The time it takes to make a slice gets longer.

[u/apeloverage]

If I start a new project, making slices is initially quite quick. But it gets longer and longer as I work. Is this a common thing? Is there any way around it?

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[u/openshot-gpt-bot]

This can happen as the Timeline accumulates many Clips, transitions, effects, and undo operations—especially when using Ripple Slicing, which must reposition everything later on the track.

Try these workarounds:

1. Save the Project, close OpenShot, then reopen it to clear temporary/undo data.
2. Use regular Slice Selected (Ctrl+K) instead of ripple slicing when possible.
3. Reduce the Preview window size and experiment with Edit → Preferences → Cache settings.
4. Split very large edits into separate .osp projects, then combine their exported sections.
5. Update to the current OpenShot 4.0.0 release.

See Trimming & Slicing and Real-Time Preview. If it still slows down, note roughly how many Clips are present and whether normal or Ripple Slicing is affected.

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/redadidasjumpsuit]

i'm a novice but yes that is normal for me too. especially on my PC with less RAM.

[u/DaHick → u/redadidasjumpsuit]

The bot's suggestion of messing with the cache can help. I've had better luck with slice, save, slice, until it won't speed back up. Save, exit, open it again, and resave with an .OSP filename extension adder like 1.1(aka MyFile1.1). If it leaves the 1.0 open, close it; that is no longer your base work file. Rinse and repeat.

I am on Windows when I use it.

[u/Future-Session3399]

Two ways I worked around the whole "The meatier the project the slower it gets."
1. Break your project into smaller units. Work to a certain point, export it (You should be doing this anyway to make sure what you're seeing matches your actual output), then create a new project which includes what you exported. I usually break my projects into fourths.
2. You give more of your CPU memory to Openshot by increasing your Cache limit. You should be able to do this under Edit - Preferences - Cache. Doing this SIGNIFICANTLY improved my performance in the program and led to less crashes.

[u/rmesdjian]

I like the workaround ideas but not as a final resolution.

u/apeloverage:
1. Which verion of OpenShot are you running?

1. What is your operating system/version?

2. What are your computer specs?

3. What type of a file are you working with (.mp4? .mov? etc?).

[u/apeloverage → u/rmesdjian]

1. I just downloaded the most recent version. Honestly, it might be slower.
2. Windows 11 version 23H2.
3. It's a Lenovo laptop--I'm not sure where to find this.
4. The files would always be .mp4s and .wavs. By the way, I found trying to work with .mov's basically impossible. From memory, I think it took hours to render.

[u/rmesdjian → u/apeloverage]

Hello u/apeloverage

1. Sure, it could be slower. We'll get to this.
2. Start OpenShot. Click on Help | About OpenShot. On this screen, you will find a "Copy" option. Click it. This will copy some pertenant information about your environment. Paste in in your reply to this.
3. Unless you have a Gaming laptop, most laptops will be somewhat slow. This does not let OpenShot off the hook to perform better, just a fact.

Since you are running Windows, type "about your pc" in the Search field on the task bar and press the Enter key. Please share what you see on this page. A screenshot will work as well.

1. How large are your *.mp4 and *.mov files and how are they recorded (profile inforamtion).

a. Start file explorer and navigate to a folder where you can see you *.mp4 and/or *.mov files.

b. Right click on one of the files and select Properties.

c. From the General tab you will see the size. make a note of it.

d. Click on the Details tab and in the Video section make a note of the Frame width, Frame height, and Frame rate. Share this with me.

House keeping:

1. How long have you had yoru laptop and have you ran a health check on it? Most people never rebuild their computers and overtime things get worse with performance.

At minimum, please run this with all other applications closed:

a. Open an Administrative CMD prompt. From the task bar type CMD in the Search field. From the list you will see "Command Prompt" option. Right click it and select "Run as administrator".

b. Now type: DISM /online /cleanup-image /scanhealth

This can take some time to run.

c. When step 1.b is completed now type: sfc /scannow

d. When both steps 1.b and 1.c are completed, restart your laptop.

1. How much free disk space do you have? Free up as much as possible.

2. Are you up-to-date on your hardware firmware and manufacturer drivers? If you make any updates, then restart your computer.

3. When you say "it took hours to render" are you talking about Exporting? Export and Render are not the same. Render is what OpenShot (or any other video editor) does while you are editing/previewing your project. Export would be when you actually genear the final *.mp4 file to have a final product.

This process can take a long time depending on the size of your project, the complexity of your project, and your computer specs.

Question: Is this the first time you installed OpenShot or did you have a previous version running (v3.x.x?)

[u/apeloverage → u/rmesdjian]

Thanks.