How to Speed Up Lightroom Classic: 15 Performance Tips from a Working Photographer

I’ve been using the desktop version of Lightroom for many years as the centre of my photography editing workflow. I love the way it handles pretty much everything I need in terms of managing my photos and editing them, and I use it for 95% of all my photography post-processing.

As a travel photographer, I find Lightroom Classic to be the best photo editing software, and an indispensable tool. The monthly subscription is a price well worth paying, and I recommend it to all my students on my travel photography course.

One thing I don’t love about Lightroom though is how slow and painful it sometimes can be to use. Every release seems to add new features that demand more from your hardware, especially on larger monitors, and despite running a fast desktop machine with all the bells and whistles, I still find myself waiting for things to render more than I’d like.

Because of this, I’ve become slightly obsessed with optimising Lightroom so it runs as well as is possible. With my background as a software developer and as someone who has been using Lightroom daily for over a decade, I’ve put a lot of work into figuring out what actually makes a difference and what doesn’t.

A quick note on naming: Adobe has rebranded Lightroom’s desktop application a few times over the years. It was originally just “Lightroom”, then became “Lightroom Classic CC” in 2017, and is now simply “Lightroom Classic”. Throughout this guide, I’ll use the current name. If you’ve seen it called Lightroom Classic CC elsewhere, it’s the same application.

Read on for my top tips for improving Lightroom Classic performance!

 

Why is Lightroom Classic Slow?

There are a number of reasons Lightroom Classic might be running slowly. Lightroom is a complex application that performs the dual functions of photography management and photography editing, and both of those put serious demands on your hardware.

To manage your photo library, Lightroom builds a large database of your images. This allows you to do all sorts of wonderful things from a workflow perspective, like finding images shot with a specific lens, or at a specific shutter speed. Plus there are all the tools like keyword management, labelling and so on. The flip side is that a more complicated database takes more power to run.

From a photo editing perspective, Lightroom is what is known as a non-destructive editor. Every edit you make can be rolled back, and the original image file remains on disk. This also means that every edit you make has to be applied and calculated against all the previous edits. So as you make more and more edits to an image, the slower this process becomes.

On top of all that, recent versions of Lightroom Classic have added AI-powered features like Denoise, Super Resolution, Generative Remove, Reflection Removal, and Lens Blur. These features are fantastic for image quality, but they put a heavy load on both your GPU and your processor. If you’ve noticed Lightroom getting slower recently, these AI tools are likely part of the reason.

The good news is that you can improve Lightroom Classic performance by following a number of practical tips. Whilst there will always be limitations based on the underlying hardware, these tips should help you get the most out of Lightroom on your computer.

 

What Hardware Does Lightroom Classic Need?

Adobe’s official recommended requirements for Lightroom Classic (version 15 and later) are as follows:

• An Intel or AMD processor with SSE 4.2 support (2GHz or faster), or an Apple Silicon processor
• 16GB of RAM or more
• A 1920 x 1080 display or greater
• A GPU with DirectX 12 (Windows) or Metal (macOS) support and at least 4GB of VRAM for 4K displays. For full GPU acceleration and AI features like Denoise and Lens Blur, Adobe recommends 8GB of dedicated GPU memory, or 16GB of shared/unified memory on Apple Silicon Macs
• A fast SSD for your catalog, previews, and Camera Raw cache

In my experience, the “recommended” specs are closer to a realistic minimum. Lightroom will happily consume whatever resources you give it. On my ASUS ROG G14 laptop with 32GB of RAM, Lightroom will suck up 10 to 15GB of that. On my desktop (a Ryzen 9 7950X3D with 64GB of DDR5), Lightroom routinely sits at 20 to 25GB of usage.

If I’m editing large panoramas, or moving images between Lightroom, Photoshop and Topaz DeNoise, my desktop will often be running at 40 to 50GB of RAM usage across all the applications.

I’d say 16GB is the bare minimum for a usable experience today, 32GB is the sweet spot for most photographers, and up to 64GB is worth it if you regularly work with large files or run AI tools like Denoise on batches of images. More than 64GB is unlikely to help unless you have very specific needs.

For GPU memory, the bar has gone up since Adobe added AI features. My RTX 4070 with 12GB of VRAM handles everything Lightroom can throw at it, including AI Denoise, without issues. If your GPU has less than 4GB of VRAM, you’ll probably find the AI features slow or unavailable.

For more on choosing the right hardware, see my guides to the best desktop computer for photo editing, the best laptop for photo editing, and the best monitor for photo editing.

