What is stored in an AI file besides the art?

[birnerseff]

Hi,

I have files hat consist basically of a large grid, with artwork laid out on it. The artwork is all stored in symbols, and one instance of each is placed on the grid.

After some minor correction to one symbol and addition of a few new ones, I noticed that the size of the AI file had decreased from 340 MB to 220 MB. I extracted all the symbols from both collections to separate files. These files were all of similar sizes (but never exactly the same)

So what could be stored in over 100 MB of seemingly redundant file space?

[Ton Frederiks · Accepted solution]

ICC profiles, PDF version, Brushes, Swatches, Symbols, Graphic Styles, a Preview.

There is an action "Delete Unused Panel Items" in the default actions that makes the files smaller.

[birnerseff]

Hi,

many thanks for your response. I will try the Delete you mentioned next time.

I still doubt that any of the items you show could create a 100MB difference in size

[Larry G. Schneider]

A lot of gradient swatches could add a lot. As well, the PDF portion of the files has embedded copies of any image which when moved to a new file will be dropped.