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  • Re: Memory usage

    From Anthk GM@3:633/10 to All on Monday, July 20, 2026 20:19:05
    On 2026-01-13, Computer Nerd Kev <not@telling.you.invalid> wrote:
    Sylvia Else <sylvia@email.invalid> wrote:
    I start Firefox, and before any web pages are opened it's already using
    almost 700 Mb of memory. That's nearly three times the size of my first
    hard disk.

    I get around 300MB on Linux with Firefox 140ESR opened to my
    default blank tab, but I've turned off lots of features I don't
    want. It's still stupid when Dillo and Links start to a blank
    page using just 4MB.

    In about:performance everything there adds up to 261MB which is
    34MB less than used RAM reported by "free" after subtracting RAM
    still shown used after Firefox is closed (the computer isn't doing
    much else). That computer has 2GB RAM total and it works for my
    usage (I don't watch videos in Firefox, that's what video player
    programs are for).

    There's a comparison of memory use and other performance metrics
    between versions here (text in the SVG graphs doesn't display in
    Dillo unfortunately):

    https://www.phoronix.com/review/firefox-benchmarks-120-141

    What on Earth is it doing?

    Maybe caching history data in RAM from the SQLite databases in your
    profile? It also makes connections to Mozilla servers at start-up,
    some with undisclosed purpose.

    How did we get here?

    I wish we didn't, and whenever I have half a chance to avoid it, I
    don't. I use Dillo instead.


    In my machine Otter browser uses about ~300MB on start *but*
    it uses far less resources than Firefox. It's an n270 CPU based
    netbook with 1GB of RAM (~1.5 with ZRAM). And I use dillo too
    from a GIT build and the speed it's like a light photon.

    On videos, I just use mpv+streamlink or mpv+yt-dlp, from 480p
    tp 720p@30FPS. No slowdowns, ever.

    --- PyGate Linux v1.5.18
    * Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)