diff --git a/studio/backend/utils/datasets/chat_templates.py b/studio/backend/utils/datasets/chat_templates.py
index e3b1bef315..3f6d73377e 100644
--- a/studio/backend/utils/datasets/chat_templates.py
+++ b/studio/backend/utils/datasets/chat_templates.py
@@ -285,7 +285,7 @@ def apply_chat_template_to_dataset(
             if not isinstance(dataset, IterableDataset):
                 from multiprocessing import cpu_count
                 if num_proc is None or type(num_proc) is not int:
-                    num_proc = cpu_count()
+                    num_proc = min(cpu_count(), 8)
                 dataset_map_kwargs['num_proc'] = num_proc
                 dataset_map_kwargs['desc'] = "Applying template to Alpaca format"
 
@@ -349,7 +349,7 @@ def apply_chat_template_to_dataset(
             if not isinstance(dataset, IterableDataset):
                 from multiprocessing import cpu_count
                 if num_proc is None or type(num_proc) is not int:
-                    num_proc = cpu_count()
+                    num_proc = min(cpu_count(), 8)
                 dataset_map_kwargs['num_proc'] = num_proc
                 dataset_map_kwargs['desc'] = f"Applying chat template to {final_format}"
 
diff --git a/studio/backend/utils/datasets/format_conversion.py b/studio/backend/utils/datasets/format_conversion.py
index 9367741e8e..df2ff95fc8 100644
--- a/studio/backend/utils/datasets/format_conversion.py
+++ b/studio/backend/utils/datasets/format_conversion.py
@@ -110,7 +110,7 @@ def standardize_chat_format(
         from multiprocessing import cpu_count
 
         if num_proc is None or type(num_proc) is not int:
-            num_proc = cpu_count()
+            num_proc = min(cpu_count(), 8)
 
         dataset_map_kwargs['num_proc'] = num_proc
         dataset_map_kwargs['desc'] = "Standardizing chat format"
@@ -176,7 +176,7 @@ def convert_chatml_to_alpaca(dataset, batch_size=1000, num_proc=None):
         from multiprocessing import cpu_count
 
         if num_proc is None or type(num_proc) is not int:
-            num_proc = cpu_count()
+            num_proc = min(cpu_count(), 8)
 
         dataset_map_kwargs['num_proc'] = num_proc
         dataset_map_kwargs['desc'] = "Converting ChatML to Alpaca format"
@@ -224,7 +224,7 @@ def convert_alpaca_to_chatml(dataset, batch_size=1000, num_proc=None):
         from multiprocessing import cpu_count
 
         if num_proc is None or type(num_proc) is not int:
-            num_proc = cpu_count()
+            num_proc = min(cpu_count(), 8)
 
         dataset_map_kwargs['num_proc'] = num_proc
         dataset_map_kwargs['desc'] = "Converting Alpaca to ChatML format"