’s CPU.

Using 7200RPM or SSD drives will help speed up Final Cut Pro significantly. Also try to use Thunderbolt drives or USB 3.0 drives if you’re on a budget.

I recommend your keep all of you project files on one drive while editing. If you have assets spread across several drives Final Cut will get slow as it has to keep accessing different sources.

Try to keep AT LEAST 100GB free on the drives you’re using for Final Cut projects and assets. Leaving some breathing room will allow the drive to operate more efficiently.

This is probably an obvious one, but it makes a MASSIVE difference. Check to see how much RAM you’re rocking and if you have not maxed it out, run over to OWC or Crucial and pick up some new RAM.

Those are the tips I’ve found to speed up Final Cut Pro X and my machine while working with 4K footage. I’m sure there are other methods and if you have any suggestions I am all ears!

Is Final Cut Pro X relatively slow and laggy? It may be affecting your workflow negatively, costing you hours or even days a month in time due to the poor performance of Final Cut Pro X.

You must look at improving Final Cut Pro’s performance, or you’ll get left behind, literally and figuratively.

Fear not; there are plenty of tweaks you can make to ensure you’re editing on the optimum version of Final Cut Pro X.

In today’s article, we will share our top tips to ensure you are running Final Cut Pro X to the best of its abilities, optimising speed and performance.

Scroll below to read our top tips on how you can speed up your Final Cut Pro X’s performance.

Are you using Premiere Pro? This article “Render in Premiere Pro: 6 ways to IMMEDIATELY speed up your render” may help you improve your render speed.

Here it is, our top tips to improve Final Cut Pro’s performance and save you time and essentially money in the process. A range of proxies and simple configurations, and you’ll have a speedy, engaged version of Final Cut Pro X in no time.

Here’s a more detailed guide which answers the question why is Final Cut Pro lagging?

The first way to improve the performance in Final Cut Pro X is to create a proxy. A proxy essentially allows you to edit in high-res but takes up only a ¼ or ⅛ of the actual file size. This will enable you to edit quicker but also playback the footage quicker whilst editing.

You can edit the full size in smaller sections, which speed up the time to edit the file as reduces the size. When it comes to exporting the file, it exports it all in one go and at the highest quality.

Using this method requires more extensive memory storage but will speed up Final Cut Pro’s performance by 50%; it is worth it.

Use external hard drives to improve the performance of Final Cut Pro X. The hard drives improve Final Cut Pro X’s performance because if you leave it editing to the internal hard drive, your Mac or PC will continue reading and writing on that. This slow the processing speed up – and inevitably slowing down your editing workstream.

By editing to an external hard drive, frees up your computers processing speed and reduces disk space. The less disk space used, the faster the speed of Final Cut Pro’s performance.

Ensure you clear up your internal drive regularly to ensure it’s running at optimum speed.

Using keyboard shortcuts will speed up your edit exponentially. You can set each key to contain a shortcut. Think how many times you’ve gone to locate the cutting tool or the exposure tool, and it takes 20 seconds to find.

Using the shortcut will save you 20-30 seconds each time you use a new tool, which is quite often. This will save you 30% of your time when editing. That then frees up more time to chill or take on more work. Ensure you set up the basic shortcuts in Final Cut Pro X as soon as you can; it’s such a lifesaver.

Are you using Premiere Pro? Check out the keyboard shortcuts for Premiere Pro here.

Make sure you go out and increase the RAM on your Mac, the reason being is because the more RAM you have, the faster Final Cut Pro X performs.

What is RAM? RAM is a short term memory store that stores your computer/Macs short term memory. Overall, it is a high-speed component that temporarily stores all the information a device needs immediately.

How does it improve the performance of Final Cut Pro X? Well, the more RAM you have, the faster the RAM. Therefore the quicker the processor will speed up Final Cut Pro’s performance and allow you to render and edit with ease.

You can increase the performance by keeping all of your project files together in Final Cut Pro X. This is because Final Cut Pro will be able to access the files in one specific place, rather than searching multiple different files and folders to locate the data.

Keeping this organised means Final Cut will access them in a singular storage file, speeding up the program, therefore speeding up your editing workflow.

Keep it organised!

Using optimized footage will help improve Final Cut Pro’s speed immediately. When importing your footage into Final Cut Pro, ensure you check the checkbox saying “Use Optimised Media”.

This will encode your footage in ProRes 422; this means your footage will be quicker when editing in the timeline and speed up the time it takes to render the footage.

This links a little to a point earlier about using external hard drives. By using a fast drive, it will speed up the program. We recommend looking at using Thunderbolt drives or USB 3.0 drives if you’re on a budget.

These both will free up a lot of disk space on your Mac/Computer allowing Final Cut Pro X to run fast and efficiently as there will be less file space taken up, allowing it to run at a quick pace.

This one’s quite simple and obvious, you probably already know this, but yet it slips by a lot of editors!

Simply close any programs that are open and not being used. It will speed up the performance of your computer immediately. They’ll be no noise coming from your PC sounding like a plane taking off from behind your desk, just a smooth, efficient running copy of Final Cut Pro.

An editors dream.

That’s far too cheesy of the title, but we had to. To round it up, you can do a few things both short term and long term to improve the functionality of Final Cut Pro X – we recommend tweaking all of these to make sure you’re running it at the optimum level.

It’s insane how much time you can save, and if you implement just three of these – it can save enough time for you to work on an extra project a week. It improves your workflow and cash flow at the same time.

Let us know what you thought of the article down below in the comments. Was it useful? Would you like to hear more on Final Cut Pro X?

The hard drives improve Final Cut Pro X's performance because if you leave it editing to the internal hard drive, your Mac or PC will continue reading and writing on that. This slow the processing speed up – and inevitably slowing down your editing workstream.