By default all enumerations are stored as a longword (4 bytes), which is equivalent to specifying the {$Z4}, {$PACKENUM 4} or {$PACKENUM DEFAULT} switches.
This default behavior can be changed by compiler switches, and by the compiler mode.
In the tp compiler mode, or while the {$Z1} or {$PACKENUM 1} switches are in effect, the storage space used is shown in table (8.1).
| # Of Elements in Enum. | Storage space used |
| 0..255 | byte (1 byte) |
| 256..65535 | word (2 bytes) |
| ¿ 65535 | longword (4 bytes) |
When the {$Z2} or {$PACKENUM 2} switches are in effect, the value is stored in 2 bytes (a word), if the enumeration has less or equal than 65535 elements. If there are more elements, the enumeration value is stored as a 4 byte value (a longword).