Google has recently announced that the Chrome browser has achieved a historic high in the Speedometer 3 performance benchmark, showing a 10% improvement compared to last year. According to Google, if every Chrome user spends just 10 minutes a day using the browser, these optimizations could save a total of 58 million hours – that’s equivalent to the web loading wait time of 83 people over a lifetime.
Speedometer 3 is a collaborative browser performance testing tool developed by Google, Apple, Intel, Microsoft, and Mozilla, designed specifically to measure webpage response speeds. Its testing scope encompasses various areas including HTML parsing, JavaScript and JSON processing, Document Object Model (DOM) interactions, CSS application, and pixel rendering, all to assess the actual performance of the entire rendering pipeline. In the latest version of Chrome, the performance score on the MacBook Pro equipped with the M4 chip for Chrome version 139 is 52.35.
Over the past year, Google has implemented numerous optimizations to enhance the performance of Chrome, particularly focusing on memory layout. The Blink rendering engine in Chrome has optimized the internal data structures for DOM, CSS, layout, and painting components, significantly reducing unnecessary fluctuations in system memory and improving CPU cache efficiency. At the same time, the team upgraded the code originally using malloc to utilize the Oilpan garbage collection system, resulting in better memory encapsulation.
Significant advancements have also been made in string processing, with the renderer converting the Hash algorithm to rapidhash, while enhancing the hashing, filtering, and probing algorithms of multiple data structures. Although these highly technical improvements may not be easily noticeable, Google emphasizes that they have a direct impact on enhancing user experience and increasing conversion rates for businesses.
The caching strategy has also been optimized, particularly when dealing with computation-heavy rendering tasks such as CSS style computations, leading to a significant increase in cache hit rates while simultaneously reducing unnecessary content caching. Furthermore, in terms of font shaping, the team has made significant improvements to the font performance of Apple Advanced Typography, which impacts the rendering efficiency of all text.
Google reiterates that performance has always been one of the key advantages of Chrome. These publicly accessible benchmark tests serve as a powerful tool for tracking overall progress, exploring new areas for improvement, and ensuring the effectiveness of potential enhancements. They are collaboratively established by multiple browser developers, which guarantees fairness and authority in industry standards.
