In older versions of OS X, memory usage was built around a standard memory management system.
What Is Compressed Memory?
Compressed memory isn’t something new or exclusive to Apple.
Computing systems have been using various forms of memory compression for a long time.
Compressed memory utilities fell out of favor as computer makers and OS developers created better memory management systems.
At the same time, memory prices declined.
The other factor that made memory compression systems lose their popularity was the performance issue.
Memory compression algorithms took a hefty chunk of processing power.
Memory compression is making a comeback, primarily because of the advent of inexpensive multiple core processors.
It becomes merely a background task.
This inactive memory compresses the data it’s holding, so the data takes up less memory.
Inactive memory can be apps that are in the background and not being used.
When Does Memory Compression Occur?
The compression process isn’t active all the time.
Instead, the OS checks to see how muchfree spaceis available in RAM.
As free memory is used up, the OS starts looking for inactive memory to compress.
Limits of Memory Compression on Macs
There are limits to what compression can achieve.
Just as in the past, the OS begins to swap inactive RAM data to your Mac’s drive.
However, with memory compression, this is likely to be a rare occurrence for most users.
