For anyone working in Photoshop, performance issues can be a frustrating obstacle to creativity. Laggy tools, long loading times, or even crashes during complex tasks can quickly derail your workflow and sap your productivity.

Thankfully, Photoshop's highly customizable settings allow you to tweak its performance to align with your hardware or project needs. From adjusting memory allocation to refining cache levels, a couple of small adjustments may be all it takes to optimize how the software performs on your device.

13 Increase the Memory Usage allocation

One of the most critical factors in Photoshop's performance is how much memory (RAM) the software has access to. By default, Photoshop allocates a percentage of your system's RAM, but this may not always be ideal for your computer's capabilities.

Increasing Memory Usage ensures that Photoshop has sufficient resources to handle demanding tasks without straining your system. This can reduce lagging and enhance the speed of certain things like applying filters or rendering effects.

To modify this setting:

1. Open your project in Photoshop and head to the Edit menu in the top toolbar.
2. Click on Preferences at the bottom and select Performance from the menu.
3. In the Memory Usage box, drag the slider up by a few increments.
4. Click OK to apply the changes and close the Preferences box.

I don't recommend going over 85% as this could compromise your system's ability to run other applications and tasks efficiently. But if your system can handle it, then go for it. Using a Photoshop alternative like Photopea won't put nearly as much strain on your system, making it a great option if your device struggles with performance.

12 Adjust the Cache settings

Cache Levels and Cache Tile Size are two Photoshop settings that can greatly impact performance. Cache levels determine the amount of temporary data Photoshop stores for undo and image previews. Higher cache levels preload more image data, which improves responsiveness.

Cache Tile Size is how Photoshop divides your project into smaller sections (tiles) to process. Larger tiles let Photoshop cover more ground quickly, making it ideal for larger projects, while smaller tiles break down the project into finer sections, which is better for precision tasks like masking in Photoshop.

To adjust these settings:

1. Go to Edit > Preferences > Performance.
2. Drag the Cache Levels slider to the right, found under History & Cache. For large projects, I recommend starting at 4 and increasing if needed.
3. Open the drop-down next to Cache Tile Size. Select one of the smaller numbers (128K or 132K) for simple projects, and one of the bigger numbers (1024K or 1028K) for complex projects.

11 Optimize History States

History States will offer you a convenient way to step back through your edits, letting you undo multiple actions without fear of losing your progress. But this convenience comes at a cost: every history state requires Photoshop to store more data in the system memory. This can turn it into a resource hog, causing lagging.

Photoshop has 50 history states by default and can save up to 1000 (which is completely unnecessary in most cases). You can reduce the history states to a more manageable number to free up space — I recommend dropping it to around 20. You'll have fewer undo steps available, but the trade-off is a smoother editing experience.

To change this setting:

1. Go to Edit > Preferences > Performance.
2. Find the History States slider under History & Cache, and drag it to the left.

10 Toggle the Graphics Processor feature

Your computer's graphics processor plays a key role in Photoshop's ability to handle tasks like zooming, panning, and rendering 3D content. However, if your GPU isn't up to the task or if the drivers aren't optimized, enabling the Graphics Processor feature may cause lag or visual artifacts.

If you're working on a system with a modern GPU (such as the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 30 or 40 series), enabling GPU acceleration can give you smoother performance. On the other hand, with older systems, it's better to disable it to avoid lagging or crashes.

To toggle this feature:

1. Go to Edit > Preferences > Performance.
2. Under Graphics Processor Settings, click the box next to Use Graphics Processor.

This setting is a good way to determine if your GPU is an asset or a bottleneck for Photoshop.

9 Enable OpenCL

This is another setting I recommend enabling if you have a modern GPU. OpenCL, short for Open Computing Language, is a technology that allows Photoshop to tap into your GPU's processing capabilities to speed things up. It offloads tasks such as resizing, sharpening, or blurring onto your GPU, which reduces the workload on the CPU and speeds up those operations.

To toggle this feature:

1. Go to Edit > Preferences > Performance.
2. Under Graphics Processor Settings, click Advanced Settings.
3. Click the Use OpenCL box and then OK.

8 Turn off or reduce the Auto-Save frequency

Photoshop's Auto-Save feature comes in handy for preventing data loss, but auto-saving too often can cause lagging, especially with bigger projects. Adjusting the auto-saving interval to a more reasonable timeframe, such as from every five to 15 minutes, can help you strike a balance between a smoother workflow while still feeling reassured.

To change or turn off this feature:

1. Go to Edit > Preferences > File Handling.
2. Under File Saving Options, either uncheck the box next to Automatically Save Recovery Information Every, or select a higher number from the dropdown.

7 Turn off compression for PSD and PSB files

Photoshop automatically compresses PSD and PSB (Photoshop Big) files to reduce their size, but the compression process slows down save times, especially for complex projects with many components. Disabling compression will boost the speed of saving large files.

To turn off compression:

1. Go to Edit > Preferences > File Handling.
2. Under File Compatibility, check the box for Disable Compression for PSD and PSB Files.

Keep in mind that this tweak is best for systems with ample storage space because uncompressed files are quite large.

6 Change the default save location

If the above tweak doesn't work, you might simply not have enough space. Photoshop saves your files to your computer's main drive by default, and if this drive is an older hard disk drive (HDD) or nearly full, it can slow down performance. So redirecting your save location to a faster SSD or an external drive with a lot of available space can improve save times and overall performance.

To select a different save location:

1. Go to Files > Save As.
2. Select a folder from your drive of choice.
3. Hit Save.

5 Purge the memory

As you're working in Photoshop, the software stores temporary data such as undo histories and image previews. While these files are useful for ongoing projects, they can accumulate over time and cause Photoshop to slow down. Purging this data regularly can free up some memory and make Photoshop run smoother—just ensure you no longer need that data before continuing with your project.

To purge the memory:

1. Go to Edit > Purge.
2. Select either Clipboard, Histories, or All. I recommend the latter if Photoshop is particularly slow for you.
3. Confirm your selection by clicking OK in the pop-up.

4 Turn off Brush Smoothing

Brush tools are essential in most Photoshop projects, but their performance can lag with resource-intensive settings—one of the biggest ones is Brush Smoothing. A higher smoothing setting produces slower brush strokes, while a lower one responds to your strokes in real-time. Slower brush strokes can create cleaner lines, but it uses more resources because it requires additional calculations to track and refine your strokes.

To reduce Brush Smoothing:

1. Select the Brush tool from the left panel.
2. Look for Brush Smoothing in the top panel and drag the slider down to 0%.