Library File is too big

Can someone help me here.

I have a test library which has one clip in it which is 16MB in size. I have 2 events - Footage and Projects and I have turned off background so that I am only using the original file unless I manually render.

The Library file mysteriously shot up from 20MB to 60MB and I don't know why!?

In the package contents of the Library file I have done a Get Info on both the Footage (17MB) and Projects (3MB) folders and that comes to 20MB so where on earth is this other 40MB?

The only other 2 files are the settings.plist and the CurrentVersion-flexolibrary files which are just noise in terms of size.

Any ideas?

40 MB is nothing. It can be the Library database, the generated waveforms, the thumbnail cache or any other files FCP X creates. Of course if you only have a 16 MB clip in the Library the extra 40 MB seems a lot, but the more footage you add to the Library the less important this extra space will become.

- Ronny

We're trailing collaboration via dropbox as we're in the UK and our other office is in Dubai.

My only concern is that the library files treble in size unnecessarily and thus making the syncing process 3 time as long.

Library files don't treble in size unnecessarily. Just for the fun I have imported 8.55 GB of media in a new Library.

This is the Library file size:



And this is the size of the Original Media Folder:



So you see, there's only a very little difference.

- Ronny

Thanks for trying the experiment Ronny.

Are there hidden files in a library file?

I just don't get why a 16MB file in Original Media with background rendering turned off turns into a 60MB Library file.

I've even purged all generated files and it makes no difference.

The FCP X database alone will easily take 20 or 30 MB, but that's irrelevant in a normal project with Gigs of media.

- Ronny

I'm just worried that, if it is the database, it's taking up 40MB with 16MB of media.

As I said: 40 MB does not mean anything. As you see in the example I have given: even if you have 20GB of footage in your Library the Library database will only add a few MB more. That's nothing.

- Ronny

Not that I'm bragging or anything:

I don't think there are any hidden files in the library.
What I' do to check is Show Package Contents, then hit Apple J and turn on Show all File Sizes and this will give you the size of every folder.

I too have been experimenting with how small I can get a Library. A Documentary I cut that contains hundreds and hundreds of files and several projects still weighs in at over 30GB. All cache and generated media external.
The culprit? Analysis files, as the project contains a lot of stabilized shots and a bit of Optical Flow.

Removing these would more than halve the project, and then compressing the Library will make it quite small.
But certainly not emailable small.

XML would be a good option for exchanging edits if it held on to all the info in the project, but it doesn't.