PRB: Binding Resources to Executable Increases File Size

The information in this article applies to:

• Microsoft Windows Software Development Kit (SDK) for Windows versions 3.1 and 3.0

SYMPTOMS

Using the Resource Compiler (RC) to bind resources to a Windows executable image file [either an application EXE file or a dynamic- link library (DLL) file], the size of the output file is much larger than the combined sizes of the input files.

CAUSE

The Resource Compiler uses the same byte alignment as the linker. By default, the Microsoft Linker aligns segments on a 512-byte boundary.

RESOLUTION

Use a linker option to specify a smaller byte alignment; specifying a 16-byte boundary is recommended. With the Microsoft Linker, use the /ALIGN:16 command-line switch.

MORE INFORMATION

The resource compiler uses the same byte alignment as the linker to minimize the time to load the segments of an application. However, one-half the byte alignment is wasted for each code segment and resource on average. When an application has a number of small resources, like a string table, specifying a large alignment value leads to a large amount of wasted space in the file. Linking the application with a smaller byte alignment eliminates most of the wasted space.