Decreases the size of the updates significantly.
Decreases the size of the updates significantly.
Only months ago Microsoft released the first major update to Windows 10, called "Anniversary Update," and last month showed off the upcoming "Creators Update."
The Unified Update Platform (UUP) is a new set of technologies that allows for "differential downloads," which in layman's terms means targeted OS updates. An existing analogy is how games in the Windows Stores that are 60GB on initial download have updates that are only a few gigabytes in size instead of having to redownload the entire game.
In a blog post detailing the changes Microsoft explains how it works:
A differential download package contains only the changes that have been made since the last time you updated your device, rather than a full build. As we rollout UUP, this will eventually be impactful for PCs where users can expect their download size to decrease by approximately 35% when going from one major update of Windows to another. We're working on this now with the goal of supporting this for feature updates after the Windows 10 Creators Update; Insiders will see this sooner.
Windows Central comparing the new platform with downloading and updating a Windows Store games. An update to a game at 60 GB is usually a few GB instead of having to download the whole game again.
Much smaller size
Microsoft is now moving the same principle of the operating system updates. According to the company it will cause up to 35 percent smaller size of updates.
UUP is part of Insider version of Windows 10, which was released this week and is also in place in Windows 10 Mobile. The new platform rolled out to all users in the spring.