Re:LibGen's Bloat Problem
by dredmorbius on Sunday August 21, 2022 @01:49PM
(#32542579)
It can be illuminating to look at the size of ePub documents. This is in general an HTML container (and compressed), such that file sizes tend to be quite small. A book-length text (~250 pp or more) might be from 0.3 -- 5 MB, and often at the lower end of the scale.
Books with a large number of images or graphics, however, can still bloat to 40-50 MB or even more.
Otherwise, generally, text-based PDFs (as opposed to scans) are often in the 2--5 MB range, whilst scans can run 40--400 MB. The largest I'm aware of in my own collection is a copy of Lyell's Geography, sourced from Archive.org. It is of course scans of the original 19th century typography. Beautiful to read, but a bit on the weighty side.
Books with a large number of images or graphics, however, can still bloat to 40-50 MB or even more.
Otherwise, generally, text-based PDFs (as opposed to scans) are often in the 2--5 MB range, whilst scans can run 40--400 MB. The largest I'm aware of in my own collection is a copy of Lyell's Geography, sourced from Archive.org. It is of course scans of the original 19th century typography. Beautiful to read, but a bit on the weighty side.