 

How To Speed Up Lightroom Classic

Here are my top tips for improving Lightroom Classic performance to help speed up your photography workflow. Some of these are quick settings changes that take 30 seconds, and others involve hardware decisions. I’ve ordered them roughly by impact, so if you’re in a hurry, start at the top.

1. Put your Catalog File on a Fast SSD

If your computer has a mix of older mechanical hard drives and newer SSDs, you’ll want your Lightroom catalog on the fastest drive you have. Ideally, that’s an NVMe SSD rather than a SATA SSD (NVMe drives are typically 3 to 5 times faster at sequential reads).

The fast speeds of an SSD means Lightroom can access image information much faster. Lightroom stores all its preview files in the same location as the catalog, and the preview file is what Lightroom renders when you’re browsing your library. So you want that to be somewhere fast.

Personally, I have a dedicated NVMe SSD just for my Lightroom catalog and previews. This isn’t a must, but as I have a large catalog and generate a lot of previews, it takes up significant space. A dedicated drive makes that easier to manage. I then have a separate NVMe SSD for Windows and program files, and larger drives for long-term photo storage.

Storing your photos on a slower drive is perfectly fine, because most of the time you’ll be working from the previews that Lightroom is pulling off the fast SSD.

Moving your catalog file is just a question of locating its current location and then moving it in either Windows Explorer or Finder. Full instructions on this Adobe page.

 

2. Increase your Camera Raw Cache Size

Lightroom has two places where it caches image data. One is the preview cache (stored with your catalog file, used in the Library module), and the other is the Camera Raw cache.

When you switch to the Develop module, Lightroom loads the image data into its Camera Raw cache. This defaults to a size of just 1GB, which is pitiful. With a cache that small, Lightroom is constantly having to swap images in and out, which slows everything down.

I’d suggest setting this to at least 30GB, and I personally run mine at 50GB. Put the Camera Raw cache on an NVMe SSD if you can, ideally the same drive as your catalog. I’ve found that Lightroom runs slightly faster when this cache is on a separate drive to my system files, but I have no hard evidence to back this claim up. Still, worth a try if you have multiple fast drives.

You can set your Camera Raw cache size and location from Edit (Windows) or Lightroom Classic (Mac) then Preferences, and then choosing the “Performance” tab.

 

3. Configure GPU Acceleration

Adobe has been steadily improving Lightroom Classic’s GPU support over the last few years, and with version 15 it’s more useful than ever. Lightroom can now use your GPU for image processing in the Develop module, image export, preview generation, and AI-powered features like Denoise and Lens Blur.

You’ll find the settings under Preferences, then the Performance tab.

The default setting is “Auto”, where Lightroom detects the capabilities of your graphics card and decides what to accelerate. In my experience on every computer I’ve used, “Auto” has been conservative, only enabling basic acceleration even when the hardware could handle more.

I’d recommend switching to “Custom” in the dropdown. This gives you individual checkboxes for:

• Use GPU for display (basic acceleration for smoother scrolling and panning)
• Use GPU for image processing (applies GPU power to Develop module edits)
• Use GPU for export (can roughly halve export times on capable GPUs)
• Use GPU for preview generation (added in mid-2025, speeds up building previews)

On my desktop with an RTX 4070, I run all four options enabled and the difference is noticeable. Export times are roughly half what they were without GPU acceleration, and slider adjustments in the Develop module feel more responsive, especially on my large high-resolution monitor.

Laptop users with less powerful integrated graphics may see less benefit, or even a slight slowdown with GPU image processing enabled. The overhead of shuffling data between the CPU and GPU isn’t always worth it on lower-end hardware. Try it both ways and see what feels faster for you.

One thing to be aware of: GPU image processing only works for images using Process Version 5 or higher. Process Version 5 was introduced in 2018, so if you have older photos that haven’t been updated, they’ll still use the CPU. You can batch-update your library by selecting all photos (Ctrl+A), right-clicking, choosing Develop Settings, then “Update to Current Process Version”. Back up your catalog first, because changing process version can subtly affect how your images look.

 

4. Manage Background Tasks

Lightroom runs several background tasks that can slow things down while you’re actively editing. The main culprits are:

Face detection and address lookup. Lightroom can search for faces in your photos and look up GPS addresses. These run in the background by default and eat into your processing power. Pause them while you’re editing by clicking your name in the top left corner of Lightroom and hitting the pause button next to each task.

Cloud synchronisation. If you sync images to the web for access from other devices, Lightroom will try to sync your edits as you make them, generating thumbnails and uploading them after every slider adjustment. Pause syncing while you’re actively editing, and let it catch up when you’re done.

