Free Duplicate File Finder Mac

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Why is My Mac Duplicating Files?

No matter which operating system you are using currently, at one point of time you are bound to run off space if you use it recklessly without paying attention to the issue of duplicate files. You would face the same consequential aspects on Mac computers. So what is duplicate file and why my Mac keeps duplicating files?

Duplicate Files Fixer is a dedicated and most renowned duplicate file finder for Mac and is highly reliable in fixing your Mac while getting rid of duplicates. Duplicate Files Fixer runs on a “scan and delete” system, where the tool performs a deep scan of your Mac and weeds out duplicate documents and media files.

Find Duplicate Files Mac Free; Best Duplicate File Finder For Mac; Remove Duplicate Files Mac Free / Duplicate Finder / The Best Duplicate Photo Finder on Mac in 2020. I’m a professional photographer that loves taking pictures of landscapes. I have gone to almost every country to capture the beautiful sceneries of various locations. Duplicate File Finder Remover is a feature-packed duplicate file finder for Mac that’s perfect for advanced users who wish to go beyond simple duplicate deletion. With the help of this powerful app, you can find duplicate and similar files, merge two folders into one, preview duplicates by file type, use automatically select duplicates for. Duplicate File Finder Remover is a free duplicate file finder software for Mac designed to locate and delete duplicate files on Mac that includes images, audio, video, song, documents, and archives. To use this free duplicate finder tool for Mac drag and drop images in the tool. Easy Duplicate Finder is the fastest, safest and easiest duplicate finder to use for Windows and Mac. With this powerful app you can: Find & Delete Duplicate Files. Free Up Gigabytes of Disk Space. Organize your files in 3 easy steps. Manage Your Photos, Music & Videos.

Simply put, a duplicate is a digital file that has other exact (or sometimes very similar) copies with the same content and size. There are several reasons for files being duplicated on your Mac. iTunes is notorious for harboring fugitive duplicate music files on your Mac. iCloud would sync multiple copies of photos on different iOS devics. The plethora of file-sharing utilities that we use everyday can be another reason. Sometimes, just transferring data from an external device to your Mac can cause duplicates to be generated. In addition, there are email attachments, files generated by macOS applications and other sources of duplication. Any one or all these channels could be responsible for cleaning up your Mac computer with duplicate files and photos.

How to Find and Remove Duplicate Files on Mac?

Manual Searching : The problem is, it's almost impossible to find and delete these space-hoggers unless you have the right tools for the job. Manually finding duplicate photos and files is certainly possible, but it's not the best use of your time. Besides, if the files have modified file names or they're in different directories, it's almost impossible to spot them manually.

Remove via Terminal . Alternatively, you could do some command line work create a list of duplicates, but you still have to delete them manually after referencing them with that list. It's either that or resorting to extensive command line work that average users won't have the skills to handle. It also gives room for human error, which means you might miss a lot of duplicate files or inadvertently change critical system settings. In short, it could 'break' your computer.

Use Duplicate Finder App (Recommended). The third method is to use specific desktop applications that use complex algorithms to find and delete duplicates. The biggest advantage is that there is usually very little manual input required. The software will typically identify all duplicates and give you the option to delete them in bulk. If you're a busy person who needs the job done quickly and efficiently, this is the recommended way to do it.

So, what are the tools available to find and delete duplicate files, photos and other data? Below, we've reviewed six different software utilities that you can use for this purpose. Each of them has their own set of advantages and drawbacks, as you will see. We have tested all of these on various Mac devices running different versions of macOS, and we have given our expert views on how effective they are, and the pros and cons of each.

No.1 TunesBro CleanGeeker - Best Duplicate Finder and Remover for Mac

Developed by the talented team at TunesBro, CleanGeeker is by far one of the most efficient duplicate finding utilities we tested. The deep-scan and quick-scan functionalities are marginally faster than in the other tools we've reviewed here except for PhotoSweeper, but the best part is that it comes with several other utilities that are all aimed at keeping your Mac lean and mean. That means effective resource optimization at a very deep level, and you can try it for free.

Highlights of TunesBro CleanGeeker
  • 10 X faster to find and removal all duplicates on Mac.
  • Clean hidden junk files and app caches to free up more storage.
  • Uninstall third-party apps that can't be deleted by normal means.
  • Permanently delete priviate information and files from Mac.
  • Disable backgound apps auto-starting at the login.
  • Release more memory to accelerate the overall performace.

How to CleanGeeker Duplicate Finder: One of the first things we noticed was that software is very intuitive even for first-time users. All you need to do is to go to the 'Duplicates Finder' section and start the scan. A deep scan takes a few minutes, but we found that CleanGeeker does a very thorough job of rooting out duplicates that would be impossible to find manually. If you just want to scan individual folders, simple import them or drag and drop them into the interface, then click on 'Quick Scan'.

