Unused RAM is wasted RAM. Apps like Chrome use available RAM if it’s available, but they should be releasing it for other apps to use when there’s high memory pressure.
It’s the same with disk caching. If you have a lot of free RAM, the OS will use all of it for caching files.
In some cases, the RAM actually is in use by the site. That’s especially the case on sites with heavy client-side logic. In that case, it’s not Chrome’s (or Firefox’s) fault, it’s the website’s fault. If you hover over the tab, it should show memory usage in the popover.
Chrome has a “Memory Saver” feature where it’ll unload tabs that are offscreen/hidden which helps quite a bit. Not sure if Firefox has something similar.
No, the reason why browsers use so much RAM is because every tab is it’s own process and sandbox. That and lazy handling of content.
Edit: apparently i overestimated the overhead of process & sanbox per tab? So it’s more lazy handling, i.e. keeping pictures in RAM instead of pushing them to cache?
Sandboxing does use some RAM, but it was a big win for security. One site can’t crash the entire browser or use a security hole to get access to data on other tabs. Still, the majority of the RAM is taken by the site itself. The processes do share some RAM - they’re not entirely isolated.
Unused RAM is wasted RAM. Apps like Chrome use available RAM if it’s available, but they should be releasing it for other apps to use when there’s high memory pressure.
It’s the same with disk caching. If you have a lot of free RAM, the OS will use all of it for caching files.
my problem with certain programs, chrome included, is they tell the os “no, you can’t have this ram back. i’m using it”
i understand the logic of your argument, but it’s never played out in life
In some cases, the RAM actually is in use by the site. That’s especially the case on sites with heavy client-side logic. In that case, it’s not Chrome’s (or Firefox’s) fault, it’s the website’s fault. If you hover over the tab, it should show memory usage in the popover.
Chrome has a “Memory Saver” feature where it’ll unload tabs that are offscreen/hidden which helps quite a bit. Not sure if Firefox has something similar.
Not sure if it’s included in base firefox, but I use a extension that does exactly that
No, the reason why browsers use so much RAM is because every tab is it’s own process and sandbox. That and lazy handling of content.
Edit: apparently i overestimated the overhead of process & sanbox per tab? So it’s more lazy handling, i.e. keeping pictures in RAM instead of pushing them to cache?
Sandboxing does use some RAM, but it was a big win for security. One site can’t crash the entire browser or use a security hole to get access to data on other tabs. Still, the majority of the RAM is taken by the site itself. The processes do share some RAM - they’re not entirely isolated.