vkTrimCommandPool(3) Manual Page

This command provides applications with some control over the internal memory allocations used by command pools.

Unused memory normally arises from command buffers that have been recorded and later reset, such that they are no longer using the memory. On reset, a command buffer can return memory to its command pool, but the only way to release memory from a command pool to the system requires calling vkResetCommandPool, which cannot be executed while any command buffers from that pool are still in use. Subsequent recording operations into command buffers will reuse this memory but since total memory requirements fluctuate over time, unused memory can accumulate.

In this situation, trimming a command pool may be useful to return unused memory back to the system, returning the total outstanding memory allocated by the pool back to a more “average” value.

Implementations utilize many internal allocation strategies that make it impossible to guarantee that all unused memory is released back to the system. For instance, an implementation of a command pool may involve allocating memory in bulk from the system and sub-allocating from that memory. In such an implementation any live command buffer that holds a reference to a bulk allocation would prevent that allocation from being freed, even if only a small proportion of the bulk allocation is in use.

In most cases trimming will result in a reduction in allocated but unused memory, but it does not guarantee the “ideal” behavior.

Trimming may be an expensive operation, and should not be called frequently. Trimming should be treated as a way to relieve memory pressure after application-known points when there exists enough unused memory that the cost of trimming is “worth” it.