git gc recovered 8.6 MB while I was investigating a 0.8 MB problem in git history
Chasing 1.6 MB of PNG blobs in git history found a repo that had never been packed. git gc recovered 8.6 MB; the rewrite I skipped was worth 0.8 MB.
WebP
A 2 MB PNG became 316 KB WebP — but only before the first commit
Measuring PNG, JPEG and WebP for article figures, why re-compressing the PNG made it larger, and why converting an image git already tracks reclaims nothing.