Are Webpages Getting Bigger?

Posted on December 13, 2005

An entry on Slashdot has a question from a reader who asks if webpages are getting bigger?

Our growing problem is Internet traffic. While policing of non-business use is very active, Internet traffic continues to grow. I'm becoming convinced that one of our problems is that average web page size is growing. As more of the world enjoys broadband access, I think web developers have less reason to limit the size of their web pages. Large images, flash animations and other size-increasing content seem increasingly common. Am I right? Can anyone point to a recent study that would support my theory, and help me convince my management that we just plain need more bandwidth?

There were many comments in response this question. The answer seems to be that webpages are getting larger in size. One commenter looked at the growing size of the NYTimes.com homepage using the Internet Archive and found that it increase in size from 56K in 2001 to 83K in 2005. There are also bigger graphics on many websites today as well as movie and sounds clips all of which can increase the need for bandwidth.