Windows 11 will use less RAM in the future, and one of the main reasons is no longer just user demand for better performance, but also the rising cost of memory.
Windows chief Pavan Davuluri confirmed that more efficient RAM usage has become one of Microsoft's priorities, with the company working on changes ranging from the memory manager and memory compression to WinUI 3 and WebView2 components.
At the end of July, Microsoft officially added “Memory optimization for 8GB and above” to its Windows development priorities through the end of 2026.
The reason is very practical: rising DRAM prices are once again pushing manufacturers to offer PCs with only 8GB of RAM, meaning Windows can no longer simply rely on computers shipping with ever-increasing amounts of memory.
Davuluri emphasized that Microsoft is not building another “RAM cleaner.” Instead, the company is trying to reduce resource usage across every layer of the operating system.
The idea is for additional features to consume memory only when users actually launch them, while keeping the core Windows experience as lightweight as possible.
Windows 11 Will Use Less RAM Through Changes From the Memory Manager to WebView2
Windows 11 will use less RAM thanks to changes in memory management and compression, but Microsoft also wants to reduce the amount of memory consumed by individual applications and user interface components.
Teams developing Widgets and File Explorer are therefore analyzing specific usage scenarios to reduce the amount of memory required by individual features.
Particular attention is being given to WinUI 3, the platform Microsoft is gradually using to modernize the Windows interface.
The company has already announced optimizations designed to reduce memory usage in applications built on the framework, while a recent issue that could cause RAM usage to increase over time in certain WinUI applications has also been fixed.
Another major issue is WebView2, the Chromium-based engine used by numerous Windows features and Microsoft applications.
Each of these components effectively carries part of the browser infrastructure with it, which can significantly increase memory consumption.
Microsoft is therefore moving to a more efficient memory allocator and working to reduce the additional memory usage caused by Chromium and WebView2 components when they are used as part of the operating system.
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