--- title: The Secret Life of JavaScript: The Garbage Collector description: JavaScript's garbage collector uses the Mark-and-Sweep algorithm to automatically reclaim memory by identifying unreachable objects. Starting from roots (like... canonical: https://daily.dev/posts/the-secret-life-of-javascript-the-garbage-collector-r96mslcqu twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:site: @dailydotdev og:type: website og:site_name: daily.dev og:title: The Secret Life of JavaScript: The Garbage Collector | daily.dev og:description: JavaScript's garbage collector uses the Mark-and-Sweep algorithm to automatically reclaim memory by identifying unreachable objects. Starting from roots (like... og:url: https://daily.dev/posts/the-secret-life-of-javascript-the-garbage-collector-r96mslcqu og:image: https://api.daily.dev/og/posts/r96msLCqU.png og:image:alt: The Secret Life of JavaScript: The Garbage Collector og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 630 og:locale: en --- > ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://daily.dev/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # The Secret Life of JavaScript: The Garbage Collector **[DEV](https://daily.dev/sources/devto)** · 4 min read · 8 upvotes · 1 comments ## Summary JavaScript's garbage collector uses the Mark-and-Sweep algorithm to automatically reclaim memory by identifying unreachable objects. Starting from roots (like the global window object and call stack), it traces all references and marks reachable objects as safe. Objects without a path from a root are swept away. Memory leaks occur when unintended references keep objects alive, commonly through event listeners with closures that hold large data structures. The solution is breaking these references by removing event listeners or nullifying variables, allowing the garbage collector to reclaim the memory. ## Full article daily.dev links to this article rather than hosting it. Read it at the original source: ## Community discussion Top comments from developers on daily.dev. **@faysal\_71** · 0 upvotes > As a senior web developer we should check this article. Thanks ## Similar posts on daily.dev - [Nulling Out References Won’t Help Your Garbage Collector](https://daily.dev/posts/nulling-out-references-won-t-help-your-garbage-collector-ti9lpyj13) · Foojay.io · 1 upvotes · 0 comments - [Find & Fix Node.js Memory Leaks with Heap Snapshots](https://daily.dev/posts/find-fix-node-js-memory-leaks-with-heap-snapshots-89dj8jypm) · Halodoc · 18 upvotes · 0 comments - [What garbage collection actually costs · Shivanshu Agrawal](https://daily.dev/posts/what-garbage-collection-actually-costs-shivanshu-agrawal-vptkcflye) · Hacker News · 7 upvotes · 0 comments - [How to Fix Memory Leaks in JavaScript PDF Viewers: Best Practices and Debugging Tips](https://daily.dev/posts/how-to-fix-memory-leaks-in-javascript-pdf-viewers-best-practices-and-debugging-tips-jhhmkz4eb) · Syncfusion · 2 upvotes · 0 comments - [Everything You Need to Know About How Python Manages Memory](https://daily.dev/posts/everything-you-need-to-know-about-how-python-manages-memory-nxob1tkgz) · Machine Learning Mastery · 0 upvotes · 0 comments --- Tags: [#javascript](https://daily.dev/tags/javascript), [#performance](https://daily.dev/tags/performance) [View this post on daily.dev](https://daily.dev/posts/the-secret-life-of-javascript-the-garbage-collector-r96mslcqu) ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180},"sameAs":["https://twitter.com/dailydotdev","https://github.com/dailydotdev","https://www.linkedin.com/company/daily-dev-ltd"]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https://daily.dev/#website","url":"https://daily.dev","name":"daily.dev","publisher":{"@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization"},"potentialAction":{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https://daily.dev/search?q={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}}]} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"TechArticle","headline":"The Secret Life of JavaScript: The Garbage Collector","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/the-secret-life-of-javascript-the-garbage-collector-r96mslcqu","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://daily.dev/posts/the-secret-life-of-javascript-the-garbage-collector-r96mslcqu"},"datePublished":"2026-01-22T22:00:49.559Z","dateModified":"2026-01-22T22:01:12.719Z","description":"JavaScript's garbage collector uses the Mark-and-Sweep algorithm to automatically reclaim memory by identifying unreachable objects. Starting from roots (like...","image":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/f_auto,q_auto/v1/posts/93bfd04ae5adac9ed1b527f321f320b0?_a=AQAEulh","thumbnailUrl":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/f_auto,q_auto/v1/posts/93bfd04ae5adac9ed1b527f321f320b0?_a=AQAEulh","isAccessibleForFree":true,"articleSection":"DEV","inLanguage":"en","publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180}},"author":{"@type":"Organization","name":"DEV","logo":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/t_logo,f_auto/v1/logos/devto","url":"https://daily.dev/sources/devto"},"commentCount":1,"discussionUrl":"https://daily.dev/posts/the-secret-life-of-javascript-the-garbage-collector-r96mslcqu","interactionStatistic":[{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"LikeAction"},"userInteractionCount":8},{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"CommentAction"},"userInteractionCount":1}],"keywords":"javascript,performance","timeRequired":"PT4M"} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https://daily.dev"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"DEV","item":"https://daily.dev/sources/devto"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"The Secret Life of JavaScript: The Garbage Collector"}]} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://daily.dev/posts/the-secret-life-of-javascript-the-garbage-collector-r96mslcqu","comment":[{"@type":"Comment","text":"As a senior web developer we should check this article. Thanks","datePublished":"2026-01-25T06:24:30.066Z","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/r96msLCqU#c-WgI3BNqvp","author":{"@type":"Person","name":"FAYSAL KHAN","url":"https://daily.dev/faysal_71","image":"https://avatars.githubusercontent.com/u/42974169?v=4"}}]} ```