No. In 32 bit environments, records are automatically aligned on 32 bit boundaries when the $A+ compiler directive is in effect. This is done by padding the record so each record will be located on a 32 bit boundary. If you are reading in data from a file containing non-aligned records, the data may not be read in correctly if you are using automatic record alignment. To turn off automatic record alignment for a given record type, use the "packed" record attribute. Globally turning off record alignment with the $A- is not recommended, as much of the system requires record alignment to be on. The following example demonstrates the size difference of a packed and unpacked record. Example:

type TSomeRec = record
       w  : word;
       b  : byte;
       w2 : word;
     end;
type TSomePackedRec = packed record
       w  : word;
       b  : byte;
       w2 : word;
     end;
procedure TForm .Button Click(Sender: TObject);
var
  r : TSomeRec;
  s : TSomePackedRec;
begin
  ShowMessage(IntToStr(SizeOf(r))); {displays 6}
  ShowMessage(IntToStr(SizeOf(s))); {displays 5};
end;