What is Memory Compression in Windows?

Introduced in Windows 10, Memory Compression is a feature that gives your RAM more space to prevent it from filling up too quickly. Windows will turn on the Memory Compression feature by default, and you can turn it off if you want.

But what exactly is Memory Compression and should you turn it off in the first place? Let's look at this feature in a little more detail in the following article!

What is Memory Compression on Windows? Why is it so important?

Memory Compression on Windows is a feature that automatically reduces data size before writing to RAM. This process allows your computer to store more files in physical memory than usual, reducing the need for page files on Windows. Paging can significantly slow down a computer in high RAM usage situations, which makes Memory Compression a great feature to have.

While compression has many benefits, here are the main advantages you need to know:

1. Your computer will be less dependent on secondary memory, which is slower to access than RAM, leading to better memory performance, multitasking, and more stability, especially on memory-limited systems. physics.
2. Because your computer will store more data in physical memory, many of your applications will run faster and smoother.
3. Drive usage will decrease, meaning your computer's memory needs won't put pressure on your storage drive.
4. With less drive usage, it means your computer's power consumption will decrease.
5. It may save you from having to upgrade your RAM anytime soon, as the average person can do just fine with 8GB RAM.

You can check 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 Memory on the left.

What is Memory Compression in Windows? Picture 1

You will see how much memory Windows has compressed in the In Use (Compressed) section ; The number in parentheses represents the memory compression level.

How to enable Memory Compression feature

What is Memory Compression in Windows? Picture 2

To enable Memory Compression on your PC, press the Win key and type powershell in the search bar. When the PowerShell application shows up in the results, click Run as Administrator .

What is Memory Compression in Windows? Picture 3

Once PowerShell launches, enter the command below:

Enable-MMAgent -mc

When you press Enter , PowerShell will run the command and enable Memory Compression.

How to turn off Memory Compression feature

What is Memory Compression in Windows? Picture 4

Although memory compression is important, there may be situations where you want to disable this feature. For example, you may have a lot of RAM on your computer, meaning you don't need memory compression, or this feature may conflict with an application or driver you need. You may even just want to turn it off due to personal preference.

Tip : 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.

Whatever your reason for wanting to disable Memory Compression, you can disable it by opening PowerShell with admin rights and typing the command below:

Disable-MMAgent -mc

When you press Enter and the command executes, the Memory Compression feature will be turned off.

How to check if the Memory Compression feature is on or off

Since you don't get a confirmation message telling you whether you've enabled Memory Compression, you can quickly check it in PowerShell. To do that, open PowerShell with admin rights, enter the command below and press the Enter key :

Get-MMAgent

If the Memory Compression feature is disabled, it will display True next to MemoryCompression in the command results.

What is Memory Compression in Windows? Picture 5

If it says False , it means the Memory Compression feature is turned off.

Lesley Montoya

Update 07 October 2023