Fits on a floppy - a manifesto for small software
1.44M
Many of my apps are small enough to fit on a 1.44 MB floppy disk.
Barfly, Ditto, Driveaway, EQer, Feedit, Hubble, Last Dance, Mojibaker, Octoping, PaperTrail, Seeports, Spindle, Stapler, Tabulator, Tsundoku, Vanishing Point and Wavelet. Oh, and my Screensaver. That’s 18 out of 21.
A Manifesto for Small Software
Software has lost its way. Apps that once shipped on a single floppy disk now demand gigabytes of your storage, minutes of your time, and far too much of your patience. We accepted this gradual bloat as progress. It isn’t.
Every app I make is built to be as small as it can be. Not as a gimmick, but as a discipline. The floppy disk is my measuring stick: 1.44 MB. If the software that ran entire businesses could fit in that space, then a modern, focused, single-purpose tool certainly can.
Why It Matters
- Downloads in a blink. No progress bars. No waiting.
- Launches instantly. Faster login, nothing unnecessary to load.
- Respects your Mac. Low memory, low CPU, longer battery life.
- Native only. No dependency bloat. Every line of code earns its place.
- Does one thing well. Focused features, fewer bugs, software that lasts.
- Runs on older systems. Previous versions of macOS need love too.
How It’s Measured
Apps that qualify display the floppy badge on their app page, meaning a total download size under 1.44 MB: the capacity of a standard 3.5-inch floppy disk. The size shown on the disk is the universal binary size as reported by App Store Connect. The size you see and the actual download to your device will often be smaller thanks to app thinning, which delivers only the slice for your specific hardware.
The Point
I don’t miss floppy disks. I miss the mindset they demanded—that every byte matters, that constraints breed creativity, and that software should be light on its footprint.
Spread the word!
✨💾✨
Matt Sephton,
April 2026
Fits on a Floppy A macOS screensaver
If you like this sort of thing you might like to read about my award-winning game YOYOZO that is only 39 KB...OH YEAH!