Introduced in Windows 10, memory compression is a feature that gives your RAM more breathing room to prevent it from becoming full rather quickly. Windows will turn on memory compression by default, and you can disable it if you please.
But what is memory compression exactly, and should you even disable it in the first place? Let’s take a look at this feature in a little more detail.
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With Memory Compression on Windows 11, your device will run smother even with a limited amount of RAM. In this article, we will show you how to enable or disable Memory Compression on Windows 11.
What is Memory Compression? Memory Compression is a function that compacts the data before writing it to RAM, thus providing more storage on it.
Of course, more data stored in the physical memory translates into a faster running system and better overall performance. This function is enabled by default in Windows 11, but you can disable or reenable it if, somehow, it’s not active.
Memory Compression will improve the performance of RAM usage by compressing data so that RAM can hold more data.
Memory Compression is one of the features of Windows 11 to reduce data before it is written to RAM compressing the data.
This procedure allows the computer to store more files in physical memory than usual and reduces the amount of memory used per process. So the need for the operating system to use the paging file is getting smaller.
Compressing data in memory is much faster than the alternative of paging data to disk, and more efficient than using paging files. Compressed memory has no drawbacks and when Windows needs more memory, it will automatically compress the data in memory.
When you enable Memory Compression, the data compression process will use CPU resources. To reduce lag, it’s a good idea to use a high-end or up-to-date CPU.
How to See if Memory Compression is Enabled or Disabled
Check Memory Compression through Task Manager
Open the “Task Manager” windows 11. You can open it by using the keyboard shortcut (CTRL + SHIFT + ESC).
Then navigate to “Performance >> Memory”.Next on the right pane, look at the memory usage status on “In use”. If it is “Compressed”, it means that Memory Compression is “Active”.
Check Memory Compression via PowerShell
How to Disable Memory Compression in Windows 11
Let’s learn how to Enable Disable Memory Compression on Windows 11. The memory compression allows your device to run smoothly using a limited amount of RAM. The more data stored in the physical memory drives into a fast-running system with great performance.
This function is enabled by default in Windows 11. You are able to make any modifications to these settings. Memory Compression allows Windows 11 to make better use of available memory on all systems and reduces physical memory utilization.
Memory Compression improves the speed of writing and reading from disk when the memory manager defines paging must be passed. Microsoft enables the memory manager to compress rarely accessed memory pages, reducing the amount of reads and writes to the disk.
Memory compression reduces the amount of memory used per process and allows the operating system to maintain more physical memory applications before passing traditional paging. This guide shows you how to enable or disable memory compression and how to check it.
What is Memory Compression?
Memory compression is a function that shrinks the data before reporting to the RAM, providing more storage. The compression improves the performance of the unrelated operations in the system by reducing the major source of interfering input output load. It is faster than using the page file but uses more CPU resources.
How to Check the Amount of Memory Compression
Memory Compression is faster than the page file but uses more CPU resources. Your system may not perform as fast as it would if it did not need to compress data in memory. If you see a lot of compressed memory and suspect it is why your PC is a bit slow, then the only solution is to install more physical memory (RAM) or disable Memory Compression.
There is a simple process to check your system memory compression status to know the details. Open the Task Manager by right-clicking on the Windows key and then clicking on Task Manager to open it.
When the Task Manager opens, click on the Performance option in the left panel, as shown in the image below, then click on the Memory under the Performance option, which shows the details of memory occupied. This shows that the memory compression is activated.
When you hover your mouse over Memory Composition, you can see the details of the memory used. You can see the message below in the image.
In Use (5663 MB) Memory used by processes, drivers, or the operating system. In use compressed (432 MB) Compressed memory stores an estimated 1354 MB of data, saving the system 922 MB of memory.
How to Check Memory Compression Status Using PowerShell
NOTE: The commands in this post are not case-sensitive.
| Processes | Value |
|---|---|
| ApplicationLaunchPrefetching | True |
| ApplicationPreLaunch | True |
| MaxOperationAPIFiles | 512 |
| MemoryCompression | True |
| OperationAPI | True |
| PageCombining | True |
| PSComputerName |
Disable Memory Compression
NOTE: The memory compression feature is great because it optimizes the physical memory utilization, so it is not recommended to disable it.
