Earlier this week, Microsoft released the latest non-security preview update for Windows 10 22H2. In the change log for the update, there's a mention that the Latest Cumulative Update (LCU) "will no longer have the reverse differentials," which should cut down the size of the download package.
Today, Microsoft posted a new blog entry with some more info on this change. As it turns out, the Windows team is using features that were first created for Windows 11 to cut down its download size for the new Windows 10 updates.
Microsoft first explained how they were able to reduce the download size of Windows 11 back in October 2021. Back then, the company stated:
For versioned data systems requiring forward and reverse delta pairs, “reverse update data generation” provides a way of efficiently distributing the forward delta to the machine and having the machine maintain a path back to its original state. Microsoft has successfully employed this approach in Windows 11, providing a 40% reduction in update size.
Today's blog post says that the Windows team is now "bringing the same functionality to Windows 10, version 22H2." As a result, users will see a pretty major reduction in download size. On April 9, the last "Patch Tuesday" Windows 11 update was about 830 MB in size. This week's non-security update for Windows 10 cut down the size of its download package to just 650 MB,
Microsoft stated today:
This reduction of the LCU package size offers advantages such as reduced bandwidth usage, faster downloads, minimized network traffic, and improved performance on slow connections.
This new development for Windows 10 and its many users comes even as Microsoft is trying its best to get those users to upgrade to Windows 11. The company still plans to end official software updates for Windows 10 on October 14, 2025. Microsoft will offer additional updates for the OS for consumer and commercial users but at a price.
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