Resolve video rendering issues

When exporting video on macOS, Photoshop may encounter rendering failures that prevent successful video output. These issues typically manifest in two distinct ways and stem from software conflicts or corrupted system files.

Users experience one of two specific symptoms when attempting to render video in Photoshop on macOS. The first symptom occurs when the render progress bar advances normally for several seconds or minutes, then stops completely at any percentage—the bar remains frozen and no further progress occurs. The second symptom appears immediately when initiating a render: the dialog displays "Initializing..." indefinitely without transitioning to the progress bar, and the render never begins.

Progress bar stops during rendering

The following solutions address cases where rendering begins but stops mid-process, ordered from simplest to most comprehensive:

Antivirus software running in the background is interfering with Photoshop's access to temporary rendering files or media processing components.

1. Temporarily disable any antivirus software installed on your Mac
2. Return to Photoshop and select File > Export > Render Video
3. Configure your video export settings
4. Select Render to begin the export process
5. After successful completion, re-enable your antivirus software

If disabling antivirus doesn't resolve the issue, corrupted media processing files may be blocking the render:

Render stuck at "Initializing..."

When the render dialog never progresses beyond initialization, authentication credentials may be causing the conflict:

Corrupted or conflicting Adobe authentication entries stored in macOS Keychain Access are preventing the rendering engine from initializing.Photoshop will recreate the necessary keychain entries with correct credentials after you sign in.

1. Quit Photoshop
2. Open Applications > Utilities > Keychain Access
3. In the search field, type Adobe to filter entries
4. Select all Adobe-related entries that appear in the results
5. Right-click the selection and choose Delete
6. Restart Photoshop and sign in again when prompted

For general information about video export workflows and format options, see Export files to different formats.

If none of these solutions resolve your rendering issue, contact Adobe Technical Support for additional assistance.