The “big” and “small” files are identical in terms of content – the main difference is in the compression level and file size.

In the past we’ve provided customers with both a “big” and a “small” version of our ebooks. We no longer provide both files and simply adjusted the compression levels of the exported PDF files to be just right no matter the device or situation.

Every single ebook that we release contains a lot of images, screenshots, illustrations, and other visual elements. In the past this made the final PDF ebook files quite large depending on the number of pages they contained. To make it easy for our customers to sync and read ebooks on their mobile devices or tablets as well as their main computers, we used to provide two file sizes: big, and small.

The big file was essentially the highest quality version of the ebook. Images were slightly compressed, but otherwise were of very high quality and resolution.

The small file was the exact same thing, but images and illustrations were compressed, resulting in a smaller file size – which was better for faster syncing with a mobile device or tablet. The quality difference remained unnoticeable whether you viewed our ebooks on your computer screen, or on your tablet.

This is all in the past now though, since we now provide a unique PDF file for our ebooks that is a great balance of quality and compression and a more manageable file size. Basically, you now get the best of both worlds 🙂