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.
Source: microsoft/terminal