@Saph I've corrected the branding of the software in your post as per the VEGAS team's advice (they want to avoid the appearance of misusing a brand that isn't theirs). As another user commented, "there is no software called Sony Vegas 20".

@Saph We need to know the specifics of the media you are using, your GPU information, and probably your File I/O settings. All the rest of the details you presented really provide no useful information.

So when I open the program, it literally says Vegas Pro Version 20 which is why I used that name, I was not aware that isn't what it's called.

From my OP:
My setup if needed:
HP OMEN Laptop
Windows 11
Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-10750H CPU @ 2.60GHz   2.59 GHz
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080 Super
16.0 GB (15.8 GB usable)
Sony Vegas 20 (Build 214)
No error messages when Vegas crashes, just freezes, goes white and "not responding" and then crashes to desktop.

The media I am using is MP4 files, although the issues happen with MP3 files and AVI as well. There is no pattern to the not responding/crashing at all - it's very random which is why I'm struggling to figure out why and how to fix it.

I am unsure what a File I/O setting is, if someone would point me in the direction of where to find that, I'd appreciate it.

Editing to add more information:
Vegas Version and Build: answered in OP.
Windows: 11 Home 22H2
Camera/App that created the footage: clips downloaded from my live streams.
Delivery Destination: I'm creating the videos to use a shorts for social media.
Exact Symptoms of the Problem: as previously described. I am unable to get screenshots of the issues as it goes to "not responding" and then crashes too quickly for me to do that. As I mentioned, there are no error messages or anything like that, I'll do something (again, it's random as to what causes the issue) and then the issue occurs.

I'm unsure how the MediaInfo would help as it's occurring with multiple different files of all types, lengths and file sizes.
 

Locate File I/O by selecting the menu option "Options" then "Preferences" Select the File I/O tab and uncheck "Enable Legacy HEVC decoding"

If Vegas won't start, check for it with your Task Manager (Ctrl-Alt-Delete) under "Background Processes". I've found it often does not shut down properly when I exit the application (normally).

I'd suggest re-setting all your default settings back to default (ignore advice you may have seen on YouTube to stop crashing). You can do this at startup by holding down the Ctrl-Shift-key when you start Vegas.

Dynamic RAM preview works best for me at 5%. Increasing it causes issues.

Also, think about creating proxy files for you editing or at least reduce the preview resolution a bit.

Last, if your video is freezing/crashing when you render may be due to a corruption. Try saving your video under a new name. Sometimes, if I have rendering issues, I have to render the video in halves or quarters and then stitch it with ffmpeg. ffmpeg -f concat -i list.txt -c copy merged_file.mp4

*list.txt is a text file with this format

file 'file_1.mp4'

file 'file_2.mp4'

Locate File I/O by selecting the menu option "Options" then "Preferences" Select the File I/O tab and uncheck "Enable Legacy HEVC decoding"

If Vegas won't start, check for it with your Task Manager (Ctrl-Alt-Delete) under "Background Processes". I've found it often does not shut down properly when I exit the application (normally).

I'd suggest re-setting all your default settings back to default (ignore advice you may have seen on YouTube to stop crashing). You can do this at startup by holding down the Ctrl-Shift-key when you start Vegas.

Dynamic RAM preview works best for me at 5%. Increasing it causes issues.

Also, think about creating proxy files for you editing or at least reduce the preview resolution a bit.

Last, if your video is freezing/crashing when you render may be due to a corruption. Try saving your video under a new name. Sometimes, if I have rendering issues, I have to render the video in halves or quarters and then stitch it with ffmpeg.

 

The Legacy HEVC was unchecked already, but thank you for the guide, I appreciate it.

I'm re-setting now and I'll figure out how to set the Dynamic RAM preview as well as the preview resolution. I do save every time I so much as blink when creating a video so I often don't lose a lot, but it's frustrating to have it crash so frequently when it's a relatively small, very short video I'm working with.

Thanks again!

ETA: Dynamic RAM was set to 5% already, so I don't need to mess with that, I'm assuming?

So when I open the program, it literally says Vegas Pro Version 20 which is why I used that name, I was not aware that isn't what it's called.

You used "Sony Vegas" (and that isn't what it's called) and it can still be seen twice (see your setup). Forget "Sony" when referring to VEGAS (14 to) 20.

@Saph