They seem to be too big for what devs claim to be a ‘minor patch’ and yet too small to suggest a complete reinstallation of the app. Is there some technical reason behind it? I would like to request an ELI5 for this.
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The reason they’re smaller is that they’re compressed, and expanded during the install process.
For most platforms, the product update is vetted and signed as a functional program, then compressed to save space in transmission, then decompressed and validated prior to swapping with the original.
OS updates and DLCs are available to add new data to an existing system, but this isn’t generally used for discrete parts of a functional program due to the potential for abuse or errors.