I think that's because text files uses encoding (UTF-8, 8-bits ASCII, etc) that puts the minimal size per character to 1 byte (or more for other encodings) even though they're actually smaller to make it readable. Non-text files created by programming like blockchain files stores the data in binary which make things nigh unreadable if you open them with text editor (but you can read the hex if you open them with hex editor).
Yes that is a good explanation, binary encoding is more efficient, thanks.
I think that's because text files uses encoding (UTF-8, 8-bits ASCII, etc) that puts the minimal size per character to 1 byte (or more for other encodings) even though they're actually smaller to make it readable. Non-text files created by programming like blockchain files stores the data in binary which make things nigh unreadable if you open them with text editor (but you can read the hex if you open them with hex editor).
or maybe it is because he is looking at the "size on disk" instead of size. the size on disk is 446 bytes of hex which is twice the byte value when sent aka 223 bytes (what blockchain.info in the link he quoted is showing by the way)
I dont really know which one is what, but yes try converting the text file into binary and then it will shink in size to the TX size.
Text file = 408 bytes + 1 byte EOF character
Bin file = 204 bytes (it's the TX size)