How to allocate more RAM (memory) to Minecraft
Based on this post by this user, updated and corrected for 1.20+.
These are some basic steps on how to allocate more RAM to your game.
Step 1 - Open the Launcher.
Step 2 - Click the 'installations' button
Step 3 - Choose the profile you want to allocate more RAM to (e.g. Latest Release)
Step 4 - Click the 'more options' button
Step 5 - You will see alot of text, only concentrate on the first line saying -Xmx2G
Step 6 - Replace 2G with how much RAM you want to allocate (e.g. "4G" = 4GB of RAM allocated)
Attention:
32-bit system only supports up to 4GB RAM memory. Therefore, most 32-bit based systems only support a maximum of 2GB to be allocated to Java. The limit depends on the system, if you got an error, try less allocation.
If you are not using the native Java that comes with the launcher, be sure to use the latest and correct version of Java (64bit on 64bit-OS-Systems is recommended).
How much RAM do I have?
The easiest way to see how much RAM you have on Windows is to open the Task Manager and change to the Performance Tab. Look how much Physical Memory is available. On MacOS, go to the Apple Menu, select About This Mac. This window shows you your total amount of RAM.
Note that other programs and your system also need RAM to work. For example, if you run TeamSpeak or Firefox in background, you should leave enough memory for this software to run.
Some numbers for reference:
- Windows 7: 1 GB RAM (32-Bit) or 2 GB RAM (64-Bit)
- Windows 8 / 8.1: 1 GB RAM (32-Bit) or 2 GB RAM (64-Bit)
- Windows 10: 2 GB RAM
- Linux: 1-2 GB
- Skype: 256 MB
- Teamspeak: 64 MB
It is recommended to never allocate more than half your system RAM to the game. Also be aware that allocating more RAM does not necessarily make the game faster.
Something doesn't work? You got an error?
- First of all check for spelling mistakes. Also important: JVM arguments are case-sensitive
- Try to install the non-native version of Java (the download can be found here). If you go that, make sure to set your "Java Executable" in the launcher
- Add -Xms1G and try again
- Lower the numbers if your issue still persists.
- Check if you've enough free RAM, and make sure you use 64-bit when allocating more than 2GB or RAM.
to the non-native javaw.exe (e.g. if you installed Java 17.0.6.10, set
it to C:\Program Files\Eclipse Adoptium\jdk-17.0.6.10-hotspot\bin\javaw.exe). Please note that Java 9 and above are not yet fully supported.
You found a fault in the post? Something is missing? Please let me know via a reply here.
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For these screenshots I used Sildur's Vibrant shaders v1.262 Extreme-Volumetric lighting and Dann's World Generator with the world seed 8183905014519044376.
Discalimer: this is my world generator.
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I enjoy aesthetically oriented survival gameplay.
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A 4000x4000 texture pack with 16 variants for every block type.