py2exe: Reduce size of the library archive

Question

I just created my first py2exe executable and noticed that with the EXE, there is a ZIP file created with the size of around 1.4 MB.

My question is, can I reduce the size of this or is it expected that the typical size of an EXE generated with py2exe will be ~ 4 MB (that means with all the files: python2.6dll, library.zip)

Answer 1

Short answer to your size reduction question is yes. Long answer I am not going to provide here, but instead direct you to py2exe's OptimizingSize wiki page.

I hope this helps ;)

Answer 2

After changing those setup.py parameters i also run UPX on DLLs and executables and repack library.zip with 7-zip, works well.

By the way, there is a page on the wiki about using UPX and 7-zip.