#20342·terminal

Massive memory leak if left in a scrolled up position

Author: nbevansCreated Jun 19, 2026Updated Sep 15, 2026
LabelsIssue-BugNeeds-TriageNeeds-Attention

Windows Terminal version

1.24.11321.0

Windows build number

26200.8655

Other Software

Steps to reproduce

Leave a console program in a scrolled up position for an hour two whilst it continues to emit lines of output.

After a while, Windows Terminal will consume all available memory.

If you press a key to get it to scroll down, there will be a long delay and then the memory gets released and everything returns to normal.

It's just text. There is no reason it should require gigabytes of memory to hold a buffer of some text.

Expected Behavior

No noticeable impact on memory usage. Or, if this behaviour is intentional, then put limits on it so that once memory usage exceeds a certain threshold it will automatically scroll back down to avoid rinsing the machine.

Actual Behavior

Memory is kept allocated until scrolled back down.