how to minimize Firefox memory usage
I've been using mozilla software for a very long time, but lately memory usage in firefox has been getting far too out of hand. I used to be able to have hundreds of pages open without using too much memory, but for some time now I have only been able to have a fraction of the number of pages open before hitting the same levels of memory use. A new firefox session I opened today hit 600 megabytes of memory after loading 7 pages. Earlier today, firefox was collectively using over 20 *gigabytes* of memory. This is all for firefox itself, which is set up without any extra plugins beyond the basic ones for flash, java, and audio/video. Sometimes I've gone to using elinks for some of my "main" browsing just to avoid the extra memory bloat, but I would much rather use a more complete browser when I don't need to browse through a ssh tunnel.
When I purchased 16 gigabytes of memory for my computer, I did not expect all of it plus some to be used just by my internet browser, so I need to know how to cut firefox's memory usage as much as possible. I care next to nothing about caching, especially since I already have a caching proxy anyway (squid 3). I just need firefox to not end up leading me to a newegg page for an additional 16 gigabytes of memory. What can I do to alleviate this issue?
All Replies (3)
Hi,
These two links might help
- https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/firefox-uses-too-much-memory-ram
- https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/firefox-uses-too-many-cpu-resources-how-fix
Firefox has hardware acceleration set to "on" by default, but it's still young, which means some video cards or drivers might have problems with it. You can try to disable hardware acceleration to see if that alleviates your problems.
You might need to restart Firefox in order for this to take effect, so save all work first (e.g., mail you are composing, online documents you're editing, etc.).
Then perform these steps for Firefox version 29.0 and above:
- Click the menu button
and select {menu Options} for Windows or {menu Preferences} on Mac or Linux. For Firefox 28.0 and previous versions, click the orange Firefox button at the top left, then select the "Options" button, or, if there is no Firefox button at the top, go to Tools > Options.
- In the Firefox options window, click the Advanced tab, then select "General".
- In the settings list, you should find the Use hardware acceleration when available checkbox. Uncheck this checkbox.
- Now, restart Firefox and see if the problems persist.
Additionally, please check for updates for your graphics driver by following the steps mentioned in the following Knowledge base articles:
I had already come across all those pages and suggestions, but firefox still eats through my memory like nothing else. I just tried to recreate my test I mentioned of opening 7 pages, but this time it actually reached 850 megabytes of memory...on a per page basis, that's over 100 megabytes for each new page! While not a fair comparison by any means, opening 7 pages in elinks used 3 megabytes of memory in total - ~430 kilobytes per page. A difference in per page memory use of several orders of magnitude leaves a lot to think about, not to mention the fact that a few years back memory use in firefox itself was just a fraction of what it is for me now.
I Agree (and sorry to post to you thread). I have just reset FF30 this morning. I then re-installed three add-ins that I require and have used FF for around half a day. I currently have 14 tabs plus 6 pinned apps open, but have just had to restart FF again after the memory consumption went from 400MB to around 1GB. On shutdown, Firefox takes an age to close (read between 2-5 minutes).
Again, like HikoHaieto, I have run through all the pages and "tips", and all necessary driver and accelerations are set and updated.
Modified by swinster