Microsoft Explains Why Modern Web Browsers Use so Much Memory

Oct. 11, 2020

If you’ve ever checked your task manager while browsing the web, then I am sure you have been surprised by the number of processes running in the background for just a single browser window. The memory usage is also not modest for the devices. So, as users often get worried about the number of background processes and memory usage, Microsoft recently shared a blog post about itsEdge browser, that might answer all our queries.

In a recentofficial blog post,Microsoft went on to explain the “multi-process architecture”of Microsoft Edge. The company shared this valuable information about modern web browsers to explain how these applications use memory on users’ devices.

Multiple Processes, More Memory Usage

Now, Microsoft says thatmost of today’s popular web browsers use the multi-process architecture, which means the whole browser is fragmented into different processes.

According to the official post, below are the different processes of a modern browser:

So, each of the processes uses some part of your PC’s memory and create a background process of their own. That is why we see so many background processes running in our task manager window.

Now, although this architecture uses more memory for the user, it has various benefits as well. Microsoft notes that, like any othermodern browser, Microsoft uses the multi-process architecture“for better security, reliability, and resource accountability into how the browser is using resources”.

Moreover, as each component of the browser is segmented and has its own process, malware cannot take over the whole browser at once.“If malware takes advantage of a security weakness in one of the renderer processes, it is difficult for it to escape that process and affect another process.”, adds the post.

So, even though web browsers use a huge chunk of our devices’ memory, it also helps the browsers keep us safe from malicious programs on the internet.

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