I've compiled some slightly modified components, and even after packing with UPX 1.24, the dll size is still bigger than the originals.
For example :
adding two innocent lines to Case's lame_enc (medium & fast medium presets), with minimum dependencies (SDK & component client), i obtain a 24kb file whearas the original is 13kb.

The possible reasons that came to my mind (i'm newbie in VC++) :
-I use vc++6.0 without any update.
-some option in the compiler or the project.

1. Install latest service pack.
2. Install MSVC6 processor pack update (freely available from MS). It is supposed to add support for extended instruction sets (3DNow!, SSE, etc), but it also updates compiler core, apparently resulting in smaller/faster code than with MSVC6SP5.

Fast answer!
Thank you