What is this qemu-system-aarch64 process and why is it using almost 3 GB of RAM on my M1 Mac

Question

I am on my M1 Mac mini (Big Sur 11.3.1). I got a message that I am running out of RAM and should close some apps. I saw this process called qemu-system-aarch64 that takes up to 3GB of RAM. I don't know what it does and cannot stop it either. What is it and why does it eat up so much RAM?

nohillside · Accepted Answer · 2022-12-24T16:34:24.030

237

This process belongs to an application you've installed yourself.

To find out more, select the process in Activity Monitor and press Cmd-I to open the Process Information window. You should see the name of the process which started it at the top, and the path to the binary itself near the top of the 3rd tab (open files and ports).

edited Dec 24 '22 at 16:34

answered May 12 '21 at 06:28

nohillside

100,768

1

@Neekey this guy explains it well https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/memory-vs-real-memory.1749505/?post=19295944#post-19295944 – Antony Thompson Jul 17 '21 at 10:23
2

In my case it was colima – computingfreak Jul 01 '22 at 13:17
"This process belongs to an application you've installed yourself" Ah! Thanks! – Paul Draper Feb 23 '24 at 15:45

score 156 · Answer 2 · edited Mar 28 '23 at 19:46

156

It was Docker for Mac!

There is no clear name indication that this is a Docker process, so you can't clearly spot it in the Activity Monitor unless you use View -> All Processes, Hierarchically or view the process origin with ⌘+I.

Stopping Docker releases the resources.

Github issue

edited Mar 28 '23 at 19:46

chris

111

answered Sep 24 '21 at 15:47

Vladyslav Didenko

141
1
2
3

As it’s currently written, your answer is unclear. Please [edit] to add additional details that will help others understand how this addresses the question asked. You can find more information on how to write good answers in the help center. – Community Sep 24 '21 at 17:35
1

Yes, indeed it was docker. I guess this process is needed because of docker's support for multi-arch images. – Harshit Gangwar Dec 10 '21 at 07:06
3

It's possible to see process origin by hitting ⌘+I – vladkras Feb 18 '22 at 07:46
1

Reference confirming this answer: https://github.com/docker/for-mac/issues/5812 – dbaltor Jan 10 '23 at 17:05
thanks @dbaltor! updated the answer – Vladyslav Didenko Jan 11 '23 at 18:20
@Community this bot needs to be updated - This is the perfect answer. – Sriram R Mar 22 '23 at 12:44

score 7 · Answer 3 · answered Aug 19 '21 at 02:44

7

I guess you are a developer and you are using some sort of Android emulator. I too have a Mac, and this process refers to the Android Studio emulator I use for debugging.

answered Aug 19 '21 at 02:44

NotThareesh

97

Please note that the OP commented on the accepted answer that they are a developer and had installed Docker. – agarza Aug 19 '21 at 03:00
1

But not everyone landing on the result will be a developer working with Docker. So this answer is just fine. There is no need to down vote. – Muhammad bin Yusrat Oct 03 '21 at 09:58
Indeed, on my machine it was also coming from the Android emulator. – riezebosch Nov 09 '21 at 09:56

What is this qemu-system-aarch64 process and why is it using almost 3 GB of RAM on my M1 Mac

3 Answers3

Linked