> The Linux downloads come in around 200-220MiB, but the Windows downloads are around 320-350MiB. Weird. I think I can guess at least part of the reason: MSVC

> The Linux downloads come in around 200-220MiB, but the Windows downloads are around 320-350MiB. Weird. I think I can guess at least part of the reason: MSVC redistributables. On Windows, each program is supposed to distribute a copy of the installer for the standard C and C++ library runtime corresponding to the MSVC version used to compile the software; unlike on Linux, these don't come by default with the operating system, and unlike on Linux, each new MSVC version came with a new and incompatible version of these libraries (the exception is very old or very new MSVC versions, which used/use a common version for more than one MSVC version; but even then, you're still supposed to distribute the installer with your software, since it's not guaranteed to be already installed).