XMP writing. Lightroom can save your edit data into small XMP sidecar files alongside your RAW files. This used to cause noticeable slowdowns, but Adobe has improved the process significantly. As of version 14.4 (June 2025), XMP data for the active image is only written every 10 seconds rather than after each edit, and Lightroom now pauses XMP writing automatically during imports. I’d now recommend leaving “Automatically write changes into XMP” enabled in your Catalog Settings. You can still pause it manually from the dropdown menu under your name if you’re doing intensive editing and want every last bit of performance.

Also, back up your Lightroom catalog regularly and keep a copy somewhere safe. It won’t make Lightroom faster, but it will save you a lot of heartache if your catalog ever becomes corrupt. You can set your backup schedule in the Catalog Settings under the “General” tab.

 

5. Build Standard Size Previews on Import

When you import photos into Lightroom, you have a number of preview options. My suggestion is to build standard previews on import. This slows down the import process, but it makes the Library module far more responsive when you come to browse your imported images, because Lightroom will be rendering from pre-built previews rather than generating them from the RAW files on the fly.

There’s also an “Embedded & Sidecar” option which uses the preview that your camera embeds in the RAW file. These load faster initially, but in my experience they look quite different to the previews Lightroom generates, simply because Lightroom’s RAW processor renders images differently to my camera. I want to see images the way Lightroom does, so I build standard previews. Your preference may differ, so experiment.

If you choose standard previews, set the preview size correctly for your monitor. The size should be close to your screen width but not smaller. So if you have a 1920×1080 monitor, pick 2048 pixels. For a 4K display, pick a size of 3840 or higher if available. You can set this in the File Handling section of Catalog Settings.

As of Lightroom Classic 15.0, you can also set a preview cache size limit. This stops your preview files from eating up your entire SSD over time. If disk space is a concern, set a limit that’s generous but sustainable for your drive.

 

6. Build 1:1 Previews Before You Edit

Lightroom also has the option to create 1:1 previews, which are full-size versions of an image. You can generate these on import, but this slows imports considerably and uses a lot of disk space.

My suggestion is to add an extra step to your workflow. Once you’ve culled your images and chosen the ones you’re going to edit (usually possible with standard previews), select them, and from the Library menu choose to build 1:1 previews.

This takes a few minutes depending on how many photos you’ve selected, but it speeds up the Develop module significantly because Lightroom won’t have to build full-size renders on the fly as you edit.

 

7. Edit Images Sequentially

Lightroom automatically pre-loads the next and previous images in the filmstrip into memory when you’re in the Develop module. The actively edited image is highlighted, and the images on either side will already be cached in RAM for faster access.

The tip here is to work through your images in order rather than hopping around. I use the Library module to filter and flag the images I want to edit, and only load them into the Develop module when I have a series ready to work through. Editing them sequentially means the pre-loaded images are almost always the ones I need next, and the whole experience feels much snappier.

 

8. Apply Develop Edits in an Optimal Order

The order in which you apply corrections in the Develop module affects performance. Every time you make a new edit, Lightroom has to recalculate all the previous adjustments. The more edits stacked up, the slower the module becomes.

Some adjustments are particularly expensive. Noise reduction, for example, can slow things down noticeably. According to Adobe, the most efficient order for editing is:

1. Spot healing
2. Geometry corrections (lens correction profiles, manual keystone corrections)
3. Global adjustments (exposure, white balance)
4. Local corrections (gradient filter, adjustment brush, masks)
5. Detail corrections (noise reduction, sharpening)

In recent versions of Lightroom you can reorder the Develop module panels, so you might find it helpful to arrange them in this order.

If you want to do really detailed compositing or heavy retouching on a particular image, Photoshop is usually a better tool for that job. Lightroom’s strength is in batch processing and non-destructive adjustment, not pixel-level editing.

 

9. Smart Previews: Experiment and Decide

Smart previews are compressed versions of your RAW files. Adobe originally introduced them so you could edit photos on a laptop without bringing your full image library. Because they’re smaller files, editing from smart previews can be faster than editing from full RAW files.

Lightroom Classic lets you choose to edit smart previews instead of originals from the Performance tab in Preferences. In practice, the speed benefit is noticeable for quick adjustments, but as soon as you zoom to 1:1, Lightroom has to load the original RAW file anyway, and the advantage disappears.

Smart previews do take up extra disk space on your SSD, so there’s a trade-off. If you find your Develop module feels sluggish and you’re not doing a lot of 1:1 zooming, building smart previews on import and editing from them is worth trying. If you mostly work at 1:1 zoom (as I tend to, for sharpness checks), the benefit may not justify the extra space.