Is Memory Compression Good or Bad
Memory Compression is much better than the alternative, which is paging that data out to disk. It is a faster process than using the paging file. No downside to compressed memory. Windows has the capacity to compress data in memory when it needs space automatically.
However, memory compression uses CPU resources. Your system is not performing faster if it does not need to compress data in memory at first. Whenever you see a lot of compressed memory, guess it is why your system is a little bit slow.
The only solution to avoid this situation is to install more physical memory, i.e., RAM, in your device. Furthermore, if your device does not have enough physical memory for the applications used by you, memory compression is better than the page file, otherwise, installing more physical memory is the best solution to it.
Memory Compression is not using more RAM. The more compressed memory is processed, the more data can be written on physical memory. In other words, a high level of memory compression translates into better memory utilization efficiency.
High RAM usage means many resource-hungry processes are running, and the application is usually available with high CPU usage. Closing some unused apps helps to restore your device to run smoothly.
Disable-MMAgent -mc
Enable-MMAgent -mc
It will say False next to memory compression if it’s disabled or True if it’s enabled.
Check yours on your task manager performance tab.
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Having it on helps if you have low ram capacity on your computer.
Having it on will take cpu cycles to decompress and compress said ram, thats a good tradeoff if you have low ram capacity.
If you have enough ram (16GB upwards) the option does literally nothing but take cpu cycles.
I personally turn it off because its pointless for my system and theoretically (the impact is very very low) worsens the CPU performance.
Some logic in that poll. 1=0, 0=1
Just leave it alone. It’s probably having zero effect on your games.
You should see for yourself in some games.
Windows tries to utilize your unused RAM, before using your SSD.
It’s not something just for systems with low RAM.
Some logic in that poll. 1=0, 0=1
Don’t you logic my poll, lol, I just wanna know if you use it or disable it, also can’t edit it
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Just leave it alone. It’s probably having zero effect on your games.
You should see for yourself in some games.
Windows tries to utilize your unused RAM, before using your SSD.
It’s not something just for systems with low RAM.
It’s faster (barely) than pagefile but takes cpu cycles, its a tradeoff.
On prevents some ssd wear, something to bare in mind aswell.
I didnt know this is a thing. Only prob use would be for high end cpu with low ram capacity.
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In addition to what has been said already it also depends on your workload and what kind of data fills your RAM.
Video and audio data sets, even raw (uncompressed) don’t compress with the algorithms used for emory compression. Waste of CPU time.
Database, virtual machines, development tools, Javascript running in a web browser compress well.
3D games could go one way or another.
the kind of compression being used is basicly free
leave well enough alone stop fiddling with windows internals without understanding what you are doing
I don’t need anymore support tickets today
You know what else is free? The rest of system memory. Server 2016 really did a better job handling this. Win10 why?
I don’t mess with the compression controls but they’re usually off anyway.
I just tested it while playing cyberpunk at 720p, thus cpu bottlenecked – didn’t improve fps at all.
I disable it but I have gobs of ram. 64GBs. It’s probably not long until that won’t be so much and I’ll come around to using it again.
I leave it on, I was under the impression that there’s no real benefit to turning it off.
I leave it on, I was under the impression that there’s no real benefit to turning it off.
Never bothered because my only bottleneck is a GPU (4K gaming with 6700 XT, you know the drill) since I’m only gaming. Nothing else is at least 2010s level demanding what I’m doing on my PC.
I opened the most memory demanding game I currently have (Star Citizen) and flied to big cities and ran around on them to fill the RAM as much as I could. And I also had the web browser open in the background (memory compression is enabled). Even then I haven’t seen any movement on compressed amount on task manager, it stayed at zero. If this is not enough for it to start compressing I actually want it stay enabled in the hope of seeing its help when I actually need the memory. I’d choose to give up some performance at that point.
The OS isnt constantly trying to compress everything, I am suspect over the odd potential snake oil report on gaming and think the more likely culprit is probably page combining, a feature that scans for duplicate pages in memory and replaces them with pointers.
So I would suggest if you want to tinker to try this first, and leave memory compression alone.
Memory compression has a very nice benefit, it basically fixes Windows page file management, without it Windows is prone to start using the swap file before physical memory usage is even at 50%, with compression enabled it wont use anything more than a small amount until it needs to when approaching critical memory utilisation.
