Brave Browser is a Chromium engine’d web browser. Same for Google Chrome and Microsoft Edge.
The Chromium Projects - Memory Usage Backgrounder
“https://www.chromium.org/developers/memory-usage-backgrounder/”
Multi-Process Model Background
To understand Chromium’s memory usage, let’s understand the multi-process model. Unlike other browsers, Chromium is divided into multiple processes.
When Chromium starts up, it will initially have two processes.
One process is the browser process which controls the main browser functionality, and the other is the initial renderer process , which runs the Blink rendering engine and JavaScript (V8).
Each time you open a new tab in Chromium, you’ll likely get a new renderer process.
With typical browsing, it is common to see 5-7 chrome.exe processes active.
Further, if you utilize plugins, apps, or extensions, they may also execute within independent processes.
All of Chromium’s processes, whether it is a browser process, a renderer process, or a plugin process, will show under the Task Manager as “chrome.exe”.
Screenshot of Windows OS Task Manager:
Screenshot of Brave Browser Task Manager:
Monitoring Brave Browser and Mac OS at the same time:
Brave Browser Task Manager window on the left.
MacOS Activity Monitor on the right. Compare the Process ID (“PID”) numbers. You’ll get the idea.
All of the following are diagnostic tools:
Opening the Developer Tools window
- MacOS users, key combination: Command + Option + “I” (no quotes)
- Windows OS users: key combination: Control + Shift + “I” (no quotes)
On the first occasion of using Developer Tools, the Developer Tools “window” is usually a part of (contained within) its associated Brave Browser window . . . but you can make the Developer Tools window, a standalone window (though keeping its association with the Brave Browser window). I recommend that you do so:
In the upper right-hand corner of the Developer Tools window, there is an “Organizer” 3-vertical-dots button - click on that. The result should be a pop-up:
Notice the tiny blue icon that is first (left to right) among 4. Click on that icon. The Developer Tools window will become a standalone window.
How to use Developer Tools:
- ‘https://www.lifewire.com/web-browser-developer-tools-3988965’
- ‘https://developer.chrome.com/docs/devtools/network/reference/’
- ‘https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-edge/devtools-guide-chromium/’
Developer Tools > Network:
By monitoring the Developer Tools window > Network tab, you can observe the “behind the scenes” networking activity between the Internet browser and the website.