Persistent Final Cut Pro Application Memory Error

The only thing I notice is that Google's keystone autoupdating software/malware was installed at one point, but is not currently loaded now. A new autoupdater is running instead. The keystone software was notorious for breaking FCP and the system video toolbox. It's possible the new autoupdater is also bad. The advice was to remove all Google software following the instructions at https://chromeisbad.com Simply deleting Chrome was not enough. Sometimes a reinstall of FCP from the AppStore was necessary. I do not allow Chrome on any of our production machines.

You could try creating a new admin user to see if the problem is specific to your user space.

Others may find additional items.

[Loaded] com.google.GoogleUpdater.wake.plist (Google LLC - installed 2025-09-02)
    Command: ~/Library/Application Support/Google/GoogleUpdater/Current/GoogleUpdater.app/Contents/MacOS/GoogleUpdater --wake-all --enable-logging --vmodule=*/components/update_client/*=2,*/chrome/enterprise_companion/*=2,*/chrome/updater/*=2

  [Not Loaded] com.google.keystone.agent.plist (Not signed - installed 2023-12-07)
    <Empty>

  [Not Loaded] com.google.keystone.xpcservice.plist (Not signed - installed 2023-12-07)

What plugins do you have installed? Note that they don't have to be actively in use in the project to potentially cause an issue.

When you got the new Mac, did you migrate everything from the previous one? It's recommended to only migrate the User data, no Applications or System files, then download fresh copies from the AppStore or 3rd party.

As another test, you could install a fresh macOS on an external drive, then boot from that drive, then install only FCP. Don't install any Google apps. Create a new library on that drive and see if the problem still happens.

If you've had this problem on three consecutive different Mac computers, that implies something in common was carried forward each time. The application memory error implies a memory leak within FCP. Historically, a common cause of that was third-party FCP video or audio plugins. FCP on Apple Silicon mandates a new plugin architecture called FxPlug 4.x, which runs plugins out-of-process in an external address space. Prior to that, they ran within the FCP address space, so the slightest error in any plugin could crash FCP.

This yielded improved resiliency to third-party plugins crashing FCP. However it does not totally eliminate it, since an external plugin can hang or become erratic and FCP may be trying to communicate with it.

In some cases, the problem could manifest as FCP instability, not shutting down upon command, or a memory leak.

Take an inventory of what third-party FCP video and audio plugins you are using. Remove and totally de-install any old ones you no longer use. Update any new ones to the latest plugin version.

You have already done some good troubleshooting.

We need to know more.

It is possible that the problem may be due to some third party software interference (antivirus, "cleaners" and "optimizers" often cause severe problems).

Please run Etrecheck with full disk access and post its full report here. Use the "additional text" button and paste the report into the text box.

Also: you may want to test in a new admin account and see if the problem also occurs there or not.

This will further help determine whether the issue is specific to your normal account, or systemwide.

Thank you for reporting back. If possible, add only a few plugins at a time and keep notes so if the problem returns you'll have a better idea of which plugin might be the culprit. The suggestion to boot from an external drive is really just for troubleshooting like you're doing, not a long-term solution.

Chrome and its background processes are known to cause issues.

FWIW, you can use Chrome without the Google updater running all the time in the background; and, really Chrome is syphoning your data for a living, so why not use a different, safer browser? Even some that use the same underlying engine, like Brave, Opera, or Edge, are far less invasive.

That aside, you also have some other stuff that is at best unnecessary - vpn stuff does not produce the kind of security that most people seem to think it does, and unless used as indicated to tunnel into an office, or school, network, it hinders security rather than enhance it.

Also: you do not need any driver manufacturer software, your mac is perfectly capable of handling your drives without it, so I'd uninstall the WD software unless there is a reason to use it.

PP_83: Unfortunately, a problematic plugin won't usually show up as an error or warning on the system report or Etrecheck. The type of error causing a memory leak cannot be detected by just reading the version info. It is a behavioral condition that only manifests at runtime.

There are methods to debug memory leaks on a production application, but they are complex and usually require iteratively sending files back and forth. For that reason, it's better to first try basic things like you are now doing.

The dilemma is you need to know more than it's leaking -- you need to know what is causing it. That can be done but it requires a highly-experienced person familiar with remote troubleshooting, and a customer willing to try things over many hours or days repetitively.

The goal is to avoid such cases by testing the product itself. Apple strenuously does that, but small plugin developers often don't have the time or expertise. Yet when installing an FCP plugin, it effectively becomes part of the shipping product.

Over the past few years, Apple has taken steps to "firewall" or "sandbox" plugins to contain possible misbehavior. It has improved things a lot but it's still not problem-free.

200 GB is not much free space on a 1TB system drive. 150 GB is minimum before you risk data loss and odd behaviors.

There are lots of things than are done as background tasks, not just rendering. If you are able, open the background task window and see what's running.

Sorry, I don't know if other Google products would just reinstall the autoupdater.

What were the results of testing with a new admin user?

What are the specs of the media you're using? Format, codec, camera, etc. Anything out of the ordinary?

Size of your system drive, and how much of it is free space?