Buzz
Memory Compression, a novel feature on Windows 10, not available on previous versions like Windows 7 and 8. However, Linux and macOS by Apple have integrated and utilized this feature for quite some time.
Traditionally, with 8GB RAM and applications consuming 9GB, at least 1GB would be 'swapped out' and stored in the page file on the computer's hard drive. Accessing data in the page file is often significantly slower than accessing it in RAM.
What is Memory Compression on Windows 10?
With Memory Compression, some of the 9GB data can be compressed (similar to Zip files or other data compression methods to shrink data) and stored in RAM.
For instance, out of the 9GB data, you could compress 3GB and keep the remaining 6GB intact. After compression, the 3GB data would only occupy 1.5GB of RAM, reducing the total data size from 9GB to 7.5GB. Clearly, you can store this data on an 8GB RAM.
The major limitation lies in the fact that compressing and decompressing data consumes CPU resources. That's why not all data is stored in compressed form. Data is only compressed when Windows deems it necessary and beneficial. While compression and decompression are more resource-intensive and CPU time-consuming, they are much faster than paging data to the hard drive and reading data from the page file. Paying for efficiency is always preferable.
Is Memory Compression a bad solution?
Compressing data in RAM is far superior to other alternatives like paging data to the hard drive. It is much faster than using a page file. Moreover, utilizing memory compression imposes no restrictions. Windows automatically compresses data in memory when additional space is required, eliminating the need for user intervention in this feature.
Memory compression consumes some CPU resources. Consequently, your system may operate slower due to data compression in memory.
If you notice significant data compression and suspect it's causing your computer to slow down gradually, the only solution is to add more RAM. If your computer lacks sufficient RAM for applications to use, utilizing Memory Compression is far superior to using the page file. However, this is only a temporary solution; the best solution remains adding more RAM.
View detailed compressed data on your computer
To view how much data is compressed on your system, you'll need Task Manager's assistance. To open Task Manager, you can either right-click on any empty space on the Taskbar and select Task Manager, or alternatively, use the shortcut keys Ctrl + Shift + Esc or Ctrl + Alt + Delete, then click on Task Manager.
In the Task Manager window, click on the More details option at the bottom right corner of the window.
Click on the Performance tab and then select Memory. Here, you'll see how much data is compressed on the system under the In use (Compressed) section. For example, in the screenshot below, Task Manager indicates that the system is currently using 5.6GB of RAM and has 425MB of compressed data.
This figure will fluctuate over time as you open and close applications. Additionally, it will also change when there are background processes running.
Hovering over the left side of the Memory composition bar, you'll see detailed information about the compressed data. In the screenshot below, the system is using 5.7GB of RAM and 440MB of compressed data, equivalent to 1.5GB of uncompressed data. Without memory compression, the system would need up to 6.8GB of RAM instead of the current 5.7GB.
Does this affect the System process's RAM usage?
In a Microsoft blog, during the initial release of Windows 10, compressed data was stored within the System process, which explains why the System process consumed more RAM compared to previous Windows releases.
However, at this point, Microsoft has changed its operation method; compressed data is no longer displayed as part of the System process (likely due to user objections) but is shown in the Memory section under the Performance tab.
In the Windows 10 Creators Update, compressed data is only displayed in the Memory details section, and the System process consumes only around 0.1MB of memory, even when the system is compressing a significant amount of data. Users will no longer wonder why the System process is consuming a lot of RAM.
What are your thoughts on the Memory Compression feature in Windows 10? Share your opinions with Mytour.
