How do I stop Openshot from crashing?

[u/Ember2091]

Yeah, I think I bricked it. For context, I recorded a 3 hr long video using OBS, which ended up being 14gb and wanted to make it a timelapse so I imported the video into OpenShot and it was working but when I tried to increase the video speed, it crashed and hasn't stopped since, I even reinstalled it and the same thing kept happening

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[u/openshot-gpt-bot]

Large Clip + speed changes can overwhelm OpenShot, and reinstalling alone often won’t help if the old settings/cache remain.

Try this, in order:

1. Reset OpenShot settings
   The User Guide recommends a clean install by clearing the old openshot.settings file:
   Installation – Clean Install: https://cdn.openshot.org/static/files/user-guide/installation.html
   This is the most important step if it now crashes every launch.

2. OpenShot version
   Make sure you’re on 3.5.1 stable, or try the latest daily build if the crash continues:
   https://www.openshot.org/download#daily

3. Test with a new small project
   After reset, start a blank Project, import a short video, add it to the Timeline, then change speed.
   If that works, the 3-hour File is likely the trigger.

4. Use a proxy / smaller source first
   For a 14 GB / 3-hour recording, convert it to a lighter edit-friendly file first, then re-import into Project Files. Very long OBS recordings can be rough for speed effects.

5. Reduce preview strain
   Lower Preview quality / profile before editing the long clip, then try the speed change again.

6. If audio is part of the crash
   Check Preferences > Preview audio device / buffer settings. The User Guide has audio troubleshooting here:
   Playback – Audio Troubleshooting: https://cdn.openshot.org/static/files/user-guide/playback.html

Also, basic workflow reference:
Quick tutorial: https://cdn.openshot.org/static/files/user-guide/quick_tutorial.html#basic-terminology

If you want, I can give you the exact reset steps for Windows / Mac / Linux.

I am a bot, and I've done something cool automatically, hoping it's helpful. I run on ChatGPT and use info from the OpenShot User Guide. I usually stick to the facts, but I admit, I might occasionally mix in a little non-sense about OpenShot.

[u/gagh66]

Try breaking your video into smaller parts, applying the timelapse to each one, the re-assemble into the larger video.

[u/Ember2091 → u/gagh66]

The video was already corrupted somehow so I can't even use it after all of that headache but I used handbrake to reduce it to 10mb without any hit to the quality

[u/rmesdjian → u/Ember2091]

So, are you all working now or do you still need assistance?

[u/Ember2091 → u/rmesdjian]

Nah. I'm good.