<![CDATA[Extension: Background worker huge memory footprint]]>When Opera gets sluggish, I open Developer > Task Manager and try sorting by Memory Footprint or CPU.

I usually see Extension: Background worker using lots of RAM. E.g. at the moment it's on 6GB!

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I only have 3 extensions enabled (LastPass, Opera Ad Blocker, and a json formatter). Disabling all 3 extensions doesn't kill that process/task.

What is it, and why is it eating all my RAM?

I can 'End Process' in Opera's Task Manager and (apart from RAM usage / performance improving), nothing bad seems to happen. So I guess my question is how do I turn this useless thing off?

]]>https://forums.opera.com/topic/54339/extension-background-worker-huge-memory-footprintRSS for NodeThu, 12 Mar 2026 03:12:06 GMTWed, 23 Feb 2022 18:28:48 GMT60<![CDATA[Reply to Extension: Background worker huge memory footprint on Fri, 07 Oct 2022 23:36:12 GMT]]>@domxch Memory (RAM) usage of Background worker extension seems fine, so you don't probably have the issue subject of this topic. Therefore, follow the rules and open a new topic.

]]>https://forums.opera.com/post/291151https://forums.opera.com/post/291151Fri, 07 Oct 2022 23:36:12 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Extension: Background worker huge memory footprint on Fri, 07 Oct 2022 18:33:08 GMT]]>@leocg, Hi, I have a connected problem since upgrade to Opera 86.X.
Usage of CPU is very high, almost 50% for couple of minutes, can be reproduced when you open more windows with plenty of tabs (e. .g. currently opened 10 windows, each window in average 5 tabs) and starts typing in the URL address bar (probably issue regarding changes of the URL bar).
Tested without any extensions, the biggest consumption is done by the "Background worker".
Pretty annoying and expensive...
When I downgrade to Opera 85.0.4341.75, everything is OK.

I have also reported a bug, however, nobody has answered yet.
https://opera.atlassian.net/servicedesk/customer/portal/9/BS-33628

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]]>https://forums.opera.com/post/291128https://forums.opera.com/post/291128Fri, 07 Oct 2022 18:33:08 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Extension: Background worker huge memory footprint on Sat, 19 Mar 2022 09:20:10 GMT]]>Maybe Gmail is a possible cause (or at least trigger)?

I will often put my Mac to sleep with Opera left open, and Gmail one of the handful of tabs kept open from that browsing session.

For example, this morning I see Opera using 2.4GB RAM, of which 1.4GB is the Extension: Background worker, and 540MB for the Gmail tab.

Because I use Gmail daily, it's hard for me to test the behaviour without it, but I will try to experiment with keeping it open vs. closing it and measuring what impact that has on Extension: Background worker memory growth.

]]>https://forums.opera.com/post/277074https://forums.opera.com/post/277074Sat, 19 Mar 2022 09:20:10 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Extension: Background worker huge memory footprint on Tue, 08 Mar 2022 11:19:28 GMT]]>@leocg it seems that this develops after Opera is open for a few days, so most likely explanation is a boring memory leak rather than anything specific to my install.

]]>https://forums.opera.com/post/276287https://forums.opera.com/post/276287Tue, 08 Mar 2022 11:19:28 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Extension: Background worker huge memory footprint on Fri, 25 Feb 2022 18:46:31 GMT]]>@damienuk Same problem for me. I used to be able to shut it down with the task manager but now it keeps coming back no matter how many times I try.
This started only a few days ago.

]]>https://forums.opera.com/post/275382https://forums.opera.com/post/275382Fri, 25 Feb 2022 18:46:31 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Extension: Background worker huge memory footprint on Wed, 23 Feb 2022 21:42:15 GMT]]>@damienuk It seems that something is (very) wrong with your Opera installation/profile. If closing Opera doesn't solve the problem, I would try creating a new profile directory to see how things behave.

By the way, that's one of the built-in internal extensions.

]]>https://forums.opera.com/post/275229https://forums.opera.com/post/275229Wed, 23 Feb 2022 21:42:15 GMT