Out of memory

The Out of memory error indicates that a system or application has exhausted the available memory required to continue execution. This happens when a process requests more memory than the operating system or runtime environment can allocate. The error commonly appears on Linux and Windows systems, Java and Spring Boot applications, Docker containers, databases, and high-load servers where memory usage grows beyond configured limits.

When does this error occur?

  • Running applications that consume large amounts of memory
  • Java or JVM-based services with insufficient heap allocation
  • Long-running processes with memory leaks
  • Containers running with restricted memory limits
  • Systems under heavy load with limited physical RAM or swap

Root cause of Out of memory

This error occurs at the OS or runtime level when a process cannot obtain additional memory. The cause may be limited physical RAM, exhausted swap space, strict container memory limits, or application-level memory leaks where allocated memory is not released. Operating systems enforce memory boundaries to protect overall system stability, leading to this error when limits are reached.

How to fix the error (step-by-step)

Linux / macOS

Check available memory and swap usage. 

free -m

vmstat

If memory is consistently exhausted, add more RAM or increase swap space.

Windows

Review system memory usage and running processes. 

taskmgr

Ensure sufficient virtual memory (page file) is configured.

Java / Spring Boot

Increase JVM heap size and monitor memory usage. 

-Xms512m -Xmx2048m

Analyze heap usage to identify memory leaks. 

jmap -heap <pid>

Docker / containers

Check container memory limits. 

docker inspect <container-name>

Run containers with higher memory allocation if required. 

docker run --memory=2g <image>

Database / network services

Databases often allocate memory aggressively. Review buffer sizes, cache limits, and connection counts to prevent uncontrolled memory growth.

Verify the fix

After applying changes, restart the affected service or system. Monitor memory usage over time and confirm that processes continue running without triggering the Out of memory error.

Common mistakes to avoid

  • Increasing memory limits without identifying leaks
  • Running memory-intensive applications on undersized systems
  • Ignoring container memory restrictions
  • Relying only on swap instead of proper memory sizing
  • Not monitoring memory usage in production

Quick tip

Continuously monitor memory consumption and set alerts before usage reaches critical limits.

FAQ

Q: Is Out of memory always caused by insufficient RAM?

A: No. It can also result from memory leaks, strict limits, or inefficient memory usage.

Q: Can restarting the application fix this error?

A: Temporarily yes, but the root cause must be addressed to prevent recurrence.

Conclusion

The Out of memory error indicates that a process has exceeded available memory resources. Proper memory allocation, leak detection, and system sizing resolve the issue. Refer to other root error references on ErrorFixHub for deeper system-level troubleshooting.

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