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OK, is there any reason why this new version is using OVER 20GIGS of RAM?

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  • Seneste svar af StevenCee

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This is crazy! I empty the cache, have only one tab streaming anything, yet FF is sucking up half my available RAM! Why is this happening?

This is crazy! I empty the cache, have only one tab streaming anything, yet FF is sucking up half my available RAM! Why is this happening?
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Generally, the builtin Firefox Task Manager can provide a more detailed breakdown of how Firefox is allocating RAM usage.

All of the FirefoxCP Web Content processes are for the websites that you have open in Firefox. Firefox can make multiple processes for the content that you are viewing in Firefox for performance and security purposes.

For some general tips, please see Firefox uses too much memory or CPU resources - How to fix.

Hope this helps.

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See also the about:memory page for more detail.

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Wesley Branton said

Generally, the builtin Firefox Task Manager can provide a more detailed breakdown of how Firefox is allocating RAM usage. All of the FirefoxCP Web Content processes are for the websites that you have open in Firefox. Firefox can make multiple processes for the content that you are viewing in Firefox for performance and security purposes. For some general tips, please see Firefox uses too much memory or CPU resources - How to fix. Hope this helps.

Well, I went to the Task Manager page, and found it interesting, also interesting that in all these years of using Firefox, I have never, ever heard of this feature... But anyway, I must wonder why it shows that Firefox is using only about 2 or 3 Gigs of memory, while my Apple Activity Monitor is saying that it's 10 times more than that? So, it's kind of like bring my car, that's misfiring badly, into the shop, and being told it's perfectly fine, How does this help me reduce the memory Firefox is tying up? I'll probably have to restart it, or use a third party memory app to restore some of the memory it's taking up....

IMHO 20 gigs of RAM is way, way too much to be using, no?

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Yes, 20GB does sound like far too much. The 2-3GB number sounds far more realistic. I wonder if maybe your Mac is not properly closing the content processes when Firefox is done with them or maybe it's just not refreshing that on the Activity Monitor correctly.

Does the about:memory page that cor-el suggested above show the same/similar results to the Task Manager in Firefox?

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Why wouldn't my Mac be closing the content processes? How would I know if this is happening? And what can I do if it is? As to the about:memory page, it is far too complicated and endless for me to make heads or tails of it, is there no simple graph or list of figures, like the Activity Monitor, that I can see? And I just reopened Firefox, and it already is using nearly 6 gigs of RAM...

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Sorry, I probably should have explained the about:memory page a bit more since it's appears very complex. The visual equivalent is the Task Manger that I directed you to first.

When you open the about:memory page and click the Measure button, it will take a snapshot of how much memory your browser is using.

On the right-hand side under the filter, you will see a Process Index this shows what processes Firefox is using and what they are for (web content, webextensions, etc). Clicking each of those will bring you to the section of the list that is showing the memory of that process.

Each process is going to list a huge amount of numbers and technical jargon. Each indented section breaks down the memory, but we are really only looking at the top level. For example, my main process shows the screenshot below, but the highlighted section is really all I care about seeing.

See if the number of processes and the memory that they are using matches the Task Manager or your Activity Monitor.


You may want to adjust Firefox's performance settings to see if they can improve the situation. Specifically, limiting the number of content processes that Firefox can use may help.

Other than that, you can try deleting a corrupt content-prefs.sqlite file to see if that helps.

If that doesn't help, running in Firefox Safe Mode can help troubleshoot the issue. If the memory isn't being used heavily in Safe Mode, it might be a theme or extension that's causing the issue.

Reinstalling Firefox can also help sometimes in these situations to fix any damaged or missing Firefox files.

Hope this helps.

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Hi, it's two months later, I've installed an updated Firefox, and OS, but I just had to close Firefox, as it was again showing about 20 GIGs of RAM being used, both in my Activity Monitor, and in an app called Memory Clean 3. It also said it was using that much, and it was able to free up that much RAM when I closed out Firefox.

I just reopened it, and it's already at 8.3 GIGS. Maybe it's opening every tab in every window, instead of just the front one? I know it's using an incredible amount of memory, more than any browser I've seen.