In the case of 24.2.1 release - a full image for plasma is 4GB and the minimal is 3.4GB.
Are you sane?
Convenience - potential users don’t want to deal with driver versions - and the Nvidia packages is steadily growing - having more than one version - requires space.
A selectable office suite on the full ISO requires space.
So yes - it is the brutal reality.
$ ls -l -h manjaro-*
-rw-r--r-- 1 fh fh 3,7G 5 mar 09:36 manjaro-kde-25.0-250305-linux612.iso
-rw-r--r-- 1 fh fh 3,4G 5 mar 09:35 manjaro-kde-25.0-minimal-250305-linux612.iso
-rw-r--r-- 1 fh fh 3,8G 16 mar 04:37 manjaro-kde-dev-25.03-development-unstable-250316-linux612.iso
-rw-r--r-- 1 fh fh 3,4G 16 mar 04:34 manjaro-kde-dev-25.03-development-unstable-minimal-250316-linux612.iso
-rw-r--r-- 1 fh fh 2,1G 16 mar 17:29 manjaro-rescue-25-250308-linux612.iso
The reason for Manjaro images being so fat is driver packages and office packages.
The ISO contains all drivers and two office suites packages in an overlay filesystem on both images.
More clearly expressed
- the minimal ISO contains all drivers in the overlay filesystem
- the full ISO contains all drivers + 2 office suites with a selector option in the installer
You can create a custom ISO which has the packages for your specific system preinstalled - when you don’t need all drivers - the image will be much smaller.
I created a dedicated recovery ISO (without installer) using plasma and by removing the mhwd overlay and a lot of unnecessary tools, I could get the size down to 2G.
But that is not feasible with the official installer.
I would advise you to watch both your words and your attitude.
I would hereby propose removing any and all office productivity packages from the minimal ISOs.
The point of a minimal ISO is that the user would be able to pick what to install and what not, and if they want an office suite — and which one? — then the repo is only a few mouse clicks away anyhow.
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I know what I meant - but I think I have expressed myself badly - both images contains drivers - only the full image contains office suite selector in the installer.
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That’s what I already suspected as well, but your wording seemed to suggest otherwise, which is why I posted that. 
You could remove all lib32* packages from minimal and still install a fully functional Manjaro …
(I did warn you that I am well versed in griping and whining) 
I am looking forward to Manjaro 25 
Thank you for Manjaro 
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At face value that seems a reasonable suggestion, though I imagine if it were practical it might already have been done.
Is there any reason you’re aware of that 32bit libs couldn’t/shouldn’t be removed from the minimal ISO?
All software in a freshly installed Manjaro system — whether installed via the minimal ISO or via the full ISO — is 64-bit-only. The 32-bit libs — i.e. the multilib repo — is only there for people who install 32-bit software on their systems, which these days mainly boils down to certain (primarily Windows) games.
One possible objection against the removal of the 32-bit libraries from the minimal ISO could be that there would be a lot of extra stuff to pull in from the mirrors post-installation, because /etc/pacman.conf enables the multilib repo by default.
This could of course be remedied by shipping a different /etc/pacman.conf on the minimal ISO, but such a decision is likely to be contentious. You can bet that someone is going to complain about it, and probably sooner than later. People want to eat their cake and keep it at the same time. 
Personally, I’m all for it, though. I myself removed the multilib support from my own system a long time ago already, as did @linux-aarhus.
Note: Not all of the 32-bit stuff can be removed, though. There is a 32-bit component to gcc that gets packaged together with the native 64-bit stuff by upstream.
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There is nothing that stands in the way as it is possible to create without multilib - long time ago I introduced the -n argument to buildiso - to be able to create an iso without multilib - in the very thread linked above.
→ Suggest remove lib32* from minimal - #26 by linux-aarhus
If you want a minimal ISO without multilib - create one.
buildiso -n -p xfce
To get an ISO without mhwd because you are all AMD - then - in the relevant profile e.g. xfce - rename Packages-Mhwd to Packages-Mhwd.bak
buildiso -n -p xfce
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That will affect people installing something that needs 32-bit libraries, but the smaller iso means less to dowload for the rest of us, possibly reducing the total consumed bandwidth. Unused packages waste bandwidth with every update, not just after fresh install.
I suggest Manjaro’s iso-builders should use the buildiso -n switch for the official minimal isos and keep multilib repo in /etc/pacman.conf .
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Wouldn’t the packages get automatically installed as dependencies when they are needed?
This is the reason I activated multilib myself, although it was primarily for Windows software in WINE rather than games; a small selection of games came much later.
A large number of Manjaro users seem to use Steam games, so that possible objection would possibly be rather strong from that userbase. 
That seems a fair workaround for anyone who specifically wants an ISO without multilib. I don’t count myself in that number as I invariably download a full ISO (as mentioned in that very thread).
However, having 32bit libs already on the ISO is an obvious convenience (as @Aragorn suggested) for those who use Manjaro for gaming (and there are many). An arguably valid reason in itself not to change things.
