We've had other reports of this, too. But we're not sure what's causing it.
Riki
On 8/31/26 11:39 AM, Sergio Celani via lyx-users wrote:
Hello
I've had a problem with LyX for a while now. I didn't mention it
before because I thought it would be fixed with an update.
I am experiencing a major performance issue in LyX characterized by a
continuous and increase in memory consumption over time. This memory
bloat inevitably leads to extreme sluggishness, especially when
entering text or mathematical formulas. This issue did not occur in
the v2.4 series.
- LyX Version: 2.5.2, Windows 11, RAM 32 GB, Google Drive and
Dropbox are running in the background, syncing local folders.
Steps to Reproduce
1. Launch LyX and open a standard lyx document (the specific file does
not seem to matter).
2. Open the system monitor (task Manager ) to track memory usage.
3. Begin working normally (typing text, inserting math equations).
4. Observe memory metrics over time.
- Upon startup, the /virtual memory usage for LyX is approximately
~100–120 GB (which is significantly higher than the available 32 GB of
physical RAM, indicating heavy reliance on the pagefile/swap).
- Within 30 minutes of use, memory consumption climbs to 160–170 GB.
- After approximately 1 hour, memory usage reaches nearly 300 GB.
- As the memory footprint grows, the UI response degrades drastically.
Text input and equation editing become incredibly slow and laggy,
making the application almost unusable.
Additional Tests Performed (to rule out external factors):
- Rebooted the system entirely.
- Launched LyX with only a browser and a PDF reader open alongside it
(no other heavy applications).
- Tried this with various different `.lyx` files.
- Result: The issue occurs consistently and regardless of the workload
or other running processes.
I do not recall experiencing this issue with LyX versions 2.4.x.
I have experienced this problem regardless of how large or small the
file may be.
If you need any other information I can provide, please let me know.
Thank you very much.
Sergio
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