What is Zoom (zoom.us) on Mac?
By Junaid, maker of Taskglass · Last reviewed
The Zoom video meetings app; zoom.us is its main process.
zoom.us is the main process of the Zoom app. During meetings it encodes and decodes video and audio, which takes real CPU power, especially with video on, virtual backgrounds, or many participants. ZoomCefHelper processes display web-based parts of the app.
- Category
- Third-party
- Made by
- Zoom Communications
- Safe to quit:
- Yes
Shown in Activity Monitor as zoom.us, ZoomCefHelper, ZoomCefHelper (Renderer), ZoomCefHelper (GPU), ZoomCefHelper (Plugin)
Why is Zoom (zoom.us) using so much CPU or memory?
- Being in a meeting with video on
- Virtual backgrounds, blur or video filters
- Gallery view with many participants
- Screen sharing or recording
What to do
- 1Turn off virtual backgrounds and video filters
- 2Use Speaker view instead of Gallery view
- 3Turn your video off when not needed
- 4Quit Zoom fully after meetings (zoom.us menu > Quit Zoom) and keep it updated
Safe to quit? Yes.
Safe to quit outside meetings; quitting during a meeting drops you from it.
Typical usage
Rough ranges on Apple Silicon Macs. Yours will vary.
- CPU
- Near 0% when idle; roughly 20–100%+ in a video meeting
- Memory
- 200 MB – 1 GB
Related guides
Related processes
- CptHost (Zoom)Zoom's screen-sharing host process, used when you share your screen.
- VDCAssistantLets apps capture video from the FaceTime camera or USB webcams.
- coreaudiodHandles all sound on your Mac: playback, microphones, and audio devices.
- VTDecoderXPCServiceDecodes (and encodes) video for apps using Apple's VideoToolbox, often with hardware help.
Part of the Taskglass Process Library