Once the scan is complete, the software segregates them by type so you can focus on just media, documents, music or another category, or you can simply delete all duplicates. The preview feature makes it easy to see what to keep and what to remove. The dupes are all selected by default, making it easy to just hit 'Delete.' The UI is clean and there aren't any complex settings to intimidate you. If you're a noob to such software, this is the ideal one for you.

No.2 MacPaw Gemini 2 - Smart Duplicate File Finder on Mac

This is the second iteration of a hugely popular duplicate finding software, and it does justice to the fact that it's a sequel. You'll see lots of settings options, yet it is quite intuitive for new users. The intelligent algorithms not only find duplicates, but also files that are similar to each other, sort of like how Google Photos recognizes similars as well as duplicates. Developed by MacPaw, Inc. of CleanMyMac and The Unarchiver fame, Gemini 2 works especially well on old Macs where the hard drives are chock full of unnecessary files, many of them duplicates.

Microsoft Duplicate File Finder Tool

MacPaw obviously has access to some great UI and UX talent, and you'll see that in Gemini 2 as well as every product they've released in the past - even their website is pretty cool. Probably the best feature of Gemini 2 is that it recognizes file associations and retains the files that were generated by Mac applications. For example, if a song was in your iTunes library and duplicated in other locations, the original is kept while the others are selected for deletion.

How to use Gemini 2 Duplicate Finder: The process of duplicate scanning and deletion involves three steps, although the many settings options can be unsettling to a newbie. Although the scanning part is fast, it was a smidgen slower than CleanGeeker on MacBook Pro 2015 laptops running El Capitan and Sierra. Once you complete the scan, the duplicates and similars will be shown by category so you can quickly review them. You need to be a little careful about similars because you don't want to delete the best file. The software leaves the decision to you, so take note of that. After reviewing everything, just click 'Remove'.

One useful feature is that you can undelete images, but only if you send them to the trash instead of permanently removing them. This can cause some confusion if you're not prepared for it. Moving to trash merely puts them in a different location, so it doesn't really help from a space saving perspective.

Cons:

Best Free Duplicate File Finder For Mac

  • Different types of deletion can be confusing for new users who aren't aware of the feature.
  • Expensive for just one functionality and no additional features presented.
  • Scanning is not as fast as some reviews claimed.
  • Heavy computing resource being used during scan.
  • The 'Review Trashed' button at the end throws you off.

No.3 dupeGuru - Best Free Mac Duplicate File Finder and Remover

dupeGuru is advertised as free (donationware) duplicate finders for Mac. It is a lightweight duplicate finding tool that's great for not only finding duplicates with the same file names, but even those with variations. This is accomplished by its fuzzy matching algorithm. It also offers flexibility with settings so you can specify the kind of duplicate files or photos you're looking for. The Power Marker feature lets you spot the bad dupes, and you can even move files to another location instead of deleting them.

Another unique feature is the Match % column in the results page, which shows you whether it's an exact copy or a similar one. Aside from the Standard Edition, dupeGuru used to offer Music and Picture Editions that worked in much the same way, but now it's just different modes.

How to use dupeGuru Duplicate Finder: The interface is minimalistic, which makes sense for freeware like dupeGuru, but it doesn't take away from the functionality. Select the folders and then click 'Scan' to put the fuzzy algorithms to work. Once the results show up, you can choose to check the 'Dupes Only' box, which will hide all other non-100% matches. Then click on 'Actions' and select the one you want. It can get a little confusing here, but the first one is what you'll be using most often 'Send Marked To Recycle Bin…' .

You can also choose between sending dupes to the trash or directly removing them from the system. The confirmation window also has an option to link the deleted files to the originals with hardlinks or symlinks. This is useful when you know the location of a duplicate, but not the original. However, these links will break if the original gets deleted at a later time.

Cons:

  • Poor user interface without any polish or esthetics.
  • Not 100% freeware. Should donate $9.99 After 10 removing files.
  • Not maintained by the original developer.
  • Bad support for macOS High Sierra and Mojave.
  • Not very good at finding dupes with different filenames but identical content.
  • Preview is hidden in the Details Panel, not intuitive to access.

No.4 Tidy Up - Pricey & Fully Featured Duplicate File Remover for Mac

This duplicate finder from Hyperbolic Software offers several options, which is great if you want a custom solution. It's essentially a beefed up version of their DupeZap software. You can find and remove duplicates by almost any criteria, including date or age, time created, extension type or even owner. It also allows you to search by metadata and duration in the case of audio duplicates, and location and camera make and model for photos.

