How to Fix Google Chrome High Memory Usage [4 Ways to Fix it]

Hazel Luna
By Hazel Luna 89 Views 8 Min Read
8 Min Read
How to Fix Google Chrome High Memory Usage

Google Chrome is a widely used web browser in the world in the modern era. Many users use it as their primary web browser for browsing the internet. But recently some chrome users faced an issue.

A recent survey from Statcounter shows that Google Chrome has a huge market share of 65.24% around the world. Google Chrome is used by billions of people to study, work, play games, and have fun.

Some users noticed that their computers were running slower than usual. When they investigate the issue, the problem was caused by Google Chrome. What they see is Google Chrome is using so much memory.

So if you are suffering from the same problem, and you are finding a solution to this issue. Then you are in the right place. That’s the agenda of today’s topic. In this article, we will discuss How to fix Google Chrome High Memory Usage?

Reason Behind Google Chrome High Memory

So what’s the main reason behind this issue? The main issue is with the Chrome GPU Process. So what the heck is Chrome GPU Process?

In Order To Handle Graphics And Visual Processing, Chrome Uses A Hardware Acceleration Process Called The GPU Process. This Process Is Necessary For Chrome To Show Web Pages Correctly, But It Can Sometimes Use A Lot Of Memory, Especially On Older Computers Or When You Have A Lot Of Tabs And Windows Open.

So now we have determined the problem with Google Chrome High Memory Usage. As we already discussed, the GPU Process uses more memory when we have lots of tabs & windows opened.

So an easy fix to solve Google Chrome High Memory Usage is by closing the unnecessary or extra tabs or windows in Google Chrome.

This may fix your issue. But despite closing the tabs your issue remains unsolved. Then we have provided a list of methods to solve Google Chrome High Memory Usage.

How to Fix Google Chrome High Memory Usage

  • Restart Google Chrome
  • Reset Google Chrome Settings
  • Enable Hardware Acceleration
  • Remove Extra Extensions
  • Stop Background Process

Fix#1 – Restart Google Chrome

Restarting your browser is a simple fix that often fixes the GPU high memory usage problem. If you don’t know what the meaning of restarting google chrome is. Close Google Chrome completely and open it again.

Try to cut down on the number of Chrome windows and tabs you have open, and stay away from sites that play videos in the background.

Also, disable Continue Google Chrome Backgroud Apps When Google Chrome is Closed. To do that follow these steps:

  • Goto Chrome Settings. (Click on 3 Dots on the right-upper side of Google Chrome)
fix google chrome high memory usage
Fix Google Chrome high Memory Usage – Fig.01
  • In the Google Chrome Settings search bar, type Continue.
fix google chrome high memory usage
Fix Google Chrome high Memory Usage – Fig.02

Make sure that the toggle button Continue Google Chrome Backgroud Apps When Google Chrome is Closed is disabled.

Fix#2 – Reset Google Chrome Settings

When you use Google Chrome for a few years without resetting it, it stores a lot of website cache information. These saved files use RAM and can slow down your computer. To put Chrome back to its original state follow these steps:

  • Goto Chrome Settings. (Click on 3 Dots on the right-upper side of Google Chrome)
fix google chrome high memory usage
Fix Google Chrome high Memory Usage – Fig.01
  • Under System Tab, Click on Reset & Cleanup.
  • Click on Restore settings to their original defaults.
  • Finally, Click on Reset Settings.
fix google chrome high memory usage
Fix Google Chrome high Memory Usage – Fig.03

Google Chrome’s reset option gets rid of settings that aren’t being used and puts it back to how it was before. But the process doesn’t change saved passwords, bookmarks, or the history of where you’ve been on the web.

Fix#3 – Enable Hardware Acceleration

Hardware Acceleration is done by using a Graphics Processing Unit (GPU) to stream video, display graphics, and play online games. You can turn on this feature in Chrome to reduce the load on the CPU.

If you don’t have GPU, still you have to enable this option. Because if you don’t have a dedicated GPU. Your CPU has an inbuilt GPU most of the time. In that case, Google Chrome uses a CPU graphic processing unit. This still can have a great impact on Google Chrome Performace. Here are some steps you can try:

  • Goto Chrome Settings. (Click on 3 Dots on the right-upper side of Google Chrome)
fix google chrome high memory usage
Fix Google Chrome high Memory Usage – Fig.01
  • In the Google Chrome Settings search bar, type Hardware.
fix google chrome high memory usage
Fix Google Chrome high Memory Usage – Fig.04
  • Check if Use Hardware Acceleration When Available is enabled or not.

When turned on, Google Chrome will send tasks that are graphics intensive, to the computer’s GPU. By doing this, less RAM will be used and more video RAM will be used (VRAM). Your computer will perform better.

Fix#4 – Remove Extra Extensions

Too many extensions are one of the main reasons why Google Chrome uses too much memory and sometimes even causes memory leaks. To fix this, you should turn off extra and unused extensions.

  • Click the Puzzle Type Icon on the top right corner.
fix google chrome high memory usage
Fix Google Chrome high Memory Usage – Fig.05
  • Click on Manage Extensions.
  • After that Choose the extensions you don’t need and simply click on Remove.
fix google chrome high memory usage
Fix Google Chrome high Memory Usage – Fig.06
  • Close Chrome and open it again to see if the problem is fixed.

Conclusion

This thing is clear, Google Chrome uses a lot of memory. This is a big problem for computers with average or low specs.

So, you can use any of the steps above to reduce Google Chrome memory usage.

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Hey there! I'm Huzal Luna, and I'm a passionate content writer who wants to share my knowledge with this website. My main goal is to make interesting content, and I specialise in writing how-to guides for social media and operating systems. I promise to make complicated things easier to understand, and I want my articles to be useful and interesting for a wide range of people.
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