Troubleshooting Final Cut Pro X Crashes: A Step-by-Step Guide

Solved: Final Cut Pro X Keeps Crashing

Benjamin Arango

Oct 26, 2023• Proven solutions

Apple launched an advanced video editing tool, Final Cut Pro, back in 1999 and it didn’t take very long to get popular and gain recognition among the photographers and videographers. Later in 2003, Final cut pro beats Final Cut Express, click to learn why . One of the best features that help it stand out from the rest of the video editors is that it is supported by all Mac systems and has permitted Apple to make it fully enhanced in terms of efficiency and speed, enabling it to edit even 4K UND footage without any rendering issues.

Along with such exciting advantages, the video editing tool comes with several disadvantages too. It is complex to understand especially for beginners and most importantly it keeps crashing, corrupting the file even if it is saved properly on your Mac system, which can lead to your entire work being lost. Several Final Cut Pro X users complain that their work gets corrupted as the video editing tool keeps crashing after intervals.

If you can relate to this scenario, you will find this blog post helpful as we have listed some methods that can possibly fix the crashing problem and save your hours of video editing efforts. Keep reading to know the steps that can prevent your video editor from crashing.

Why Does Final Cut Pro X Keep Crashing?

According to Final Cut Pro X users, the video editor is a reliable and solid program, but it can be really frustrating for them when it keeps crashing. If your Final Cut Pro X video editor and program tool also keep acting up, it can probably be because of the corrupted preferences file.

A corrupted preferences file occurs when you do not reset your preferences and settings in the first place. Not resetting the preferences can corrupt the file and end up crashing the video editing tool, damaging the whole video. All those who want to troubleshoot and require methods to fix the crashing issue should take a few steps to resolve the problem which leads us to our second section.

What to Do if Final Cut Pro X Keeps Crashing on Your Mac System?

One of the major issues in Final Cut Pro X is the crashing problem on the Mac system. If you encounter this problem and learn to isolate, troubleshoot, and fix this issue following the below methods, you will likely resolve the crashing problem on your own. However, you should always ensure keeping a back-up of your Final Cut Pro X media, libraries, and applications as a whole in order to keep the data before following the below steps.

Method 1: Resetting Final Cut Pro X Preferences and Settings

As mentioned above, resetting the preferences and settings can help in resolving the crashing issue. Resetting preferences will not affect your projects, libraries, or media. With resetting, we mean that you should change the custom preference settings to the default settings. Before you take the plunge to reset your preferences, you should choose Final Cut Pro over Preferences and note all the specific settings that you have to make.

Follow the below steps to reset the preferences in Final Cut Pro X:

Step 1: Quit working on Final Cut Pro.

Step 2: Hold down the option and command keys, then open the Final Cut Pro.

Step 3: Click on the delete preferences option.

Step 4: In the last step, recreate the issue that you were having during video editing. If the problem is resolved, you should open Final Cut Pro preferences and apply the custom settings again.

Step 5: And, it’s done!

This method will reset all your preferences to default settings and this way it will empty the list of the recent libraries and media. Though the entire libraries are not erased, you will be able to find them in the specified location when you first created them. But they will only be there if you have created a back-up of your data. That is why we mentioned in the beginning to create a back-up of your Final Cut Pro data in the first place.

With the help of fixing the Final Cut Pro X preferences, you will be able to fix a lot of your problems especially the crashing one. The preferences are deeply embedded into the program operation even if we cannot directly amend most of them.

Method 2: Restart Your Mac

If you find that there is a major crashing problem, another way to fix the problem is to restart the computer and by resetting the Final Cut Pro-related system resources. Here are the steps that you should follow to restart your Mac system:

Step 1: Choose the Apple menu.

Step 2: Reopen the Final Cut Pro.

Step 3: Reproduce the issue and see if the problem still exists.

If your Final Cut Pro X acts up on your Mac system, you should try restarting the system following the aforementioned steps. In case, restarting doesn’t fix the issue, you should apply the first method.

Always remember to leave some extra space for software like FCPX to run freely. Click to see more tips on free up space in FCPX and Mac.

The Best Easy-to-use Alternative to Final Cut Pro X for Beginners

If you often face crashing issues on your Final Cut Pro X video editing program, you should consider downloading one of the best and easy-to-use alternatives to it, i.e. Wondershare Filmora. It is a professional video editing and very simple professional tool that can assist you in editing the desired video flawlessly.

In addition to basic video editing, users can use this application on the Mac system utilizing its modern editing features including audio compressor, automatic audio sync, ranger markers, audio noise reduction, and color correction with plentiful presents, auto-corrections, and color wheels. It also supports animation and motion tracking. It has a very simple and easy-to-use interface and low system requirements which can be helpful for both beginners and experienced video editors.

Final Thoughts

If you usually experience crashing issues in Final Cut Pro X, you should follow the aforementioned methods which would likely fix the problem. But if that doesn’t help, you can download Wondershare Filmora today. Best for beginners and experienced users, this video editing tool is free of cost and has a user-friendly interface, letting you effortlessly edit your videos incorporating the advanced features and effects in no time.

Benjamin Arango

Benjamin Arango is a writer and a lover of all things video.

Follow @Benjamin Arango