How to Increase RAM for Minecraft

This article shows you how to increase the amount of RAM memory for Minecraft game to help fix some memory-related errors. If you are using a personal version of Minecraft, you can easily increase RAM with Launcher from version 1.6 to 2.0.X. Check your Launcher version number in the lower left corner of the Launcher window. If you intend to change the RAM of the server (server), you need to create a file that helps to run the Minecraft game with more memory. However, it is best not to increase more than one-half to two-thirds of your computer’s total RAM for the game Minecraft.

Table of Contents

Use Launcher version 2.0.X

Check the available RAM on the computer. The amount of RAM indicates how much memory you can allocate to the Minecraft game. To test the RAM:

For Windows – Open Start , click the Settings gear, click System , click About , then look at the number next to “Installed RAM”.
For Mac – Open the Apple menu , click About This Mac , then look at the number to the right of the “Memory” section.

Update Java program . Visit the Java website at https://www.java.com/en/download/ and click the “Download” button below the latest version of Java. This step helps to ensure that your Java is updated to the latest version and ready for RAM allocation.

If you’re using Windows, you’ll need to make sure you’ve downloaded the correct bit version for your operating system.

Open Minecraft Launcher. Double-click the Minecraft icon to do this.

If the Launcher window says “1.6…” in the lower left corner (or at the top of the window), use Launcher version 1.6.X.

Click the Launch options tab. This option is located at the top of the Launcher.

Make sure that the Advanced settings switch is turned on. This switch is located in the upper-right corner of the Launch Options page. If the switch isn’t already green, you’ll need to click it before continuing.

Click the profile you want to change. If you only see one option on this page, click it.

Turn on the JVM arguments switch. Click the switch on the left side “JVM arguments” to enable the feature.

Change how much RAM the Minecraft game can use. You should see a line in the “JVM arguments” text field, the first part saying -Xmx1G ; change the number “1” to the gigabytes of RAM you want to give Minecraft.

Example: You can change this text to “-Xmx4G” to allocate four gigabytes of RAM to Minecraft.

Click SAVE . This save button is located at the bottom of the window. Minecraft game will now use the selected amount of RAM for the current profile.

Use Launcher version 1.6.X

Check the available RAM on the computer. The amount of RAM helps you to know how much memory can be allocated to Minecraft. To test the RAM:

On Windows – Open Start , click the Settings gear, click System , click About , then look at the number next to “Installed RAM”.
On Mac – Open the Apple menu , click About This Mac , then look at the number to the right of the “Memory” section.

Update Java program . Go to the Java website at https://www.java.com/en/download/ and click the “Download” button below the latest Java version. This will ensure that your Java is updated to the latest version, ready for RAM allocation.

If you are using Windows, make sure you have downloaded the correct bit version for your operating system.

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Open Minecraft Launcher. In version 1.6.X and later, you can grant more RAM directly from Minecraft Launcher. If you’re using an earlier version, see the next section.

If the Launcher window says “2.0…” in the lower left corner, use Launcher version 2.0.X.

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Select profile. Click Edit Profile and select a profile from the list.

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Enable JVM Arguments. In the “Java Settings (Advanced)” section, check the “JVM Arguments” box. You will be allowed to type the command line to edit the Minecraft game.

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Increase more RAM. If left as default, Minecraft will only allocate 1 GB of RAM on its own. You can increase this amount of RAM by typing -Xmx # G . Replace # with the number of gigabytes you want to allocate. For example: If you want to allocate 18 GB, you need to type -Xmx18G .

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Save the profile. Click Save Profile to save your settings. The amount of RAM you desire will now be applied to the selected profile.

Using Minecraft Server

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Check the RAM available on the computer. The amount of RAM available indicates how much memory you can allocate to Minecraft. To test the RAM:

If using Windows – Open Start , click the Settings gear, click System , click About and look at the number next to “Installed RAM”.

If using a Mac – Open the Apple menu , click About This Mac and look at the number to the right of “Memory”.

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Update Java . Visit the Java website at https://www.java.com/en/download/ and click the “Download” button located below the latest Java version. This step helps to ensure that your Java version is up to date and ready for RAM allocation.

If you are using Windows operating system, you need to make sure that you have downloaded the correct bit version for your operating system. You can only allocate 1 GB of RAM on a 32-bit computer.

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Open the server folder (Minecraft server). This is the folder containing the Minecraft_server.exe file that you will open to start your Minecraft server.

The easiest way to find this folder is to search for the file “Minecraft_server”, then navigate to the location where the file is located.

Create a document in the server directory. Click Home (on Windows) or File (on Mac), then click New item (on Windows) or select New (on Mac) and click Text Document . This step creates a new document in the same location as the minecraft_server.exe file.

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Enter the code to increase RAM. Enter the code (command line) corresponding to the operating system you are using in your text:
On Windows

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java -Xmx #### M -Xms #### M -exe Minecraft_Server.exe -o true
PAUSE

On OS X

#!/bin/bash
cd “$( dirname “$0″ )”
java -Xms #### M -Xmx #### M -exe Minecraft_Server.exe -o true

On Linux

#!/bin/sh
BINDIR=$(dirname “$(readlink -fn “$0″)”)
cd “$BINDIR”
java -Xms #### M -Xmx #### M -exe Minecraft_Server.exe -o true

Change #### to the desired number of megabytes. To grant 2 GB, type 2048 . To allocate 3 GB, type 3072 . To allocate 4 GB, type 4096 . To grant 5 GB, type 5120 .

Save the file. If you are using Windows, save it as a “.bat” file. Click File and select Save As… . Change the file extension from “.txt” to “.bat”. If you’re using OS X, you’ll need to save it as a “.command” file. If you’re using Linux, save it as a “.sh” file.

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You may have to enable file extensions on Windows to see the extension.

Run the new file to start playing Minecraft. The file you create becomes the new Launcher for your Minecraft server. Running the game using the new file (.bat on Windows, .command on Mac, or .sh on Linux) will free up new RAM for the server.

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Advice

A lot of space (at least one third) of RAM should be reserved for the computer’s operating system.

Warning

Be careful, don’t allocate more RAM than your computer can handle, or you’ll see an error saying the Java VM can’t start and the Minecraft game won’t run.

Steps

Use Launcher version 2.0.X

Use Launcher version 1.6.X

Using Minecraft Server

Advice

Warning

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