| Cause Category | Specific Trigger | |----------------|------------------| | | Other applications consume system RAM; insufficient RAM allocated to Premiere; 32‑bit memory limits (legacy). | | Corrupted cache | Peak files (.pek), conformed audio (.cfa), or video index files become corrupt, causing buffer allocation failure. | | Media format issues | Variable Frame Rate (VFR) footage (e.g., screen recordings, phone videos) confuses buffer size calculations. | | GPU / driver instability | Outdated or faulty GPU drivers; GPU memory buffer overflow when processing effects. | | Project corruption | Damaged sequence or nested sequence with infinite recursive effects or overly large frames (e.g., 8K+ still images). | | Disk I/O bottleneck | Slow or full media cache drive cannot write temporary buffer data. |
To prevent the recurrence of image buffer errors:
If the issue is driver-related, an update is required.
Please help: "unable to create image buffer" error | Community
Note: While this fixes the crash, it reduces playback performance. If this solves the problem, proceed to Solution B to fix the GPU issue permanently.
