Overwriting a BufferedImage -> memory leak

Java 2D
#1

i’ve written a threaded class which draws a background image and some rectangles on a temp buffered image,
and then draws the temp buffered image to a volatile image. performance seems to be fine, buffering working good.

but when i try to set a new background image, the old one is never disposed so my memory usage increases.
//code to overwrite the old bgImage with a new image (newMap) with different size
bgImage = gc.createCompatibleImage(newMap.getWidth(), newMap.getHeight());
Graphics2D g2d = (Graphics2D)bgImage.getGraphics();
g2d.drawImage(newMap, 0, 0, null);
g2d.dispose();

i tried to stop the thread, then replace the bgImage, and start the thread again (thought the image might be in use or something) but no use…

#2

The code looks ok, you shouldn’t have any memory leaks, but you create a lot of
images that you actually don’t need?! Why does your map size change? Is the code
used during game play or you are just converting a map?

What’s the code good for? I think there is an easier way to do things. Creating and
disposing all these images creates a lot of overhead for garbage collection. It’s not
a memory leak, it’s just a lot of work for the GC.

#3

after i used netbeans profiler i noticed i started a second thread which did the same operation on the same object…
this explains the memory leak. thanks for your time though :slight_smile: