177

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?

enter image description here

Improve this question
0

3 Answers 3

Reset to default
246

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).

Improve this answer
4
  • 1
    @Neekey this guy explains it well forums.macrumors.com/threads/memory-vs-real-memory.1749505/… Commented Jul 17, 2021 at 10:23
  • 4
    In my case it was colima Commented Jul 1, 2022 at 13:17
  • @computingfreak Thanks. Colima claims they are less resource-consuming and faster than Docker Desktop, but my Mac's battery is dying to keep the charge up. Commented Oct 8, 2024 at 11:53
  • Rancher Desktop also uses QEMU, but it has the option to use the Apple Virtualization framework, which uses less memory. Commented Dec 18, 2024 at 16:46
164

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

Improve this answer
5
  • 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. Commented Sep 24, 2021 at 17:35
  • 1
    Yes, indeed it was docker. I guess this process is needed because of docker's support for multi-arch images. Commented Dec 10, 2021 at 7:06
  • 3
    It's possible to see process origin by hitting ⌘+I Commented Feb 18, 2022 at 7:46
  • 1
    Reference confirming this answer: github.com/docker/for-mac/issues/5812 Commented Jan 10, 2023 at 17:05
  • @Community this bot needs to be updated - This is the perfect answer. Commented Mar 22, 2023 at 12:44
8

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.

Improve this answer
3
  • Please note that the OP commented on the accepted answer that they are a developer and had installed Docker. Commented Aug 19, 2021 at 3:00
  • 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. Commented Oct 3, 2021 at 9:58
  • Indeed, on my machine it was also coming from the Android emulator. Commented Nov 9, 2021 at 9:56

You must log in to answer this question.

Start asking to get answers

Find the answer to your question by asking.

Ask question

Explore related questions

See similar questions with these tags.