Sadly the internet is prone to masses of copy and paste, and is a ton of articles on disabling compression, but thats my 5 pence worth anyway.
Memory compression is very rare on systems that have 64 GB of RAM or more, and relatively uncommon on 32 GB. It’s something that benefits primarily systems with low RAM (16 GB and below), on 16 GB memory compression will always be trying to stave off pressure as the OS is always paging and fighting for capacity, and that’s where you see the performance impact of it.
Considered your specs, leave this setting on automatic. Windows will only compress significantly if you ever run into the 28+ GB range and that point, you should be looking at a higher capacity memory kit anyhow.
If ever something should be compresseed, it can help.
There are a bunch of settings related to it. The -MaxOperationAPIFiles # adjusts the prefetch amount 8192 is max and best to make the most of the compression. The other big settings is the -PageCombining setting which makes it more efficient. Page combining causes the memory manager to periodically combine pages in physical memory that have identical content. (aka wasted space from identical data residing within memory)
The Get-MMAgent shows how it’s setup. Regardless of how much memory is installed it can be helpful. It takes CPU cycles, but you’re getting better memory performance by compressing and page combining for higher I/O.
I think people are really over blowing the CPU cycles angle on it. It makes your memory more efficient and I/O higher. It’s similar to direct storage in essence except the decompression isn’t performed on the GPU end though future GPU’s maybe could be OS aware and leveraged for this kind of OS memory compression hopefully. I wouldn’t worry the CPU cycles even on a dual core CPU let alone any modern one. I do agree with unwind in part though that already heavily compressed files won’t really see a benefit.
It would be nice if it were more like some of the other compression tools that allow you omit certain file type from being compressed, but maybe there is some option for that somewhere I don’t really know. I’d say otherwise it’s great and you’ll absolutely see it compressing memory a bit in task manager.
Memory Compression / Page Combining / MaxOperations
Enable-MMAgent -ApplicationLaunchPrefetching
Enable-MMAgent -ApplicationPreLaunch
Set-MMAgent -MaxOperationAPIFiles 8192
Enable-MMAgent -MemoryCompression
Enable-MMAgent -OperationAPI
Enable-MMAgent -PageCombining
Set-Service sysmain -StartupType Automatic
Start-Service sysmain
Get-MMAgentMakes better usage of system memory regardless of how much is installed. The page combining options saves on memory by purging duplicates of identical stuff held in memory for no reason other than the OS just being generally stupid like that. The MaxOperations options adjust the prefetching higher or lower depending on setting. It’s most effective on high, but a little more resource intensive technically. If I could set that like x4 or x16 I’d absolutely try it honestly, but the limit MS has imposed on it is 8192. It would be nice if they allowed it to go higher, but it’s probably the most reasonable max setting they settled on. It doesn’t really tax the CPU much at all in reality. It’s basically a extension of NTFS compression and prefetch and already very light weight on CPU’s a decade ago let alone today.
The polling rate on your mouse or keyboard is going to waste more CPU cycles honestly by a landslide between the two if I had to guess or that RGB lighting software that wastes 4-6% CPU utilization easily doing squat.
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I disable it but I have gobs of ram. 64GBs. It’s probably not long until that won’t be so much and I’ll come around to using it again.
Dude, just no. It took 20 years to get here. In 2000 my main workstation was 64MB of PC133 with an 8MB video card. In 2020 it was 64GB and an 8GB video card.
In another 20 years the best workstation will be 64TB ram and 4-8TB vram. The way everyone is hyping AI, it’s extremely believable too.
Anyway look at memory consumption and you’ll realize it isn’t really an everybody thing, just enthusiasts. Maybe we’ll daily 16K streams by then.
If you have enough ram (16GB upwards) the option does literally nothing but take cpu cycles.
No it doesn’t do that, where do you see it constantly pegging the CPU or not doing “literally” anything? It does free up memory every now on then & has very little impact on the rest of the system!
How to Disable Memory Compression
Although memory compression is important, there may be a scenario where you want to disable it. For example, you may have an abundance of RAM on your computer, meaning you don’t have any need for memory compression, or the feature could be conflicting with an app or driver that you need. You may even just want to turn it off due to personal preference.
