Microsoft to Reduce Windows 11 RAM Usage with Upcoming Updates

Microsoft has confirmed that Windows 11 consumes more system memory than intended, especially on devices with 8 GB of RAM. The high usage is linked to the WinUI framework and legacy web‑based components such as React Native, Chromium and WebView2 that power parts of the Start menu, notification center and other UI elements. At the Build 2026 conference, Microsoft engineers announced a series of memory‑saving measures, including a smarter memory allocator, tighter integration of a system compositor, and a migration of UI components to native WinUI 3. Chris Anderson, a Windows UI engineer, said, “We have invested heavily in improving memory consumption and moving to a system compositor, which should give better performance.” The changes are slated for the 26H2 update later in the year, with no exact rollout date yet. The optimizations aim to benefit older and budget PCs that struggle with the current memory demands. Independent testing reported Windows 11 using about 6.6 GB of RAM on a fresh boot of an 8 GB system, leading to early swapping to the SSD.