Camtasia Crashing

Camtasia System Requirements

1. Camtasia's performance will rely heavily on a number of factors, one of which being the actual resources available to it. As content creation can be demanding on the computers running the tools, you'll want to make sure your Windows PC meets or exceeds our minimum system requirements. 

   If you're unfamiliar with your system's hardware specifications, then you can do the following to see your computer specs:

   1. Open Windows Explorer (the folder icon on your Windows Taskbar)
   2. Right-click on "This PC" in the left-hand pane of the window that appears.
   3. Go to "Properties" and this will open the system information page that will have some basic, yet critical details in it:
      
      
      
      
   4. You'll want to make note of the Processor, RAM, and the version of Windows that is installed as seen in this screenshot.
      • Camtasia System Requirements

Content that is larger than 1920x1080 (1080p)

When working with media that is greater than 1080p, like 2560x1440 (1440p, QHD/WQHD) or 3840x2160 (4k, UHD), then there is the additional requirement of a discrete GPU or video card. The most common manufacturers of dedicated video cards are nVidia and AMD.

If you only see these options (list a stepped process to check if you do / don’t have and what to look for)

Discrete video card examples:

• AMD-powered video cards (ex., RX580, Radeon 5600 XT, Radeon 7900 XTX, etc.)
• nVidia-powered video cards (ex., GTX 1660, RTX 3070, RTX 4090 Ti, etc.)

Integrated video card examples:

• AMD-powered onboard APUs (Radeon Embedded, Vega 3, Vega 7, etc.)
• Intel-based onboard graphics adapters (Xe, HD Graphics, Iris, etc.)

 To determine the make and model of the video card that is in your computer, please take the following steps:

1. Right-click on your desktop and go to Display Settings
2. Scroll down to and click on the "Advanced Display" option to locate your Display information
   
   
   
   
3. There is an additional method to determining your video card manufacturer that will be covered in the "Reading the DirectX Diagnostic report" section.

Proxy Video

Proxying a video is a function that allows you greater flexibility over large video files in Camtasia. If you record footage with a DSLR camera, smartphone camera, high resolution recordings, or recordings of significant length, it can result in huge video files. These video files can be tough for Camtasia and your computer to manage, leading to poor performance, even crashing. Playback can be choppy and slow which in turn can lead to increased editing time and effort. Applying proxy video lowers the quality of the video file while you’re editing it in Camtasia, but it doesn’t affect the final video; this creates a much smoother and more user-friendly editing experience without reducing the quality of the end product.

To create a Proxy Video, right-click on the media in the Media Bin and choose Create > Proxy Video

Updating Drivers

Updating your drivers can help your system run more efficiently, especially with regard to screen recorders and video editors. Keeping your drivers up to date can also help prevent Camtasia from crashing and the below steps/guide may help you with that.

Identifying your hardware

While all applications are closed and your work saved, please perform the following steps:

Launching and using the DirectX Diagnostic Tool

1. Open the Windows Start Menu or the Windows Run Command (press the Windows key + R) and type dxdiag then press enter or "Run..."
2. If you are prompted to verify if drivers are signed, please press Yes/Ok then continue.
3. Once the DirectX Diagnostic reporting tool opens there may be a small status bar in the right corner of the window (see here)- once that small status disappears, please click on the "Save all information" button and save it as a .txt file to your desktop then close the DirectX Diagnostic Tool window.

Reading the DirectX Diagnostic report

To view the text (.txt) file that you just saved, please open it in a text editor like Notepad, Sublime Text, or Notepad++. We will be specifically looking at the following sections:

"System Information" Section

1. Operating System
2. Processor
3. Memory
   
   

"Display Devices" Section

1. Card Name
2. Manufacturer
3. Driver Date/Size
   
   

Once you've made note of your Card Name, Manufacturer, and the Driver Date/Size sections, you will want to navigate to the video card manufacturer's support website to check for the latest drivers. Fortunately there are only a handful of primary GPU manufacturers, so you may be able to grab the latest drivers from the following links:

Discrete video cards:

• AMD-powered video cards (ex., RX580, Radeon 5600 XT, Radeon 7900 XTX, etc.)
• nVidia-powered video cards (ex., GTX 1660, RTX 3070, RTX 4090 Ti, etc.)

Integrated video cards:

• AMD-powered onboard APUs (Radeon Embedded, Vega 3, Vega 7, etc.)
• Intel-based onboard graphics adapters (Xe, HD Graphics, Iris, etc.)

Once the drivers have been downloaded, please take the following steps:

1. Save your work
2. Exit all applications
3. Install each downloaded driver update (administrator rights may be required)
4. Restart the computer (required)

Note - some computer configurations may show multiple video cards, this is normal and quite common in laptops (though still prevalent on desktops). If your computer has multiple video cards, such as both an Intel-based graphics card (like an Intel Xe integrated video card and a nVidia-powered discrete video card), then you will want to download and install the latest drivers for both graphics adapters.