The directories are all pre-listed on the left side, and selecting them will allow you to search entire drives or just specific folders. It also looks for duplicate packages, which is great because these can really build up over time. We really liked the integration with iTunes because you can directly search all of your music and audio files in your database. Additional support for other libraries such as Adobe Lightroom, iPhoto, Aperture and Mail is provided. It also has an option to search for empty files. They don't take up space, but they tend to clutter your drives when you're viewing files in Finder.

How to use Tidy Up Duplicate Finder: Most reviews will tell you that the interface is simple, but it won't be for a new user. For example, you have a 'Strategy' button and a series of 'Criteria Panes Visibility' buttons that might stump the average user. All you actually need is the 'List to View' button on the top left, the directory and folder menu on the left panel and the 'Search' button on the bottom right. The rest of it is mostly fluff, but we won't deny that it could be useful for some advanced users, like professional photographers, for instance.

Fortunately, Tidy Up 5 comes with 'Simple' and 'Advanced' modes, but you still have to pay the full price even if you only need basic functions. If you're using the first one, just select and search. In the next page you'll be shown the total size of all duplicates by type. Clicking on 'Show Result' will let you preview all duplicates, and on the bottom right you'll see a button for deleting whatever you've chosen. There are also convenient tabs at the top for viewing specific content types. Finally, you can include hardlinks for duplicates, and even specify whether you want to trash a file when there is no 'master' file found. Great safety feature, in our opinion.

Cons:

  • UI not very intuitive.
  • Most expensive among the apps reviewed in this post.
  • Promos for upgrading are persistent and invasive.
  • Apparently not enough beta testing before a release as major bugs were regularly reported.

No.5 PhotoSweeper - Best Duplicate Photo Finder for Mac

As the name suggests this utility is only for images, but it does a great job of removing duplicate photos on Mac, and the UI has been deliberately designed to give you the optimal viewing size when previewing dupes and similars. It does work with video files as well, but the scope is limited. Smart algorithms powering the Auto Mark feature help identify the best photo to retain, and the Auto Lock feature lets you exclude photos from being selected for deletion. Since this is a bit of a complex piece of software, the help section after installation and the quick start popup guides should be read carefully. They really help give you an overview before you dive into using the app.

As a photo-centric utility, the flexible preview modes are great because let you see photos one at a time, face to face and everything together. It supports RAW formats, as well as PDF, WebP and DNG. Probably the best feature is the ability to find dupes that seem identical, but are created on different apps and have different dimensions, contrast or other aspects. If you're a pro photographer or even an enthusiastic amateur, this could be a very useful utility to save space on your Mac.

How to use PhotoSweeper Duplicate Finder: Before you start using this application, we recommend that you go into the Preferences section and setup how you want your image duplicates to be treated. You can choose to Auto Mark the best ones, compare settings, filter and sort preferences, cache location and so on. It'll save you a lot of back and forth time later on. That done, you can import specific folders or libraries into the interface and hit 'Compare' to rapidly match the photos against the rest of the library or folder and find duplicates. Resource usage is surprisingly light, and you can scan more than 70 GB worth of images in under two minutes on a mid-2012 4GB MacBook Pro with Intel Core i5.

Once the duplicates have been found, you can choose to Auto Mark the best copies to retain. If not, you'll have to review them manually, which is where the multiple viewing modes come to the rescue. The metadata in the sidebar shows you elemental differences between similars. Or, you could just match duplicates by file name to simplify the process. The final step is to click on 'Trash Marked', which sends all auto or manually marked photos to the Recycle Bin. Note that the bin needs to be emptied before the images are truly deleted.

Cons:

  • First-time setup can take a while since preferences are very important for this utility.
  • Only for finding and deleting photos and videos, and the latter is limited in scope.
  • Some users might not like the dark interface.

No.6 MacKeeper Duplicate File Finder- Repoarted as Malware (Not Recommended)

The reason why we put it in our list is that a lot of people would install the app due to massive adversting across the website, even include some famous ones to let you believe it is a pretty good app. The truth is that MacKeeper is widely thought to be some kind of malware, and in many ways it behaves like it. Unfortunately, that's due to the overly aggressive marketing techniques used by the German company that acquired Zeobit, the original development company. But there really is a very fine line between MacKeeper and the average malware because of auto-downloads, fear-oriented advertising and the fact that it's notoriously hard to get rid of MacKeeper once you install even the trial version. That being said, the software does have its good points, albeit overshadowed by negative reviews and genuine inconveniences.

How to use MacKeeper Duplicate Finder: If you can get past all the noise, the software has six major and six minor modules for optimizing your Mac. The duplicate finder is one of the major functions, and is quite simple to use. You just select the 'Duplicates Finder' option on the left panel, then select the media or file type from the tabs at the top, and hit 'Scan'. After a while, all the files identified as duplicates are listed in the main window. You now have a choice of removing them or relocating them to another folder. You can also preview them individually before choosing an action.