10. Manage AI Features for Performance

This is new territory that didn’t exist when I first wrote this guide. Lightroom Classic now includes several AI-powered tools, and they’re among the most GPU and RAM-hungry operations in the application.

The main ones to be aware of are:

AI Denoise is brilliant for cleaning up high-ISO images, and I use it regularly. But each Denoise operation requires significant GPU processing. Batch-denoising 50 images will hammer your system. I’ve found it faster to denoise selectively (only the images that really need it) rather than applying it across an entire shoot.

Generative Remove and Reflection Removal use AI to intelligently fill areas after removing objects or reflections. These run locally on your machine and are GPU-intensive. The quality is impressive, but if your GPU has less than 8GB of VRAM, expect slower processing.

Assisted Culling (added in v15.0) uses AI to help you sort through large sets of images, identifying sharpness and eye contact. It’s useful after a portrait session, but it chews through processing power. Run it before you start editing, not during.

If you’re running into performance issues and you use these AI features, keep an eye on your GPU memory usage. Windows Task Manager (Performance tab, GPU section) will show you whether your VRAM is maxing out.

 

11. Optimise your Catalog

This won’t transform your experience, but if you’ve never done it (or it’s been a while), optimising your catalog file is worth the 30 seconds it takes.

As you use Lightroom, it constantly updates the catalog database, and over time the data structure becomes less efficient. Lightroom has a one-click “Optimise Catalog” option that tidies this up. My suggestion is to set Lightroom to back up your catalog on a regular schedule (weekly works well), and enable the “optimise catalog” checkbox as part of the backup process. That way it happens automatically.

 

12. Keep Lightroom Updated (But Read the Release Notes)

Adobe regularly pushes out updates, and many of them include performance improvements. The October 2025 release (v15.0) brought significant performance improvements including faster cropping, smoother hover previews, and Assisted Culling. The February 2026 release (v15.2) fixed a serious Windows bug where repeated exports would progressively slow down, sometimes taking up to three times longer than the first export in a session. Independent testing by Puget Systems showed that updating from v15.0 to v15.2 improved overall benchmark scores by 49 to 59% on Windows machines.

My one caveat: don’t blindly update on the day a new version drops. Read the release notes and check photography forums first. Major version releases occasionally introduce new bugs (as v15.0 demonstrated). Waiting a week or two for the dust to settle is usually wise.

You can check for updates from Help then Updates. If you’re on an older version, updating is one of the single highest-impact things you can do.

 

13. Restart Lightroom During Long Sessions

The old “turn it off and on again” advice is as old as computing itself, but it’s still around for a reason. In my experience, Lightroom gradually slows down over extended editing sessions, even on a high-end machine. I don’t know exactly why (memory fragmentation, cache bloat, take your pick), but closing and reopening Lightroom after a couple of hours of heavy editing consistently helps.

You don’t need to restart your whole computer. Just close Lightroom and start it up again.

 

14. Upgrade Your Hardware (If Nothing Else Helps)

In an ideal world, all these tips would solve any performance issues. But there is only so much you can do with the hardware you have. If your computer is more than five or six years old, or if you’re running a budget laptop, an upgrade may be the most effective fix.

If possible, I’d suggest investing in a desktop, as these have much greater expansion options and higher-powered components. I build my own desktops (computer science degree finally paying off), but pre-built systems from companies like Puget Systems are also worth considering if you want a machine specifically tuned for photo editing.

Key specs to prioritise for Lightroom in 2026:

• A recent processor: AMD Ryzen 7 or 9 (7000 series or newer) or Intel Core i7/i9 (12th gen or newer). For Apple users, any M-series chip (M1, M2, M3, M4) runs Lightroom very well, and the unified memory architecture means the GPU recommendations are different (16GB unified memory or more)
• At least 32GB of RAM (64GB if your budget allows)
• An NVMe SSD for your catalog and Camera Raw cache (SATA SSDs are fine for photo storage)
• A dedicated GPU with at least 8GB of VRAM if you plan to use AI features (NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 or better, or AMD equivalent)

For more detailed recommendations, check out my guides to the best desktop computer for photo editing and the best laptop for photo editing.

 

15. Keep at Least 20% Free Space on Your Drives

This is easy to overlook but can make a real difference. SSDs slow down as they fill up, and Lightroom needs temporary space for cache files, previews, and processing. Adobe recommends keeping at least 20% of your catalog drive free at all times.

If your SSD is getting full, deleting old preview files (Lightroom will rebuild them as needed) or moving your Camera Raw cache to a drive with more space are quick fixes.

