Q: I sometimes get a “heap space” error or see a red X instead of an image when running Xodo PDF Studio.  What does this mean?

A: When working with memory intensive documents in Xodo PDF Studio, you may get a “heap space” exception, an image that does not render properly or random other application errors. This happens when Xodo PDF Studio is running out of memory.

How to increase memory in Xodo PDF Studio

You can allocated more memory in Xodo PDF Studio Preferences dialog.

Go to File -> Preferences -> Applications and look for Allocated Memory option.

Below are some Xodo PDF Studio memory recommendations for 64-bit systems based on the amount of total memory available on your system. Make sure to leave enough memory for your operating system and for any other applications you are running.

  • System Memory 4GB – Xodo PDF Studio 2GB (2048)
  • System Memory 6GB – Xodo  PDF Studio 3GB (3072)
  • System Memory 8GB – Xodo  PDF Studio 4GB (4096)
  • System Memory 10GB – Xodo  PDF Studio 5GB (5120)
  • System Memory 12GB – Xodo  PDF Studio 6GB (6144)

Note: In the Windows 32 bit installer, it is not possible to increase the memory allocation as it is already set to the maximum allowed 1024MB.

Possible issues when increasing memory: 

Error: The JVM could not be started. The maximum heap size (-Xmx) might be too large

You may encounter this error when using one of PDF Studio 32 bits installers. The maximum heap size will usually range from 1.4G to 1.6G but it can go up to 4G. Read more about heap size limit with 32-bit JVM.

With Xodo  PDF Studio 64 bits installers, the maximum heap size is basically nonexistent – other than the memory available on the machine of course –  as it is about the square of the memory that can be allocated in 32 bit.