FCPX Freezing During Playback While Video Is Rendering

Hello community -


I was wondering if anyone has noticed an issue of FCPX freezing when playing back a Project while rendering is happening. I've noticed this several times since Version 10.5.1. Everything works fine if I allow the Project to fully render, then play back the Project, but it consistently freezes when rendering is happening in the background while I try to play back any Project.


I'm using macOS Big Sur Version 11.1

Posted on Dec 17, 2020 3:56 PM

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9 replies

Dec 21, 2020 4:33 AM in response to shea66

Turning off background rendering is a good move. Of course, there should not be crashes, either way, but at least this solves it for now.

I don't see anything obviously wrong in the report that might cause the problem.

[However: your mac could benefit immensely from a relatively inexpensive update - get yourself a nice external SSD, install the OS on it and use the internal HD as additional storage. This will make your mac feel like new...]

Dec 18, 2020 5:18 AM in response to Luis Sequeira1

Hi Luis,


Thanks for the reply!


It's blocking completely and I need to Force Quit to be able to continue editing.


I will try your suggestion. I believe I have background render on, so perhaps I will shut that off. Although if that is an issue, it should be looked into as any functionality of the software that isn't working properly is not ideal, even if most people aren't using it.

Dec 17, 2020 11:54 PM in response to shea66

Do you mean freezing temporarily or blocking completely? Does it recover or do you have to force quit?


I haven't seen this happening; "background render" is really "idle render", i.e. it should stop when you are actively using the application. Most people have "background render" always turned OFF, and only render manually if needed for playback.

If there is an issue with, this may explain why we haven't seen it.


Also: as always, start by deleting preferences, many many issues can result from the preferences being corrupted. Delete again after every crash, since when the application crashes the preferences are not saved properly and further crashes may ensue.

To delete preferences, hold down command and option while starting FCP X and click Delete Preferences. The application will start in a default state, and open an "Untitled" library. Reopen the library you were working on, set the preferences the way you like them, and try again.

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FCPX Freezing During Playback While Video Is Rendering

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