 

Frequently Asked Questions

Why is Lightroom Classic so slow on my computer?

The most common causes are a catalog stored on a mechanical hard drive instead of an SSD, insufficient RAM (less than 16GB), a small Camera Raw cache (the default 1GB is far too low), and background tasks running while you edit. AI features like Denoise and Generative Remove also require significant GPU resources.

Start with the quick fixes: move your catalog to an SSD, increase the Camera Raw cache to at least 30GB, pause background tasks, and enable GPU acceleration in Custom mode. These four changes together often make the biggest difference.

How much RAM does Lightroom Classic actually need?

Adobe recommends 16GB, and that’s usable. In practice, 32GB is a much better experience, especially if you also run Photoshop or AI Denoise. Lightroom will comfortably use 20 to 25GB on a machine with 64GB available. Beyond 64GB, you’re unlikely to see further improvement unless you’re working with exceptionally large files or running multiple demanding applications at the same time.

Should I use GPU acceleration in Lightroom Classic?

On most modern computers, yes. Switch from “Auto” to “Custom” in Preferences and enable all four GPU options (display, image processing, export, and preview generation). On desktop machines with dedicated GPUs, this typically speeds up exports by around 50% and makes Develop module sliders noticeably more responsive.

Laptops with integrated or low-end graphics may see less benefit. If things feel slower after enabling GPU acceleration, switch back to Auto or Off and test again.

Does Lightroom Classic run well on Apple Silicon Macs?

Yes, very well. Lightroom Classic has run natively on Apple Silicon since mid-2021, and performance on M-series chips is excellent. The unified memory architecture means a Mac with 16GB of unified memory handles Lightroom (including AI features) about as well as a Windows machine with dedicated GPU and separate RAM. If you’re buying a Mac for photo editing, 16GB of unified memory is the minimum, and 32GB or more is ideal for heavy users.

Is it better to use Smart Previews or original RAW files for editing?

For quick adjustments where you don’t need to zoom in, Smart Previews are faster because the file sizes are smaller. But as soon as you zoom to 1:1 (which most photographers do for sharpness checks), Lightroom loads the original RAW file anyway. I edit from originals and keep Smart Previews disabled for Develop, but if your machine is struggling and you mostly edit at lower zoom levels, enabling Smart Previews for editing is worth trying.

 

Further Reading

This guide to improving Lightroom performance is just one of our photography guides. Here are some more which we think you’ll find helpful for improving your photography.

• We have a complete guide to the best photo editing software, as well as our favourite Lightroom alternatives if you’d prefer not to use Lightroom. If your machine is struggling with Lightroom, one of these alternatives may run better on your hardware.
• Colour accuracy is important for photography. See our guide to monitor calibration to ensure your screen is set up correctly, and our guide to the best monitor for photo editing.
• For hardware recommendations, see our guides to the best desktop computer for photo editing and the best laptop for photo editing.
• Our guide to picking the best travel camera, which features a range of cameras at various price points. We also have a dedicated guide to picking a compact camera for travel, a guide to picking a mirrorless travel camera, a guide to the best action camera, the best bridge camera, and a guide to picking a DSLR travel camera.
• If you need a new lens, we have a guide to the best travel camera lenses which covers the majority of camera types available today.
• Our detailed guide to gifts for photographers, if you’re looking for something to buy for a photographer in your life (or to send to friends and family as a hint!).
• We have a guide to taking better pictures of yourself, how and why to use back button focus, how to take pictures of stars, an overview of Neutral Density filters and a guide to shooting in RAW.
• We also have an always expanding series of Photography Location Guides, to help you get the best shot in locations around the world.
• A Beginners’ Guide to Improving your Travel Photos for those starting out in travel photography.
• Our reasons why you need a travel tripod.

 

Looking to Improve Your Photography?

If you found this post helpful and you want to improve your photography overall, you might want to check out my online travel photography course.

Since launching the course in 2016, I’ve already helped over 2,000+ students learn how to take better photos. The course covers pretty much everything you need to know, from the basics of how a camera works, through to composition, light, and photo editing.

It also covers more advanced topics, including astrophotography, long exposure photography, flash photography and HDR photography.

You get feedback from me as you progress, access to webinars, interviews and videos, as well as exclusive membership of a Facebook group where you can get feedback on your work and take part in regular challenges.

It’s available for an amazing one-off price for lifetime access, and I think you should check it out. Which you can do by clicking here.

 

And that’s it for my guide to improving Lightroom Classic performance for organising and editing your photos! Do you have any tips on improving Lightroom performance? Let me know in the comments below!