To high compiler memory consumption > 8 GB

I have small console application which loads database witch sample data and copies images into server working directory (server is other app). In that app I have resource file with 180 images various sizes, but less than 10MB in total. I try build (debug) this app on machine with 2GB RAM + 3GB swap, but it failed (it report that RAM is not enought).So I increase swap size to 20GB and I observe that it uses 2GB RAM + 6GB swap (8GB in total) to compile that small app!!! Compile release version uses only little less memory (7,6GB)!!! Please clarify whether qt resurorce is not good for many files? I planed hundredths (or even thousands) files stored in exe (I want hide everything from user). Should I store my images in zip file and then embedded it in to my exe (and then copy it from exe into Temp dir and extract and then copy to its destination)?