It is a bit hard to explain, however you can see it quite well on the attached picture.
When you make a texture for a redstone torch you are allowed to use the whole block area to make a texture, in default resolution you can make a torch up to 16x16 pixels. Up to 1.7.9 this wasn't a problem for repeaters either. As you see on the picture I could have a torch texture larger than the default torch and still fit it on the repeater.
However in the newest snapshot I noticed this was not possible anymore. Minecraft still allow me to make a 16x16 redstone torch, however when used on the repeater I am only allowed to have a torch by the size of 4x8 (default torch size).
This may not seem significant, but you need to consider the creative community in Minecraft. The pack I am currently developing has existed for 2 years and been used by a rather large creative community all this time (and this is only me, there are many creative texture developers). By doing this change to repeaters, I am forced to make a new texture for redstone torches, changing a vast amount of creative work.
I see no positive effect in limiting the texture area on repeaters, I hope Mojang will be so kind of fix this change to repeaters.

Thank you for looking into this issue.