How to allocate more RAM to 'Minecraft' and help your game or server run more smoothly

• You can reallocate RAM to "Minecraft" to help the game load faster and run more smoothly.
• To reallocate RAM to "Minecraft," you'll have to edit the game's settings through whatever launcher app you use.
• If you run your own "Minecraft" server, you can also reallocate RAM to the server, which lets more people play at once.

"Minecraft" can be breathtaking in its scope - especially if you've installed mods and texture packs to enhance the graphics.

Related Article Module: What is RAM? How your computer's memory keeps all your programs running smoothly

But the bigger and more beautiful your "Minecraft" world is, the more RAM it needs to run. And if not enough RAM is allocated to the game, it'll load slowly, frames will stutter, and it might even crash.

Fortunately, there's a solution. There are several different ways to allocate more RAM to "Minecraft," each of them fairly simple and straightforward.

And if you run your own "Minecraft" server, you can also allocate more RAM to it, which makes it so more people can play on the server at once.

Here's a rundown of all the ways to allocate more RAM to 'Minecraft.'

Important: This guide only applies to "Minecraft: Java Edition." If you're playing "Bedrock Edition," also known as "Minecraft for Windows 10," there's no built-in way to control how much RAM is used.

You can see more differences between "Java" and "Bedrock" by checking out our article, "'Minecraft Java' vs. 'Bedrock:' A full breakdown of Minecraft's two major versions and which one you should buy."

How to allocate more RAM to 'Minecraft'

To change how much RAM "Minecraft" can use, you'll have to change the settings of your Minecraft Launcher app. The launcher app is the program you use to launch "Minecraft."

There are several different launcher apps you might use, depending on what sort of mods you have installed. We'll go through three of the most popular ones, starting with the standard "vanilla" launcher that most people use.

Quick tip: You should always have at least 2 gigabytes (GB) of RAM allocated to "Minecraft." If you're planning on using a lot of mods, consider raising it to 4GB or 6GB.

Just be careful not to take more RAM than your computer actually has available. You'll want to leave at least half the RAM available for the rest of your computer to use.

Allocating RAM using the default 'Minecraft' launcher

If you're familiar with "Minecraft," you're probably also familiar with the game's default launcher app, called "Minecraft Launcher." Here's how to use it to reallocate RAM.

1. Open the Minecraft Launcher and select the "Installations" tab at the top.

2. Scroll your mouse over the "Minecraft" version that you want to allocate RAM to, then click the three dots on the right and select "Edit."

3. Select "More Options" in the lower-right corner of the screen to reveal two additional fields.

4. At the beginning of the "JVM Arguments" field, there's a bit of code that reads "-Xmx2G" or something similar - the "2G" represents how many gigabytes of RAM "Minecraft" can currently use (in this case, 2GB). Change that number to change how much RAM is allocated. Leave the rest of the text as is.

5. Tap "Save" to finalize your changes.

Allocating RAM using the CurseForge 'Minecraft' launcher

1. Launch the CurseForge app. Access "Settings" by clicking the gear icon in the lower left corner of the screen.

2. There's a "Game Specific" section in the column on the left side of the settings page. Select "Minecraft."

3. Scroll down to "Java Settings" where you'll see "Allocated Memory" with a slider. From here, simply drag and drop the orange ball on the slider to your preferred RAM allocation. Any change will be automatically saved.

Quick tip: CurseForge, most third-party launchers, measures RAM usage in megabytes (MB), not gigabytes (GB). Just remember that in cases like these, 1024MB equals 1GB.

Allocating RAM using the ATLauncher 'Minecraft' launcher

1. Boot up the ATLauncher and click "Settings," located on the right panel.

2. At the top of the settings page, you'll see several tabs. Click the "Java/Minecraft" tab.

3. You'll see a list of adjustable properties. The second listed is for "Maximum Memory/RAM" and that's the number you'll want to increase. It's listed in megabytes, so remember that 1024MB equals 1GB.

4. After you've adjusted the max RAM, make sure you click "Save" at the bottom to confirm your changes.

How to allocate RAM to a Minecraft server you run on a PC

Finally, you may be running your own Minecraft server. If the server doesn't have enough RAM, it won't be able to load or support users playing on it, and any changes you make in-game will lag.

If you want to increase how much RAM your server can use, here's how. Just note that these steps are for servers running from a Windows 10 PC - the method to do this on a Mac or Linux computer will differ.

1. Open the folder that houses all your Minecraft server files.

2. Right-click on any black space in the folder, then select "New" and "Text Document." You can leave the document unnamed for now.

3. Open the document, then paste the following code:

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

In place of "####" insert how much RAM you'd like to allocate. You'll write the allocation in megabytes - so if you want to allocate 2GB, for instance, you'll enter "2048," making the code:

java -Xmx2048M -Xms2048M -exe Minecraft_Server.exe -o true
PAUSE

4. Now click "File," then "Save As…" In the menu that opens, change the "Save as type" to "All Files." Save it.

5. Once the document is saved and visible in your folder, rename it "file server launcher.bat" - without the quotes.

6. What started as a text document is now the new launcher for your Minecraft server. Double-click the new .bat file to run your server with the new amount of RAM.

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