A remarkable achievement in software development has emerged from the mind of Windows veteran Dave W. Plummer, who has crafted a “full-feature-parity version of Notepad” in x86 assembly language, weighing in at a mere 2,749 bytes. This innovative creation, named RetroPad, mirrors the functionality of the Notepad that debuted with Windows XP and is now available on Plummer’s GitHub under the Apache 2.0 license.
I managed to get RetroPad, my full-feature-parity version of Notepad from XP, down to 2686 bytes of tight x86 assembly. I checked in the exe to make life simpler, so you don’t need masm on hand! Episode coming shortly… follow so you don’t miss it! Code:… pic.twitter.com/l1LudreFQrJune 4, 2026
On Thursday, Plummer unveiled this latest iteration of RetroPad, emphasizing its impressive size of just 2.7KB compared to the original app’s approximately 65KB footprint. His commitment to efficiency is evident, as he has since incorporated optional features such as line numbers and a dark mode. Just two days later, he expanded the functionality further by adding all of Notepad’s keyboard shortcuts, resulting in a slight increase in size to 2,794 bytes.
I added all of the Notepad keyboard shortcuts to TinyRetroPad, which “ballooned” it out to 2794 bytes! If you can spot anything where I don’t have full feature parity with XP Notepad, please let me know… or just fix it! I also recently added optional line numbers and Dark… pic.twitter.com/2R3OJFhEfrJune 6, 2026
Windows app bloat
The phenomenon of Windows app bloat has garnered attention, even from Microsoft itself. Earlier this year, the tech giant acknowledged the issue and pledged to refine core components such as File Explorer and the Taskbar. This initiative was prompted by a controversial executive statement regarding the operating system’s evolution into an “agentic OS.”
Notepad serves as a compelling case study in this context. The original Notepad from the Windows XP era was approximately 65KB, a size comparable to its predecessors from the Windows 9X series, which hovered around 50KB. However, as the operating system evolved, the size of Notepad ballooned significantly, reaching around 190KB to 200KB in the Windows 7 to 10 iterations.
As RetroPad continues to gain traction, it not only highlights the potential for minimalist software solutions but also invites a broader conversation about the efficiency and functionality of modern applications.
