u/terryleewhite

Hey everyone, Terry White from Adobe here and I wanted to take this opportunity to give you all an update on the various Windows performance improvements that were made in the April update.  This community was loud and clear in voicing concerns about the Windows version of Lightroom Classic not always performing up to par on high-end Windows computers. There were also several comments about support for the Sony A7V compressed Raw formats and we have addressed that as well. You can see the broader April 2026 post here. 

Two months ago I made this post giving you all the opportunity to tell us about the issues you were having and documenting your specific specs. I also invited anyone who was interested to participate in the Adobe Lightroom Pre-Release program so that you could work directly with Adobe engineering to solve these issues.  

I’m happy to report that progress has been made on this front in the April release of Lightroom Classic released today (version 15.3). And while we’ve made progress addressing your concerns, there is still more work and optimizations to be done. 

In this Lightroom Classic 15.3 update you should see: 

• Interactive slider performance for global and local edits.  While the improvements in 15.3 are substantial—showing up to a 5x increase in performance in these various scenarios (particularly on Windows)—there is still room for further enhancement. 
• Although our primary focus this year is on Windows performance, these changes are platform agnostic. As a result, Windows sees a major improvement across Global and Local sliders, while macOS also benefits, though the gains are not as pronounced as on Windows. 
• Here’s a video showing these enhancements in action. 
• Better memory utilization for Full Screen Window 
• Cloud sync download speed

 

See What's NEW in the April 2026 Lightroom Release in my video here or in my Reddit Post here.

Please continue to share any issues here as I read every comment and share with the team as necessary.  

Hey what’s up everyone? 

Terry White from Adobe here and I wanted to share the info about the April 2026 Lightroom updates. 

Here’s what’s new (listed in order of my personal favorites!) and as usual I’ve recorded a video of the new features and updates here: 

 

NEW Updates Across the Lightroom Ecosystem - Lightroom Classic (LrC) 15.3, Lightroom Desktop (LrD) 9.3 and Lightroom on Mobile (LrM)

• Working closely with Sony, we’re proud to be the first 3^(rd) party to add support for the new Compressed (HQ) and Compressed RAW formats introduced with the Sony A7V!  (LrC, LrD, LrM)
• Performance Improvements (LrC, LrD) (Heads up Windows users, I’ve got a separate post here outlining more details) 
• Assisted Culling Improvements  (LrC, LrD)
  • Assisted Culling updates include improve detection of shallow depth-of-field images, reducing false rejects for photos with intentional background blur. The reject filter is now more accurate at identifying images that should be discarded across a range of scenarios and includes a new slider which gives you greater control over how strictly exposure issues are flagged.

   

• Film-Inspired Presets (LrC, LrD, LrM)
  • Capture the timeless teel of classic film with our new film-inspired Presets or use them as a starting point to create your own unique aesthetic.

   

• Create Mood Boards (LrC, LrD)
  • Instantly open up to 10 images at a time in Firefly Boards 
  • Adobe's Firefly Boards site (included with your subscription) is a great tool for ideating, organizing shot lists, creating mood boards, and more. You can now send photos directly from Lightroom to Firefly Boards via the "Generate using Firefly" menu option in LrC or the “Start a Mood Board” in the Share Icon in LrD.

   

• Camera and lens updates  (LrC, LrD, LrM)

 

NEW in Lightroom Classic (LrC) 

• One of your most requested updates is here: Non-modal enhance - enables AI Denoise and other Enhance operations to run in the background  
  • Enhance features (Denoise, Raw Details, and Super Resolution) and Al adjustments applied through batch workflows (Copy/Paste, Presets, Synchronize, and Auto-Synchronize) now run in the background, allowing you to continue using the app. <-No more modal dialog box 
  • Applying Al edits via Copy/Paste, Preset, Synchronize and Auto-Synchronize workflows now run as a single background operation for a smoother experience.

   

• This update continues to improve performance for key workflows, including improvements to: 
  • Interactive slider performance for global and local edits 
  • Better memory utilization for Full Screen Window 
  • Cloud sync download speed

   

• Batch AI Edit optimizations 
• Sync support for Photoshop Big (PSB) files.

 

 

NEW in Lightroom Desktop (LrD) 

• New and Improved Search 
  • New and improved search allows you to easily find photos using natural language such as, "golden retriever playing on the beach in Hawaii last summer" or use specific info like cameras and lenses, named people, or file types. Available in Cloud view.

   

• Edit in Ps improvements 
  • You can now specify file type, bit depth, and other parameters for the files that you send to Photoshop and save different defaults for HDR and SDR photography.

   

• Zoom/Pan in Crop 
  • Now pan and zoom while in the Crop tool, allowing you to position the crop bounds with precision.

   

• PSB file support 
  • Lightroom now supports the PSB file type, making it easier to import and work with very large Photoshop files.

   

• Performance Enhancements 
  • Faster Preset and Profile panels, improved White Balance previewing, and quicker distraction removal

 

 

NEW in Lightroom on Mobile (LrM)

• Easily manage access to your shared private albums with notifications to quickly approve and deny requests.   
• Improved experience opening multiple photos directly from your native photo apps.

 

To see these updates in action, check out my video here. 

The work continues! As always let us know in the comments which of these features interests you the most and which ones you’d like to see in a future update. 

 

P.S. Just a reminder about the Adobe Creative Apprenticeship Program 

The Adobe Creative Apprenticeship program helps aspiring designers, photographers, and video professionals launch their careers through paid commissions (working with Adobe!), mentorship, and placements with top creative workplaces. To join this program, apply to work on a commission project. All you need is a Behance profile with three projects, then you can apply to as many projects as you’d like! Selected creatives receive benefits like a full year (12 months) of Creative Cloud, free 1:1 career mentorship, and invitations to special events and opportunities.  

* Must be a student, recent graduate, or early-career professional based in the US, UK, or Canada. Applicants will be selected for a maximum of one commission project.  

Be sure to check it out: Build your profile and check out this photography commission!