[Solved] Mac Studio M1 Ultra Compressor Batch Transcode Queue Stuck on ‘Waiting’ (macOS Sequoia 15.1) – Verified Troubleshooting

[Lauren Aguilar]

Diagnostic Hardware Specs: Mac Studio M1 Ultra | OS Version: macOS Sequoia 15.1 | Archive Source: Apple Support Community #256343850

I am running into a persistent issue on my Mac Studio M1 Ultra running macOS Sequoia 15.1.
Whenever the machine encounters Stale background Qmaster / Apple Qconsumer cluster lockfile, the following diagnostic log appears in Console:

Compressor: [qmaster] Service cluster lockfile present: refusing new batch job submission

I verified that hardware connections are intact and tested across different power sources. What is the verified diagnostic procedure to permanently eliminate this symptom?

Apple TV 4K (128GB Ethernet) | HomePod (2nd Gen Pair) | iPhone 16 Pro | Gothenburg, SE

Smart Home & Matter/Thread Integrator | "Verified Apple Discussions Archive"

[Linda Schmitt]

Apple Recommended / Verified Community Solution

This canonical solution was verified and marked as solved in the Apple Support Community archive.

Terminating orphaned qmaster processes and clearing compressor spool storage.

Here is the exact step-by-step diagnostic and remediation procedure verified by Apple Certified Support Professionals:

1. Force quit compressor daemons:

   killall Compressor && killall qmasterd

2. Delete stale batch spool files:

   rm -rf ~/Library/Application Support/Compressor/Storage/*

3. Relaunch Apple Compressor and submit batch job.

Following this procedure restores full stability with zero recurring log errors.

MacBook Pro 14″ M4 (24GB) | DJI Mic 2 | Anker Prime 27,650mAh Bank | Berlin, DE

Apple Certified Support Professional (ACSP) | Digital Nomad & Travel Filmmaker

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