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Originally Posted by OtterBooks
Is the thumbnail the thing that allows small versions of the covers to be shown in the menu list? I kinda like that (even though I don't have it). Does it add bloat in a way that significantly slows down the device, or just bloat regarding storage space? Or both?
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The ePub specification, and I believe Mobi too, support embedding a cover image, and they also support embedding a smaller thumbnail image. The thumbnail image has an advantage of making it possible to display a list of books contained on the eReader by displaying these thumbnails. The amount of space taken up by the thumbnail is fairly small, and certainly less than the amount of space used by the cover image, but even small images take up more space than just text. Also, the thumbnail isn't really needed to display a thumbnail image, because software can be used to create a thumbnail image from the cover image. In fact, the thumbnail image often isn't included with the file, so it is probably better for eReader manufacturers to just ignore the thumbnail and generate their own thumbnail based on the cover, because the cover image is almost always included.