The spike in WindowServer activity could be legitimate and caused by your increased activity - video editing or gaming, for example, or something else that requires redrawing the screen quickly.Īnother reason for the WindowServer process to spike is a bug in the app you’re currently using that could cause constant refreshing. In some rare cases, your WindowServer process could spin out of control and eat up 30 to 50% of your CPU. But, sometimes, you might find it misbehaving. It’s a completely safe (and essential) process to leave running. On most recent Macs, the WindowServer process is designed to run in the background without you ever noticing. Every time you open a new window, switch to a different tab, or tweak a photo, WindowServer is actively redrawing your screen. It’s also responsible for all the external displays. So if you see something on your Mac - WindowServer was involved in it being shown.īasically, WindowServer draws all the graphical elements and keeps track of all the changes for window positioning, desktop icons, fonts, Spaces, animations, visual effects, etc. WindowServer is a core process of your macOS, connecting all your interface applications and actions to your display. You might wonder what is WindowServer? Why do you need a WindowServer Mac process and how to make sure it uses less of the CPU and RAM available. You take a peek at the background activity and discover that a WindowServer process is taking up a significant percentage of your CPU. Occasionally, you might notice that your Mac is running slower than usual. You work with apps, but don’t consider things like synching, indexing, and network connectivity - all of which are necessary for your Mac to work properly. Most of the time, you don’t think about processes that are active on your Mac in the background. Get an ever-growing collection of troubleshooting apps.

Os x window server