Google Chrome is the fastest and smoothest browser according to most users in the world. How do you think Google Chrome has achieved this status? It uses more RAM than the other browsers to be the fastest one in the web world.

Although Google Chrome is one of the most popular browsers, it is associated with a major problem of memory hogging. The browser uses too much RAM when running in the system and according to statistics; it is more than the other browsers.

What it does to the system is that slowing down other processes by keeping RAM busy all the time. Thus, you see laggings when playing a game, writing documents, and even loading videos within the Chrome browser itself.

In this post, we will explore the root cause of the problem and try to find out a fix so that Google Chrome uses less memory in carrying out the processes.

Why Does ‘Google Chrome Use Too Much Memory’?

The first obvious question comes- why it requires more RAM to speed up things, or simply speaking, what is the special working procedure of the browser that sets it apart from the rest of the browsers? Here are the possible reasons –

1. Too Many Tabs: Google Chrome uses RAM separately for each of the tabs’ processes. Suppose you are surfing Facebook in one tab and watching YouTube videos in another. Here, surfing Facebook has got several processes such as loading written texts, playing sounds, sending messages, etc. So, if you have opened too many tabs on your Google Chrome browser, it’ll use too much memory.
2. Adding Too Many Extensions on Chrome: Extensions on Chrome are another culprit for consuming too much memory.
3. Background Process in “ON”: If the background process is turned on in Google Chrome, then the browser will still run in the background and use RAM even if you’ve closed the Chrome browser already.
4. Watching Videos in Multiple Tab: Watching YouTube videos also include multiple processes like loading videos and ads, showing video templates, etc. Google Chrome uses a portion of the RAM to run every process of the different tabs and therefore, piling up the memory usage.

Is It Always Negative to Use Much Memory by Google Chrome?

The simple answer is no and we will require a bit of explanation. As Google Chrome uses RAM separately for different processes and tabs, the browser does not need to shut down completely when one or two processes encounter crashes or security issues. Only the relevant tab is turned off and other tabs are not hampered at all.

Hence, we can say that the technique used by Google Chrome to run is security-friendly and convenient for the users as well. Besides, keeping RAM busy does not always bad because idle RAM does not add any worth to your system.

However, it becomes a problem only when other tasks of the system are hampered because of the high memory usage of Google Chrome. It is the point where we need a solution.

How to Fix Google Chrome Using Too Much Memory

There are a number of ways to stop Google Chrome from using too much memory. You may have to carry out trial and error methods to find out the exact solution or even end up trying all the solutions to fix the problem.

Method 1: Ending the unnecessary processes

You can do it either from the task manager of your device or from the task manager of the Chrome browser itself. Here are the steps to follow –

Step 1: Open a new tab of Google Chrome and head toward the top-right corner of the screen to find the three dots symbol.

Step 2: Click on the 3 dots symbol and then from the ‘More tools’ option select the ‘Task manager’.

Step 3: Now, check which processes and tabs are using more memory-and which are heavy and unnecessary as well. Select those needless processes and hit the ‘End process’ button.

After this, you will see a major difference in terms of the RAM consumption of the browser. But if you observe that the Google Chrome is still using too much RAM, apply the next method below.

Method 2: Wiping out Needless Extensions

If closing the needless process won’t work, you need to eliminate needless extensions from your Chrome browser. Here are the steps to follow –

Step 1: Open Chrome browser and click on the three-dot symbol of the Google Chrome tab.

Step 2: Then tap on ‘More tools’ and then select the ‘Extensions’ option. You will be directed to the page where all of the installed extensions are listed.

Step 3: Select the needless extensions and remove them one by one.

Often having more extensions than necessary creates great havoc on the memory side of the system. Hence, wipe out those extensions that are not used by you and keep only the absolutely necessary ones.

Method 3: Enabling Hardware Acceleration

Hardware acceleration can only be activated if your system has got an additional GPU along with the normal Intel graphics card. If hardware acceleration is enabled in this type of system, many resource-oriented processes can be taken out to the additional GPU; hence, the default processor is loaded off too much memory usage.

Here is the instruction on how to enable Hardware Accleration –

Step 1: Move your mouse cursor again to the three-dot symbol, click on it, and then tap ‘Settings’.

Step 2: Scroll down to find the ‘Advanced’ option and click there.

Step 3: Toggle on the ‘Use hardware acceleration when available’ option. Remember, do not turn on this feature if your system does not possess the extra processor.

Method 4: Clearing up the Browser

Google Chrome may be piled up with bugs, glitches, malware, error files, etc. as the browser is continued to be used for a long time. Hence, you need to clear up unnecessary data to burden off the browser. Here is how you can clear up the browser –

Step 1: Open the run box and type in ‘%appdata%’ and hit the ‘OK’ button.

Step 2: Next, navigate to this folder: Local> Google> Chrome> User Data> Default.

Step 3: Select the default folder and either delete it or rename it to remove all the data of the Chrome browser.

Step 4: Next time you enter Chrome, you will have to fill in your Gmail account and password as the browser has gone through a hard reset. Make sure that the browser is synced with your Google account.

Method 5: Using Memory Manager Extension

There are memory manager extensions for Google Chrome available on the store that are really helpful in closing out unnecessary tabs, processes, and even other extensions, thus reducing RAM usage by the browser.

The Great Suspender, The Great Discarder, One Tab, etc. are good extensions to do this type of job efficiently.

Method 6: Closing Background Processes

Even when you turn off Google Chrome, some processes of the browser can still run in the background. This causes a needless burden to the RAM. You can testify by closing all the tabs of the browser and then seeing processes from the task manager. Here are the steps for closing background processes –

Step 1: Navigate to ‘Settings’ of Chrome and then ‘Advanced Settings’ like mentioned in the previous solutions.

Step 2: Next, toggle off the ‘Continue running background apps when Google Chrome is closed’ option and see the difference.

Method 7: Updating the Browser

You should update Google Chrome regularly so that there are no bugs or glitches inside the browser. You can update the browser by navigating to the ‘3 dots’> ‘Help’> ‘About Google Chrome’ and looking for any available updates.

After implementing the methods above you can reduce the RAM usage of your Google Chrome browser.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is it Normal too Much RAM Usage by Google Chrome?

Google Chrome needs a large portion of the RAM to run and process all the tabs you open in the browser. So, in that POV, it is normal for Google Chrome to use too much of your RAM. However, you can reduce its memory usage by closing extra processes and clearing up the browser.

How Do I Change How Much RAM Chrome Uses?

To allocate which process will use how much RAM, you need to make a backup of your current chrome settings first. Then navigate to chrome://settings/ > Browser > Memory. On the memory tab, you will see different values for memory usage in MB. Click on the plus (+) button next to the value you want to improve and this is how you can change the RAM uses in Chrome.

Conclusion

All the possible effective solutions for Google Chrome using too much memory are provided in this article, and we hope, now you can reduce the memory usage of your Chrome browser. If the above-mentioned fixes cannot resolve the issue of Google Chrome using too much memory, then you might have to buy additional RAM powerful enough to run the system efficiently. However, make sure that you have tried all the fixes before going for a big decision. That’s it for today, have a good day!