Why your Windows installation files keep getting bigger - AI is filling up smaller drives
It's not your imagination. Microsoft's ISO downloads for Windows have been creeping up in size. It might even be fair to call them bloated. And you'll never guess where the problem comes from.
Windows installation files are becoming increasingly larger, a trend explained by the incorporation of AI-related code. This growth has been noticed over the past six months, with a significant increase in download sizes noted. The latest Windows 11 version 25H2, for instance, is nearly twice the size of the original Windows 10 release.
This expansion is primarily due to the addition of AI models, which now occupy a considerable amount of storage space. Despite the substantial increase in file size, the system requirements for Windows 11 still call for a minimum of 64 GB for the system drive.
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