This article covers what to do if:
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Files you add to your Clipchamp video load slowly
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A specific file doesn't load at all (you might see a sad face or an unchanging loading percentage)
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The whole editing project or all of your files don't load when you reopen it (you might get stuck on the "loading your assets" message)
In addition to the troubleshooting steps suggested below, another article that can help to get your media assets and projects to load is: Make sure Clipchamp works well.
Slow loading media files
When you add media to a project, a loading symbol and percentage may appear:
If your input file is a supported file type, this symbol disappears after a short amount of time once your assets have loaded.
If your input file is an unsupported file type, Clipchamp converts it behind the scenes so that you can use it in your editing project. This conversion step can take some time, depending on the file's size and resolution, your computer's CPU, graphics card and memory. This is because some of the processing happens locally on your device.
If loading doesn't progress at all, it's possible the media processing got stuck. Try reloading the video editor page or the Clipchamp desktop app, if you're using Clipchamp this way. After the reload, try adding the same file again. If this doesn't help, read on for some additional suggestions.
Media files are not loading at all
After adding videos to an editing project, if these files are not becoming available in the media library on the lefthand side and seem to get stuck with a percentage indicator showing on their thumbnail, try converting these videos to MP4 using a video converter tool outside of Clipchamp. Then, save the converted new MP4s, and add these new files to your Clipchamp project instead of the original videos.
The reason for that suggestion is that it's possible that there is an issue with your original video files and converting them to MP4, even if they already are in MP4 format, can help in many cases. The conversion can change the video and audio codecs used in the MP4 file and make it readable in apps like Clipchamp.
Clipchamp supports the input file types listed in the following article: What input file types does Clipchamp support?
An editing project is not loading at all
When you open an existing Clipchamp project, sometimes a loading message appears and you need to wait for the project to load.
If this message doesn't go away after a short amount of time and you can't access the project, try the following:
Option 1. Refresh the page
Either hit Ctrl & F5 (this also works in the Clipchamp desktop app), right click > reload, or use the reload button of your browser to reload the tab Clipchamp is open in. In many cases this can solve the problem, and media assets start loading, especially if you encounter this when you first open a project.
Make sure your internet connection (WiFi) is active when you access Clipchamp and attempt the reload.
Option 2. Reopen the project
Go back to the overview page where all video projects are listed, reload that page, then reopen the editing project that wouldn't load initially.
Option 3. Free up memory and check disk space
If there is not enough memory/RAM available on your computer, this can sometimes lead to editing projects not starting up correctly. Therefore, try closing other browser tabs and applications to free up memory on your device.
In addition, make sure there's enough free space available on your computer's internal drive, which is required for temporary project files and space during the video processing and exporting phase in Clipchamp.
If your computer is low on disk space, this can interfere with the correct loading of Clipchamp editing projects. The available free space should be more than the size of the video files you're using in your project.
Option 4. Disable browser extensions
Sometimes, Chrome or Edge extensions can interfere with Clipchamp if you have them installed. We've seen cases where translation plugins, privacy extensions or adblockers were preventing Clipchamp from loading correctly.
Therefore, try disabling browser extensions, then reload Clipchamp and check if the project and media assets are loading correctly.
Option 5. Sign out, clear the cache and restart your browser
If the above steps don't work, you can also try the following suggestions. Make sure you still have your original media files (the video, audio, and image files you added to your editing project) available outside of Clipchamp because you may need to relink them when you reopen the project afterwards.
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Follow the steps in this Edge support article or this Chrome support article about clearing items from the browser cache.
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Make sure you select "All time" for the time range and select "Cached images and files". You don't need to clear any other browsing data.
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When you’ve followed the steps, type chrome://restart or edge://restart respectively into the browser address bar and press Enter.
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After Chrome/Edge has restarted, reopen the Clipchamp project.
Option 6. Website data clearing (Advanced)
An additional option to try is to delete the site data in the Chrome or Edge Developer Tools and reload the Clipchamp page afterward. This leads to all video editing and processing files getting purged, then reloaded, and can lead to projects opening correctly again.
Important: Before proceeding, make sure you have your original media files (the video, audio, and image files you added to your editing project) available outside of Clipchamp because you may need to relink them if you don't have content backup enabled. Content backup is available in Clipchamp for personal accounts' Premium plan. In Clipchamp's work version, media files are saved in your OneDrive account and Clipchamp will automatically retrieve them from there.
The steps are the same in either Edge or Chrome. Some of the following screenshots are therefore taken in Chrome, others in Edge.
1) Select the 3-dots-menu icon next to the browser address bar.
2) Select More tools > Developer tools.
3) Select the Application tab at the top, then Storage in the list that comes up on the left.
4) Select Clear site data.
5) Lastly, refresh the Clipchamp page and open the editing project again.
Hardware and project length
If none of the above suggestions help, consider opening the Clipchamp project on a different computer, or breaking up a longer project into several shorter ones.
The processing that happens when editing, loading media files and exporting a completed project can be compute-intense and can bring the computer you're using to its limits, depending on the length, format, amount and size of the media files you're adding to a Clipchamp project and the amount of free memory, type of graphics card, and CPU your device has available.
The available memory/RAM should be at least 8 GB (16 GB or higher is better) and your machine should be a 64-bit computer running a 64-bit OS and the 64-bit version of Edge or Chrome.
The graphics card is another important factor and should be a recent model.
There should be enough free disk space on your computer, which is required for temporary files during the video processing and exporting phase. The available free space should be more than the size of the video files you're using in your project.
If you're working with an older computer that doesn't meet these requirements, the editor may still function, but you could encounter problems like slow performance, freezing, and crashing, and would have a better experience on a different computer.
Alternatively, you can try breaking up a longer editing project into several shorter ones and test if shorter projects load correctly. See: Creating different project versions.