Identifying sound devices

With most computers you will have two sections for Sound Devices in a dxdiag report; the first which we've labeled "A" in the below screenshot, is the basic "Sound Devices" section. This is where you will find your computer speakers, headphones, earbuds, or other audio playback devices. The second section, which we've labeled "B" in the succeeding screenshot, is called the "Sound Capture Devices" section. Here you will find any microphones or audio inputs connected and/or active in the computer.

"Sound Devices" Section

1. Description
2. Date and Size
   
   

"Sound Capture Devices" section

1. Description
2. Date and Size
   
   

Keep an eye out for wireless or Bluetooth audio devices as they can cause issues with Camtasia. A few (but not-limited-to) examples are:

• Steelseries Arctis 1 Wireless
• Apple AirPod Pro
• Amazon Echo Bluetooth Earbuds
• Logitech Wireless Headphones
• Others may not be so clear so you may need to research the information found in the "Description" section.

Complex Projects and Performance

Camtasia may run into some performance issues as projects become more complex. While we have made significant strides in improving Camtasia's performance with these heavier projects, there may still be situations where the following steps might help with projects like this:

If you're running into issues with Camtasia crashing when you're working in a complex project, try these steps:

1. Save your work and restart Camtasia.
   • In many cases, crashing can be mitigated / reduced by saving your work and restarting Camtasia
2. Restart your computer prior to long stints recording or editing within Camtasia
   • Video editors like Camtasia can be resource-heavy so restarting your computer can help reduce performance-related crashing.
3. Practice and prepare; recording in short, practiced sessions while using a script can help reduce the resource cost for Camtasia and in doing so, potentially reduce performance-related issues.
4. Maintain 100% scaling wherever possible; while it is not always possible, working with content that does not need to be scaled/resized can help reduce resource cost and ensure your content is not blurry once you export it.
   • Your recording, editing, and exporting dimensions should match the recommended settings for how you intend on sharing your project.
     • Ex. if you're hosting your Camtasia-created media on an LMS that has a maximum supported video resolution of 1920x1080 (1080p), then you would want to make sure you are recording, editing, and exporting from Camtasia at that resolution.
   • Assets and other imported media, such as logos, watermarks, and other similar items, should also be retained at their original sizes- note that you'll want to make sure you're creating those other assets with your Camtasia export dimensions.
   • You can find additional tips and tricks on how to maintain crisp, clear videos on our blog!
5. If crashing persists, save your work then export the project to an MP4 and add it to a new project to continue editing.
   
   • Flattening the MP4 will make callouts, visual effects, and other elements un-editable; use this method if other troubleshooting steps haven't fixed the crashing issue.

Crashing during exporting

If Camtasia is crashing during rending / exporting, you may want to try the following:

• Check the file name and path
  • Ensure there are no special characters (not-limited-to periods, commas, exclamation points, etc.)
  • Ensure you're not exporting to a cloud (OneDrive, Dropbox), network, or external hard drive
  • Try exporting to your Desktop to make sure the file path is not too long
• Use the Legacy Exporter (see here)
  • Click here to view our comprehensive tutorial on using the Legacy Exporter
• Set Camtasia to use the Microsoft Basic Renderer
  1. In Camtasia go to Edit > Preferences > Advanced.
  2. In the Hardware Acceleration section, set the drop down to Microsoft Basic Render Driver and click Ok.
  3. Restart Camtasia (required)
  4. Attempt to reproduce the project.
• Does this happen with all projects or just this one in particular?
  • If it happens with all projects, please review the Update Drivers section. 
  • If it happens with just one specific project, please review the Complex Projects section. 

Crashing during startup

If Camtasia is crashing during startup, you may want to try the following:

• Download the most up-to-date version of Camtasia
  • If you're on the latest version already, please uninstall / reinstall using the appropriate link below:
    • Download the latest version of Camtasia.
    • Download previous versions of Camtasia.
• Download and repair the latest C++ Libraries
  
  • If you are on Camtasia 2024.0.3 or later, you may need to repair your C++ libraries; you can do so from the following direct link:
    https://aka.ms/vs/17/release/vc_redist.x64.exe
  • Once downloaded, run the installer and choose "Repair"
  • Restart the computer once the repair has been completed and try running Camtasia once more.
• Try running Camtasia as an administrator
  • Right-click on the Camtasia's Start Menu icon and choose "Run as Administrator"
    • Note that you do need to be an administrator of your machine in order to do this.
• Add Camtasia to your antivirus/security software's allow list.
  • If you're currently connected to a VPN, please try disconnecting from the VPN and launching Camtasia once more.

If issues persist, contact support.