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Firefox memory leak

  • 4 replies
  • 1 has this problem
  • 1 view
  • Last reply by Dero

Dero
Dero
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Hello,

I use Firefox 73.0 (64-bit) on 5.3.18-1-MANJARO GNU/Linux and constantly faced with the fact that Firefox takes up all available memory until the computer freezes (12Gb RAM without swap). If I restart Firefox, initially memory usage is small, but after some websurfing it constantly grows, as if it were not clearing.

According to the about:memory report, most of the memory is occupied by the "chrome://browser/content/browser.xhtml". What is it and why does it take up so much memory?


Example:

7 tabs opened: https://i.imgur.com/W8zWXQZ.png

Memory usage report: https://pastebin.com/raw/MsTk2pAg

OS memory usage: https://pastebin.com/raw/3D5EUm61

OS memory usage after closing Firefox: https://pastebin.com/raw/q65AvTpa


I will be very grateful for your help!

Hello, I use Firefox 73.0 (64-bit) on 5.3.18-1-MANJARO GNU/Linux and constantly faced with the fact that Firefox takes up all available memory until the computer freezes (12Gb RAM without swap). If I restart Firefox, initially memory usage is small, but after some websurfing it constantly grows, as if it were not clearing. According to the about:memory report, most of the memory is occupied by the "chrome://browser/content/browser.xhtml". What is it and why does it take up so much memory? Example: 7 tabs opened: https://i.imgur.com/W8zWXQZ.png Memory usage report: https://pastebin.com/raw/MsTk2pAg OS memory usage: https://pastebin.com/raw/3D5EUm61 OS memory usage after closing Firefox: https://pastebin.com/raw/q65AvTpa I will be very grateful for your help!

Modified by Dero

All Replies (4)

Dero
Dero Question owner
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Tried some tricks. Still no luck. More details in this thread: http://forums.mozillazine.org/viewtopic.php?f=38&t=3059371&p=14857871#p14857871

FredMcD
FredMcD
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Start Firefox in Safe Mode {web link}

A small dialog should appear. Click Start In Safe Mode (not Refresh). Is the problem still there?


https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/firefox-slow-how-make-it-faster

https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/firefox-uses-too-many-cpu-resources-how-fix

https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/firefox-uses-too-much-memory-ram

https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/firefox-hangs-or-not-responding

https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/firefox-takes-long-time-start-up

cor-el
cor-el
  • Moderator
  • Top 10 Contributor
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"chrome://browser/content/browser.xhtml" is the main Firefox window including the user interface.

Did you check the Firefox Task Manager (about:performance) as well?

Dero
Dero Question owner
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I tried investigate the issuse in this thread: http://forums.mozillazine.org/viewtopic.php?f=38&t=3059371&p=14857871#p14857871

Brief of the investigation:

  • Firefox Task Manager (about:performance) doesn't show what takes the memory. Screenshot: https://i.imgur.com/QuT6LMl.png
  • about:memory GC (Garbage Collection) didn't affect memory usage
  • In Safe-Mode memory use is better then default mode, no freezes, but is still too high, I think. For some reason memory report doesn't works in safe-mode. Firefox uses 1486Mb RAM (5069Mb virt). After restarting and reloading tabs it uses 320Mb Screenshot: https://i.imgur.com/5ZxrE8J.png Also after restarting (in safe-mode again) memory report works well.
  • Refreshing from about:support doesn't helps

Modified by Dero