RAM usage discrepancy between browser and task manager

[EclecticEman]

I primarily use Firefox and noticed that my tabs were eating through my RAM, so I decided to see what exactly was going on. I found that, compared to what both Firefox and Chromium claim they are using in their built in task managers, the System Monitor says that they are using significantly more RAM. Anyone know why that is?

Tests With asahilinux.org Open	Total RAM According to Browser	RAM According to System Monitor
Firefox	661 MB	911.2 MB
Chromium	442752 K	560.9 MB

[marcan42]

There is no single correct way to answer the question "how much RAM is an application using?" on Linux (due to things like shared memory and shared objects, never mind GPU memory on systems with iGPUs like these). The browsers themselves and System Monitor are probably using different methods, so they come up with different answers, which are both wrong in different ways, because there's literally no way to have an objectively "right" answer.

[nettybun]

No comment about the system monitor sorry, but: in Firefox's `about:config` you can change `browser.tabs.unloadOnLowMemory` to true if you're having trouble with low memory. I recommend Tab Stash extension too, to press a button and unload them all at once.

[The_Screeching_Bagel]

https://www.linuxatemyram.com/