Google Chrome may have widely used my billions of dollars worldwide, but it has a posthumous notoriety for wasting resources. People running it on older hardware often note that it slows down and sometimes gives an error code. Many Chrome users have been reporting an ‘out of memory’ error while loading a website recently.
There are actually two error codes that users encounter while browsing. Someone said, ‘Aw, quick! Something went wrong while displaying this web page. Error code: Out of memory.’ And the other error message you may view is ‘Error! Google Chrome ran out of memory while trying to view this webpage.’
Both error codes mean the same thing. This Chrome browser does not have enough memory or resources to retrieve and open the web page in question. There could be several reasons behind this as we will explore with solutions below.
Let’s start.
1. Close Some Tabs
Opening too many tabs in Chrome can slow down the browsing experience. Check if you can close some tabs that are no longer needed. This should free up some memory for other tabs and new tabs.
It’s also a good idea to use multiple Chrome windows to open tabs. For example, instead of opening 10 tabs in a single window, you can open 4-5 tabs in one Chrome window and the rest in the other Chrome window. In short, manage open tabs whenever possible to save memory.
2. Try Incognito Mode
We recommend using Incognito mode as it disables all extensions running in the background (press Ctrl+Shift+N to open). Sometimes, an extension can cause a conflict.
Open the web page with the ‘Out of memory’ error and check if it loads in Incognito mode. If yes, one of the extensions might be faulty. To find which one is causing the problem, disable all the extensions and enable them one by one.
Stage 1: Open a new Chrome tab and go to the address below.
chrome://extensions
Step 2: Click the button to enable/disable the extension and select the Uninstall button to remove the Chrome extension.
3. Restart Chrome
Before restarting Chrome, don’t forget to save all your work so you don’t lose it. Once complete, close all open Chrome windows with tabs, wait a few moments, and then restart Chrome.
4. Manage Extensions
We discussed how an outdated, incompatible extension can cause a memory leak. However, installing too many extensions can also cause memory problems in Chrome as they tend to consume a lot of resources. We saw above how you can uninstall or uninstall a Chrome extension, but instead, you can manage extensions without messing with browser settings and quickly disable/enable them as needed.
Ironically, this involves installing another extension, but it will make your life easier.
5. Clear Browser Cache and Cookies
Clearing browser cache and cookies can help improve browser performance and fix various issues users encounter, such as the ‘out of memory’ error. There is a secret trick to clear cache and cookies for a single site that does not load in your browser, or you can clear data for all sites from browser settings. If you’re not sure what to expect next, remember to save all open tabs and work before clearing the cache and cookies.
6. Clear Temporary Files
Website cache and cookies help related sites load quickly. And Chrome saves some temporary files on your Windows computer that can accumulate up to several GB over time. You remove these temporary and old files to allow Chrome to get a new chunk of data and avoid conflicting errors.
Windows 10 comes with a built-in option to clear temporary files from every drive on your computer. You need to clean it for the drive where you installed Chrome. This is most likely the default drive, usually the C drive. You can use a third-party app if you want.
7. Run the Chrome Cleanup Tool
Google has released a special tool to fix many common problems with the Chrome browser. It is free to download and you will find the link shared below. Google recommends users run the utility tool once to fix memory and page crashing issues.
8. Disable Hardware Acceleration
Stage 1: Go to Settings > Advanced > System or enter the following path in the address bar.
chrome://settings/system
Step 2: Disable ‘Use hardware acceleration when available’.
Check again if you can open the web page or you continue to receive the ‘out of memory’ error code.
9. New User Profile
The Chrome user profile may be corrupted. Creating a new profile may resolve the memory issue. The steps are simple and take no more than a few minutes to implement.
10. Reinstall Chrome
Cache and temporary files collected over time can cause errors. When users uninstall an application in Windows, it leaves registry entries and other files behind that can cause conflicts. That’s why we recommend a clean reinstall.
You can use trusted apps like Revo Uninstaller to uninstall apps in Windows as well as delete leftover files.
You can check the current version of Chrome installed on your computer from the address below.
chrome://settings/help
When you’re done, you’re ready to download and install the latest stable version of Chrome.
11. Increase Memory Limit
This is for advanced users and most of you won’t have to resort to it. Google has set a memory limit of 512 MB for 32-bit systems and 1.4 GB for 64-bit systems. By using ‘–max_old_space_size’ you can later increase this memory limit to 1 GB for 32-bit and 4 GB for 64-bit systems. Note that these memory limit values are for individual tabs, not windows.
Based on the ongoing discussions to remove this 4GB limit, you can expect a resolution in the future. This is because raising the limit only affects a small number of users. A few years ago, most web apps didn’t use that much memory either, but now things are different. Some developers also noted that limiting memory to 4GB prevents certain vulnerabilities, thereby protecting users.
However, things are different now and users have more powerful machines running Chrome and web apps have come a long way. Hopefully, Google Chrome’s development team will increase the memory limit in subsequent builds.
One way to increase the memory limit is to change the Chrome link address from:
C:\Program Files (x86)\Google\Chrome\Application\chrome.exe
with
C:\Program Files (x86)\Google\Chrome\Application\chrome.exe" --max_old_space_size=4096
Again, different users may have different versions, RAM, OS, etc. There are many variables that make it difficult to offer a one-size-fits-all solution.
On the Way of Memory
If you have too many tabs open at the same time or too many extensions running in the background, you may see the ‘out of memory’ error in Chrome. The solutions mentioned above should help you fix the problem and you should be back to browsing your favorite sites in no time.
Next: Firefox enters Chrome’s dominant browser market with Quantum. Is it worth switching from Chrome to Firefox? Take a look at this.
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