Memory Leak

Category: science

A failure in a program to release memory that is no longer needed.

A leak is the "slow drain." An app takes 100MB of RAM, forgets to give it back, and takes another 100MB. After 4 hours, it has taken all 16GB of your RAM and the PC freezes. A simple restart usually fixes it, but the app itself needs a patch.

Common Examples

• Our diagnostics indicated a memory leak in the video editing software, which explained why the system would freeze after long sessions.
• Memory leaks are notoriously difficult to track, as they often manifest only after hours of sustained usage under heavy load.