---
title: "Memory compression: trading CPU for RAM, and when that trade is wrong"
description: "What Disable-MMAgent -MemoryCompression (-mc) changes, why turning off memory compression helps some PCs and badly hurts others, and how to put it back."
url: https://frozentweaks.com/tweaks/disable-memory-compression
author: Frost LIVE, Founder of Frozen Tweaks
published: 2026-08-30
updated: 2026-10-08
category: "Memory"
source: Frozen Tweaks (https://frozentweaks.com)
---

# Memory compression: trading CPU for RAM, and when that trade is wrong

**Short answer:** Memory compression is disabled with the PowerShell command Disable-MMAgent -mc. Windows compresses pages in RAM instead of writing them to disk, spending CPU to save memory. Disabling it frees that CPU time, but only makes sense if you have plenty of RAM. On an 8 GB machine it will make things distinctly worse.

## In the app

- Switch: Disable Memory Compression (Memory, Pro, Advanced)
- Undo: Yes. Switching it off sets a standard Windows value, which may not be exactly how you had it.
- Catalog row: https://frozentweaks.com/tweaks#t-1028

## What it does

Rather than paging cold memory out to disk, Windows compresses it and keeps it in RAM. Reading it back costs CPU but is far faster than a disk round trip.

The compression and decompression work is real CPU time, which is the argument for turning it off when memory is not the constraint.

## When it helps

- Frees CPU cycles on systems with 32 GB or more, where compression is solving a problem you do not have.
- Can slightly reduce frame-time variance in heavily CPU-bound games.

## When it hurts

- On 8 GB and often on 16 GB, disabling it pushes Windows to page to disk instead, which is far slower and produces exactly the stutter you were trying to remove.
- The effect is highly dependent on how much memory your games actually use. Measure before assuming.

## What it writes

Read from the app's source. "Switching it off" is what the app writes when you turn the tweak off again.

Commands the tweak runs:

```powershell
Disable-MMAgent -mc
```

- `Disable-MMAgent -mc`: Turns off in-memory page compression.

Switching it off runs:

```powershell
Enable-MMAgent -mc
```

Source: Tweaks/memory_compression.hpp in the app's source, app 2.0.0, checked 2026-10-08.

## How to undo it

Run Enable-MMAgent -mc and reboot. Switching it off in Frozen Tweaks runs that command.

## Verdict

Only with 32 GB or more. On 16 GB it is a coin flip and on 8 GB it is actively harmful, one of the clearest examples of a tweak whose correctness depends entirely on your hardware.

## Related guides

- [Low-End PC Gaming Optimization: Getting Playable Frame Rates](https://frozentweaks.com/guides/low-end-pc-gaming-optimization)
- [How to Fix Stuttering and Frame Drops: Diagnose Before You Tweak](https://frozentweaks.com/guides/fix-stuttering-frame-drops)

## More tweak explainers

- [NVMe interrupt steering](https://frozentweaks.com/tweaks/nvme-interrupt-steering)
- [LargeSystemCache](https://frozentweaks.com/tweaks/largesystemcache)
- [DisablePagingExecutive](https://frozentweaks.com/tweaks/disablepagingexecutive)

---
Written by Frost LIVE, founder of Frozen Tweaks. Canonical version: https://frozentweaks.com/tweaks/disable-memory-compression