Microsoft reduces memory use of the edge browser by up to 27%

All of this is thanks to the Windows 10 May 2020 update.

Web browsers were known to be very aggressive with their memory consumption, and this is especially troublesome because we are all opening more tabs. However, Microsoft has managed to significantly reduce the memory usage of its Edge browser with a new Windows 10 feature.

In a Windows Blog post yesterday, Kim Denny, the Microsoft Edge team’s main project manager, details how the Windows 10 May 2020 update (build 19041) enabled the browser to take advantage of “Windows segment heap memory improvement now available for Win32 applications to manage memory more efficiently.” In real terms , this means that Edge can show memory usage reductions of up to 27%.

The Microsoft documentation page provides details of the section heap Denny describes, describing it as “a modern heap implementation that will typically reduce your overall memory usage.” While Denny focuses on memory utilization enhancements for Edge, this is a more general Windows 10 enhancement, which means that any application that wants to take advantage of it will lower the memory demand. Does that also mean other browsers like Chrome and Firefox will see a reduction in memory usage? Apparently.

Microsoft is turning its focus increasingly to the Edge browser’s Chromium version, which is set to become the default for Windows 10 later this year with the 20H2 update. When attempting to convince users to make the move, being able to advertise a massive memory saving by opting to do it surely helps.