Why does System Data take up so much space on my phone?

[Xentophite]

For quite some time, my phone's system data has taken up a huge chunk of it's interal storage. 4.06 GB for an exact number, as of now. My phone's storage is running on fumes. Is there any way to shorten the size of the system data?

 

[B. Diddy]

Welcome to Android Central! Which phone? Can you show us a screenshot of the Settings>Storage menu? http://forums.androidcentral.com/am...ide-how-post-screenshots-android-central.html

My suspicion is that the system data actually refers to the space taken up by the OS itself, which is usually around 3-4 GB.