4 ms·

Why is WindowServer using over 2 GB of RAM in the Activity Monitor screenshot? That seems absurdly high. Does it have a memory leak?

• saagarjha 6y ago
  This is how WindowServer usually is.
  • snazz 6y ago
    Really? Huh. I’ve never seen it use anywhere near that much on my Hackintosh, but I don’t have a super high-res screen or anything like that. I wonder what the difference is caused by.
  • bobbylarrybobby 6y ago
    On my 2015 15” MacBook Pro, I have about seven apps open, about half with multiple windows, and an external monitor plugged in. WindowServer is using 200MB.
    • saagarjha 6y ago
      You're probably looking at RSIZE?
• rayiner 6y ago
  MacOS stores a full frame buffer for every window (visible or not), for compositing. If I recall correctly, the frame buffers of every active window are attributed to the Window Server. That can get big when there are lots of windows, especially on a high DPI display.
  • simonh 6y ago
    Particularly in scaled display modes as well.
  • dawnerd 6y ago
    That’s also why all those single app benchmarks saying 8gb is enough are a bit silly. No one just uses one productivity app.
  • phkahler 6y ago
    A full screen at 4K is 8 megapixels or 32MB or so. I guess if they double or triple buffer each app might take 100MB or so, but you'd still have to open 10 apps to reach 1 GB.
    • rsynnott 6y ago
      I mean, what of it? 10 windows doesn’t seem like many, at all. I tend to end up with at least ten terminal windows by the end of he day, nevermind everything else.
    • bzzzt 6y ago
      10 app windows doesn't sound like a lot to me. Besides that, if you enable resolution scaling macOS renders at a higher internal resolution and lets the compositor scale it down. Try that on a 5k screen...
    • neurostimulant 6y ago
      Hmm, let me count my currently open windows at the moment.. 24 windows from 12 different apps.
  • deleted 6y ago
    [deleted]
• perardi 6y ago
  I am clocking in at 2.13GB on my 16-inch MacBook Pro.