I was curious about how practical removing 32bit libraries from the ISO might be, but I don’t think it’s a huge concern. I mean, how often do we download a fresh ISO; once a month, maybe?
And that’s only those who like to have a current ISO always available. At least from forum observation, most seem to only download a fresh ISO if they really have to.
It’s also possible to disable multilib, so from a bandwidth perspective, I’d venture it’s a rather moot point.
All opinions expressed are personal and do not necessarily reflect those of Manjaro (proper).
I seem to have a lot of 32 bit stuff installed, not by choice. But, of course my Minimal install had Multilib enabled.
Can I get rid of those 32 bit libraries?
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Yes you can.
Use a pacman query to list lib32- packages
pacman -Qsq lib32-
Then combine with a pacman remove command
sudo pacman -Rns $(pacman -Qsq lib32-)
If you want to force - use -Rdd instead of -Rns
iso without multilib
Please address tthe maintainer of the Github CI to have the minimal ISO build without multilib.
Technically, the -n argument to buildiso is setting the multilib config entry to “false”.
Releases
→ main-editions/.github/workflows/iso_build.yaml at main · manjaro/main-editions · GitHub
Release Review
→ GitHub - manjaro/release-review: Monthly Review-ISOs for Manjaro Linux
Developer Preview
→ manjaro-gnome · GitHub
→ Manjaro Development Plasma Images · GitHub
→ Manjaro Development XFCE Images · GitHub
Better perhaps is to disable multilib in the profile at Profiles & Settings / iso-profiles · GitLab
buidliso
The multilib repo is enabled on the iso - this it is a requirement for Steam and Wine.
profile.conf snippet
# use multilib packages; x86_64 only
# multilib="true"
The ISO can be created without any lib32 packages - this has nothing to do with the repo - but the default setting multilib="true" will include the packages tagged with >multilib in the package list.
The settings in the profile multilib="false" makes buildiso filter out >multilib tag in the package list when building the ISO.
multilib repo
You can comment the multilib repo in pacman.conf - this will prevent listing the multilib repo and it will effectively block installation of Steam and Wine due to dependency on lib32 packages.
Imagine the flood of complaints if the multilib repo was default commented 
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Already done per the query I posted in Software. Yes I gather a lot of people will want access to the 32 bit libs, for steam and wine.
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What is the point of distributing a version called minimal, if not to have a fully functional Manjaro without packages that are not needed by any software that is installed on that version? Why bother distributing two versions?
When you distribute something called minimal, the user installing that should expect that installing an application will pull in all the packages that the application needs, even if that is many.
The answer to that complaint would be “download the full version if you want all in one go”. Not all complaints are reasonable.
My suggestion stands: the minimal version should be built so that it only contains packages that are needed by at least one application that is installed on the iso. Keep the multilib repo in /etc/pacman.conf enabled by default, so that installing any application can pull in all the packages that it needs.
I believe that will reduce the total used bandwidth for the mirrors, when users of the minimal version do not download updates to packages that are not needed. Questions in the forum about if 32-bit packages can be removed safely, seem to suggest that most users are unaware that they have packages installed that are not needed, and updating those packages consume bandwidth unnecessarily.
The point is — obviously — twofold… 
- Offer a download that consumes less bandwidth; and
- Offer a system whereby the user can decide for themselves which software they want on their system, and which software they do not want on their system.
Yes, this is true, but the user can opt to spread out the used bandwidth by downloading the ISO one day and by installing their choice of software another day.
Oh, don’t we know that! But finding the golden mean is always difficult. Whatever we do, somebody somewhere is going to complain about it. No offense intended — really not — but the very fact that we’re having this conversation already proves that.
And please do note the rather hostile tone in the original post. It’s by far not the worst we’ve seen around here yet, but it nevertheless goes to show the kind of user dissatisfaction — yes, that’s a euphemism — that we regularly have to deal with around this neck of the woods.
(They wouldn’t last long trying the same thing at the Arch forum, though… 
)
We are trying to streamline the ISOs. For instance, it makes no sense that people who opt for Plasma as their desktop environment get half of GNOME shoved down their throats as well because of the intertwining between gtk and GNOME, while Plasma and the KDE apps are qt-based.
It doesn’t even make full sense with Xfce or any of the community-developed ISOs, even though Xfce and — just to name an example — Cinnamon are gtk-based. But at least it’s a little more acceptable there.
Most distributions do still provide the 32-bit shared libraries for compatibility reasons, which is why Manjaro does so as well.
Also, you’d be surprised of the number of members here at the forum who play 32-bit games and run 32-bit Windows software on their GNU/Linux machine. I would even wager to say that it would be the vast majority of our users.
You can never please everyone. That’s the problem. 
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I know you are but what am I?
Joking aside…
Rants are not appropriate for the support forum setting.
Please don’t feed the trolls.
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