Google Chrome 133 to Launch with New Energy-Saving Feature

Google Chrome 133 is set to debut in February with a new energy-saving feature called “freezing.” According to the Chrome Developer blog, this feature will freeze eligible CPU-intensive background tabs when a computer is in energy-saving mode. The goal is to help users extend their device’s battery life when away from a charger.

How Freezing Works

To ensure minimal disruption, Chrome will only freeze background tabs that meet specific criteria and are CPU-intensive. Google clarified that freezing is different from unloading a tab from memory—when you revisit a frozen tab, it will resume any tasks without losing its state.

For those with technical knowledge, freezing will suspend task execution on affected web pages, including event handlers, timers, and promise resolvers.

Exceptions to Freezing

The new feature is designed to avoid freezing certain “efficiently implemented” apps, such as:

• Email or chat clients
• Calendar apps that generate notifications
• Web pages with audio or video conferencing capabilities
• Pages controlling external devices

Advice for Web Developers

If your website doesn’t perform background tasks, it likely won’t be impacted by freezing. However, if your site does run background functionality, Google recommends minimizing CPU usage to avoid being flagged as CPU-intensive. Developers can find optimization tips under the “How can I prepare my website?” section of Google’s announcement.

When to Expect Chrome 133

Chrome 133 will be available in February, bringing this efficient new feature to users very soon.

via Neowin