--- title: TinyRetroPad is 130 times smaller than Windows Notepad,... description: A former Microsoft engineer, Dave Plummer, built TinyRetroPad, a 2.73KB alternative to modern Windows Notepad that strips away bloat like Copilot AI... canonical: https://daily.dev/posts/tinyretropad-is-130-times-smaller-than-windows-notepad-and-it-does-everything-that-actually-matters-uiw1cxrxb twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:site: @dailydotdev og:type: website og:site_name: daily.dev og:title: TinyRetroPad is 130 times smaller than Windows Notepad, and it does everything that actually matters | daily.dev og:description: A former Microsoft engineer, Dave Plummer, built TinyRetroPad, a 2.73KB alternative to modern Windows Notepad that strips away bloat like Copilot AI... og:url: https://daily.dev/posts/tinyretropad-is-130-times-smaller-than-windows-notepad-and-it-does-everything-that-actually-matters-uiw1cxrxb og:image: https://api.daily.dev/og/posts/UIw1Cxrxb.png og:image:alt: TinyRetroPad is 130 times smaller than Windows Notepad, and it does everything that actually matters og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 630 og:locale: en --- > ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://daily.dev/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # TinyRetroPad is 130 times smaller than Windows Notepad, and it does everything that actually matters **[XDA Developers](https://daily.dev/sources/xda-developers)** · 3 min read · 2 upvotes · 1 comments ## Summary A former Microsoft engineer, Dave Plummer, built TinyRetroPad, a 2.73KB alternative to modern Windows Notepad that strips away bloat like Copilot AI suggestions, tabs, and telemetry, aiming to restore the lean plain-text editing experience Notepad had in earlier Windows eras. The tiny binary was built using Crinkler, a specialized executable compressor, which causes a temporary memory spike (around 500MB) on launch that drops to under 50MB after several minutes of use. The tool handled both small and large text files without crashing during testing. ## Full article daily.dev links to this article rather than hosting it. Read it at the original source: ## Questions this post answers ### Why does TinyRetroPad use so much memory when it first launches even though the file is only 2.73KB? The high initial memory usage, around 500MB, comes from Crinkler, the specialized executable compressor/linker used to shrink the program to such a tiny size. Because the binary is heavily compressed, the system needs extra temporary memory to decompress everything at launch. Usage drops to under 50MB after roughly 5 to 7 minutes of use. _Developers debating tiny-binary tradeoffs can compare notes on compression tools like Crinkler via daily.dev._ ### Who created TinyRetroPad and why did they build a smaller alternative to Windows Notepad? TinyRetroPad was built by Dave Plummer, a former Microsoft engineer, who wanted to strip Notepad back to its original 1990s ethos of staying lean and plain-text focused, without bloat, telemetry, or Copilot AI suggestions. He aimed to recreate an editor closer to what Windows XP offered, packaging it into just 2.73KB. _Anyone tired of feature creep in everyday tools can follow minimalist software projects like this on daily.dev._ ## Community discussion Top comments from developers on daily.dev. **@akkitto** · 0 upvotes > Not to be mean, but who cares? ## Similar posts on daily.dev - [A former Microsoft engineer has rebuilt Notepad, and it's 2.5KB in size and has zero AI bloat](https://daily.dev/posts/a-former-microsoft-engineer-has-rebuilt-notepad-and-it-s-2-5kb-in-size-and-has-zero-ai-bloat-mwyj3yzvc) · XDA Developers · 44 upvotes · 17 comments - [Sick of AI Slop, Former Microsoft Engineer Built a New, AI-less Notepad](https://daily.dev/posts/sick-of-ai-slop-former-microsoft-engineer-built-a-new-ai-less-notepad-y2dpgwk2z) · It's Foss · 3 upvotes · 1 comments --- Tags: [#open-source](https://daily.dev/tags/open-source), [#windows](https://daily.dev/tags/windows) [View this post on 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