The Delivery Optimization feature on Windows 11 consumes up to 700MB of RAM.

Windows 11 is increasingly raising questions from users about system resource usage, particularly RAM, because Microsoft has begun altering the behavior of several system services to run automatically upon startup in Windows 11 versions 24H2, 25H2, and Windows Server 2025. Previously, these services only ran when necessary, resulting in some services running in the background constantly without user knowledge.

One of the most scrutinized services is Delivery Optimization, a core feature of Windows Update responsible for distributing update files peer-to-peer to reduce internet usage and increase update speed.

However, a Reddit user named Niff_Naff conducted a real-world test, monitoring the Delivery Optimization process, codenamed DoSvc, for an extended period. The results showed that DoSvc continuously used increasing amounts of RAM even when no updates were being downloaded and no memory was being released back to the system.

This behavior is indicative of a memory leak or possibly due to inefficient memory management. This causes machines with 8GB or 16GB of RAM to gradually slow down over time.

Delivery Optimization is a Windows 10/11 feature that distributes update files peer-to-peer instead of downloading them solely from Microsoft servers. Windows divides the update files into parts and shares them with other PCs, both within the same network (LAN) and over the internet with other users.

The advantage is reduced bandwidth usage and faster updates. However, the disadvantage is that this service runs in the background constantly, uses RAM for caching, and opens network ports. If bugs occur, it can cause increased RAM usage, leading to system slowdowns, especially on machines with limited RAM.

Disabling Delivery Optimization has the advantage of smoother performance and reduced RAM usage, but the disadvantage is that future patch updates will load more slowly.

Although Delivery Optimization is designed for speed and bandwidth savings, its background processes requiring RAM for caching and constant network connectivity can burden the system when bugs occur. However, we can fix this in Settings > Windows Update > Advanced options > Delivery Optimization to limit or disable sharing of update files.

This clearly reflects the overall picture of Windows 11, showing that the problem isn't just with the added features, but also with resource management that users don't see. It's no surprise that Microsoft is now recommending that modern PCs should have at least 16GB of RAM to support increasingly more system services running concurrently.