[Samba] Empty files created on Windows

[John]

I am trying to understand the difference between files created on a
Samba share via Windows and directly the server's file system.

I note from "stat" that an empty file created on the server with "touch"
is zero bytes and zero blocks. However, an empty file created with
Windows Explorer rightclick->new->text document is also zero bytes but
uses 8 blocks.

Adding an ACL to the server-created file doesn't change its block size
but copying the ACL from the windows-created file does:

$ cp --attributes-only --preserve=xattr b.txt a.txt

I'd like to understand the differences; I've tried the usual internet
searches without luck. Is this something that anyone here would know
about ?