Today's leader column puts the move down to the overwhelming response in circulation figures over the past seven months.
"The percentage rise in our audited circulation has been in double figures, although all our competitors have seen circulation fall," the paper said today.
The Independent said that the number of readers who prefer the broadsheet version is now so small that it no longer makes business sense to continue to publish it.
"The resources and time that we invest in producing two formats could, we believe, be more usefully invested in continually improving the content of Britain's only quality compact."
The paper promises that while the pages are smaller, there is no difference in editorial quality or approach. The move ends almost 20 years as a broadsheet paper.
Since the tabloid launch in September last year, which prompted The Times to follow suit, The Independent has offered readers the choice of two formats, which has gradually been phased out across different parts of the country. In January, the Saturday broadsheet version of the paper was discontinued and, according to the paper, sales went up 20%.
The Daily Telegraph and The Guardian area also both mulling plans. The Guardian is said to have rejected the idea of a tabloid newspaper launch and is instead considering a "mid-size" paper somewhere between a tabloid and a broadsheet, with the Berliner format being talked about for a possible launch next year after printing presses capacity has been found.
Reports this week said that if The Guardian goes mid-size, so will its sister Sunday title The Observer in order for the move to make financial sense.
In the latest set of ABCs, sales of The Independent were up 15% reaching 258,000. The Independent was recently voted newspaper of the year at The British Press Awards.
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