If your computer is compressing a lot of data or relying too much on paging, and you think it affects performance a lot, adding more RAM is the best solution.
Disable-MMAgent -mc Once you press Enter and the command executes, memory compression will be turned off.
What Is Memory Compression on Windows, and Why Is It Important?
Memory compression on Windows is a feature that dynamically reduces the size of data before writing it to RAM. This process allows your computer to store more files in physical memory than it normally would, reducing the need for page files on Windows. Paging can significantly slow down a computer during high RAM usage situations, which makes memory compression a great feature to have.
While there are more benefits to compression, here are the main ones that you need to know:
- Your computer will rely less on secondary memory, which is slower to access compared to RAM, leading to better memory efficiency, multitasking, and stability, especially on systems with physical memory limitations.
- Since your computer will store more data in physical memory, a lot of your applications will run faster and smoother.
- There will be reduced disk utilization, meaning your computer’s memory needs won’t put a strain on your storage drives.
- With less disk utilization, it means the power consumption of your computer will be reduced.
- It can make it so that you won’t have to upgrade your RAM anytime soon, considering that the average person can do well with 8GB RAM.
You can check just how much memory your computer is compressing in Task Manager. To do that, right-click Start and select Task Manager. In Task Manager, navigate to the Performance tab and click on Memory in the left sidebar.
You will see how much memory Windows compressed under In Use (Compressed); the figure in the brackets represents the memory compression.
How do I enable Memory Compression in Windows 11?
- Click the Search bar, type powershell, and click on Run as administrator from the results.
- Type or paste the following command to see if memory compression is already enabled and press Enter to run it:
get-mmagent
- If you see the value True to the right of MemoryCompression, that means it’s activated.
- If the value is False, type the following command to enable Memory Compression on Windows 11 and press Enter:
enable-mmagent -mc
- Restart your PC for the changes to take effect.
- To check if Memory Compression is working, right-click the Start button and select Task Manager from the menu.
- Now, click on Memory from the Performance tab, and on the bottom, you will see the In use (Compressed) memory.
- If you hover your mouse over Memory composition above, you will see more detail on the status of Memory Compression on your system.
We recommend using the Get-Mmagent command first because the current status of memory management might be already True.
How do I stop Memory Compression in Windows 11?
- Click on the Search field in Windows 11, type powershell, and select Run as administrator to start PowerShell with full privileges.
- Type the following command and press Enter to disable Memory Compression on Windows 11:
disable-mmagent -mc
- Restart your PC for the changes to take effect.
The memory compression feature is great because it optimizes the physical memory utilization so we wouldn’t recommend disabling it.
In fact, you can disable the memory management feature, work on the PC, and turn it back on to see the difference between the states.
If your PC is still running slow, it might be that the PC is not using all the available RAM but the highlighted guide will help you fix that problem.
Why is Memory Compression taking up so much RAM?
Actually, Memory Compression is not taking up RAM. The more compressed memory is processed, the more data can be written on the physical memory.
In other words, a high level of memory compression translates into a better efficiency of memory utilization.
However, high RAM usage means you are running resource-hungry processes and applications which usually also come with high CPU usage. Closing some of them will restore things to normal again.
If the system and compressed memory are causing high disk usage, the highlighted guide will provide the necessary fixes.
You might also be interested in how to fix the insufficient disk space to complete the operation error.
We hope that you managed to enable or disable Memory Compression on Windows 11 and now, the system is running smoothly.
If you have any questions or suggestions on this subject, don’t hesitate to use the comments section below.
Windows Toubleshooting Expert
Memory Compression on Windows, Demystified
Now you know what memory compression is, why it is important, and how you can enable and if you need to, disable it.
However, we advise against disabling memory compression since it gives your RAM more room to play. It helps you avoid a majority of the problems that you can encounter when your physical memory is full. Particularly, the feature prevents your computer from having to store files it readily needs so far away in secondary storage.
How to Check If Memory Compression Is On or Off
Get-MMAgent If memory compression is off, it will say True next to MemoryCompression in the results of the command.
If it says False, then it means memory compression is off.
How to Enable Memory Compression
Once PowerShell launches, enter the below command:
Enable-MMAgent -mc When you press Enter, PowerShell will run the command and turn on memory compression.
