I'd like to know why a song file grows up over the years and becomes bigger and bigger as 1 or more Gb.

Multiple takes?  Usually audio data is to blame.  That's about the only thing of any size.  Auto-Save?  I think you tellit how many versions to keep.  Those get big over time.

Bob Bone

"Over the years"?????

You mean you don't record anything, but the file gets bigger? :o)
Note, that every audio recording take stays in the Project Audio folder even if you delete it from te project.
You need to use the Clean Audio Disk-tool (or whatever it's called in X-versions) or save under a new name (and click "Copy audio with project") to get rid of all unnecessary audio data.

1 Gb is nothing extraordinary. If you think about it in audio tracks: It's little more than one CD. If you have 20 audio tracks in a 5 minute long project, that's it. Especially if you use a higher sampling rate than 44,1 kHz.

AFAIK the only thing that will make a project file grow in size is Audiosnap data. Even then 1 Gb seems excessive. A cwp file is just a pointer to the audio not the audio files themselves although I believe MIDI data is stored within the cwp.

If that is the case try bouncing audio clips down and make sure audiosnap is disabled on clips (Clip inspector-->Audiosnap tab)

Autosave won't make a difference as that is just a separate cwp file but if you do have autosave enabled you can check the file size of that as well to compare the two. They should be more or less the same size unless something in the original has become corrupted though.

obviously over the years once in a while I managed to work on the project, but nothing special. But over years the song file grew bigger and bigger.
No auto save. No audio snap. Used clean audio disk tool.

Do a saves as of your project to a completely different location. Make sure "Copy Audio With Project" is checked.

Delete the original, then move the copy back. See how big it is now.

Every take adds more to the file size especially the audio takes.

Even if you delete the take from the track, it remains in the AUDIO FOLDER and it is recoverable from there.... but it is included in the total file size of the project.  

If you use loop recording and let that thing run for 20 loops and takes....every single one of those loops are saved even if you only choose one of them in the end. 

As a result.... yeah a song file/folder can in fact easily exceed 1GB or more. I have more then one that is that size. 

I have heard that if you open the file...and do a SAVE AS with a new name, the only clips saved in the new file are the ones physically in the project and not the entire audio folder.   I have not tried doing that since my drives are pretty large and space has not become an issue.  However, I may try that on the one file I know is huge just to check it. 


If it grows and you are not working on it..... I would investigate that issue further with virus checkers. A file should not get bigger unless you are recording more tracks and takes in it. 

I might be misunderstanding the OP. If the reference is to the project folder than yes it'll grow as audio is added and even deleted as the actual audio isn't (deleted).

I've read it as the cwp is over 1 GB and that shouldn't  be overly affected by audio other than audiosnap data and I certainly haven't got anything near that in size, despite several long songs with multiple takes of multiple instruments at 24bit.

Cwb file maybe?

He must mean a CWB file not a CWP. I've never seen a CWP that big because CWPs do not contain any audio, only pointers to audio files. 

and it better be audio!.... do you imagine 1Gb of midi data?.. imagine trying to mix a song that runs for about 12 years!!...lol