How does docker image size impact runtime characteristics?
<p>I have constructed an image of a docker container. It is about 600MB. Let's refer to it as an image 'A'. Then I apply different cleaning (like 'apt clean') and size reduction steps (like 'rm man'), I get an image of 300MB in size. Let's refer to it as an image 'B'. As a result, image 'A' is the same as image 'B' but holds a lot of files which are never used during execution/runtime. </p>

<p>Note: I am aware that an image can be reduced in size if it is based on top of alpine-like base image, but let's say I can not do it due to various constraints.</p>

<p>I understand that:</p>

<ul>
<li>'A' image requires more disk space than 'B' image to keep it in the local registry</li>
<li>'A' image takes more time to pull/push from a remote repo than 'B' image</li>
</ul>

<p>I would like to know if the 'A' image has got any other impact on performance characteristics comparing with the 'B' image, especially:</p>

<ul>
<li>does the 'A' image take more time to start up (excluding pull time)?</li>
<li>does the 'A' image use more RAM than the 'B' image (assuming the same workload)?</li>
<li>does the 'A' image use more CPU than the 'B' image (assuming the same workload)?</li>
<li>does the 'A' image use more disk space per every running container (assuming multiple containers are running from the same image)?</li>
<li>does the 'A' image require more of anything else than the 'B' image may not require?</li>
</ul>

<p>In general, I suspect the answer is No to all of the questions, but maybe I am wrong.</p>