Save in Blender 2.55- extra files generated

Support Basics & Interface
1

I am using Blender 2.55 and when I save a blend, Blender generates three files: xxx.blend, xxx.blend1, xxx.blend2 (“xxx” is the name of the file. Come to think of it, previous versions of Blender have also generated similarly named files). What are these extra files, and would it affect my work if I deleted them? (I hope I am posting this question in the right forum.)

Thanks.

2

They are autosave files. You can set the number and frequency of saves in the User Preferences.