Microsoft to cut Windows 11 RAM usage via WinUI overhaul
Microsoft has admitted that several native Windows 11 applications built on the WinUI framework consume far more RAM than expected, leading to sluggish performance especially on low‑end PCs. The company says the excessive memory use stems from the way WinUI structures interface components, not from the apps themselves.
To address the issue, Microsoft is updating WinUI to lower its memory footprint, improve stability and boost responsiveness. The work includes moving WinUI to the Windows system compositor and adding new controls such as DataGrid and charting components. These changes are being tested internally and are slated to be completed before a planned redesign of the Start menu and other shell elements. No firm release date has been provided, and Microsoft has indicated the rollout will be gradual.
The effort was highlighted at the Build 2026 developer conference, where Windows UI engineer Chris Anderson confirmed the priority of performance, fundamentals and quality for WinUI ahead of any visual redesign. Internal benchmarks have shown reductions of up to 41 % in memory allocations for specific operations, though broader system‑wide gains have not yet been quantified.
Entities: Chris Anderson · Microsoft Corp. · Microsoft Corporation · Start menu · WinUI framework · Windows 11 · Windows system compositor
Claims
What the coverage asserts, and how well corroborated each claim is across sources.
- [○ 1 SOURCE] Internal tests have shown up to a 41 % reduction in memory allocations for certain operations after WinUI changes. (article 63f87dee-3670-44f5-8e39-dfd000d86bff)
- [● 3 SOURCES] Microsoft is moving WinUI to the Windows system compositor as part of the optimisation. (multiple articles)
- [● 3 SOURCES] The WinUI optimisation will be completed before a redesign of the Windows 11 Start menu. (multiple articles)
- [● 2 SOURCES] The WinUI optimisation is a priority before expanding the framework across the Windows shell. (multiple articles)
- [● 2 SOURCES] Chris Anderson, a Windows UI team engineer at Microsoft, confirmed the work is ongoing. (articles 1ad26ee5-69bf-4d3b-9dfb-a37920e29f23 and 86838747-7aac-4a1d-953c-f0102da22f5b)
- [● 5 SOURCES] Microsoft acknowledges that native Windows 11 apps built on WinUI consume excessive RAM. (multiple articles)
- [● 2 SOURCES] Microsoft has not announced a specific release date for the WinUI improvements. (multiple articles)
- [● 5 SOURCES] Microsoft plans to update the WinUI framework to reduce memory usage and improve stability. (multiple articles)