There are no complex settings to mess around with, but the software itself is an aggressive piece of code that distributes support files all over your system. That's one of the reasons it is considered to be malware rather than a genuine software utility. We've listed the cons below, but even if you're willing to handle that, we don't recommend installing this application. It does more harm than good in the end, and it's a headache you can certainly do without.

Cons:

  • Aggressive marketing, and intrusive and misleading advertising strategy.
  • Hard to uninstall, and usually leaves a lot of residual files that are difficult to remove.
  • Not much of an improvement even after the company was acquired.

The Bottom Line

It is not hard to find an app dedicated to duplicate file removal. The challenge is how to find the best on among a long list. You might also read other candidates from other blog posts but it is really not recommended trying them out one by one. The apps listed above are the ones shorten from 20+ nominees. So don't wast your time on it. Just download and install the ones you like. You will definitely like one of those bascause it is well crafted list from a great list of amazing apps for Mac.

Oct 18, 2018 14:31:05 / Posted by Candie Kates to Mac Solution
Free Duplicate File Finder Mac

Related Articles & Tips

Looking for the best free duplicate file finder? Here’s a list of the best free apps to find and remove duplicate files.

Generally, there are two types of duplicate file finders. Some of them are comprehensive, with support for all file types such as images, videos and documents. Some are specialized in detecting and deleting only one type of duplicate files, say, duplicate photos. This article will talk about both types and cover OS versions such as Windows 10, Windows 7, macOS 11 Big Sur, macOS 10.15 Catalina, macOS 10.14 Mojave, etc.

The Best Duplicate File Finder for Mac

  • Find duplicate photos, music files, videos, documents, archives, etc.
  • Find similar images as well
  • Identify true duplicate files based on content
  • Remove duplicates from Photos, iPhoto, Music and iTunes
  • Support Mac’s internal drive, external hard drive, SD card and more
  • Can also be used for Amazon Photos, Google Drive, etc.
  • Provide 3 preview modes, allowing side-by-side image preview
  • Automatically select duplicate files for you to mass delete with 1 click
  • Also offer up to 8 selection rules
  • Offer 3 removal options: Move to Trash, Move to Folder and Delete Permanently
  • Safe and easy to use
  • Compatible with macOS 10.10 or later
Free Download

Free Duplicate File Finder Mac

The best free duplicate file finder 2020 and 2021

#1 Auslogics Duplicate File Finder | Windows

Compatibility: Windows 10, Windows 8.1, and Windows 7

License: Freeware

Rating: 4.5

Latest version: 9.0.0.4, released on 02/11/2021

Auslogics Duplicate File Finder is completely free to use. It can find all types of duplicate files such as duplicate images, duplicate videos and duplicate songs. Using intelligent algorithms, it identifies duplicate files by comparing content.

It lets users have control over the process of looking for and removing duplicate files on Windows PC. It offers two scan modes: “Look for all files types” and “Look for these file types only”. Users can also specify file size for scan and choose how this tool removes duplicate files. One can move the unwanted duplicate files to Recycle Bin or the tool’s Rescue Center or delete them permanently.

This Windows duplicate file finder for excels at detecting duplicate files and allows lots of customization. But it’s not flawless. Its preview function is not that useful. Sometimes you need to view files with their associated apps. Also, it is bundled with unwanted extra software. To avoid them, click “Decline” during the installation. Here’s a full review of Auslogics Duplicate File Finder for Windows.

Pros

  1. Totally free to use
  2. Easy to use with an intuitive, user-friendly interface
  3. Fast scanning
  4. Support various file types such as photos and music
  5. Multiple removal methods
  6. Multiple supported languages
  7. Also find duplicate files on external storage devices such as USB flash drive
  8. Let you effortlessly restore deleted duplicates thanks to its Rescue Center feature

Cons

  1. Poor preview performance
  2. Installer bundled with unwanted apps

If you are looking for a useful and powerful duplicate filer finder for Windows with a great preview feature, you can try the free trial of Easy Duplicate Finder.

#2 Duplicate Cleaner Free | Windows

Compatibility: Windows 10, Windows 8, Windows 7 and Windows Vista

License: Free and Pro

Rating: 4.5

Latest version: 4.1.4, released on 01/30/2020

Duplicate Cleaner Free supports a variety of file types such as music, images, and documents. Its powerful scan engine ensures high scan speed and the ability to compare files by content. The flexible search settings let you decide how this tool looks for and deletes duplicates.

There are also useful minor features such as scan results export and folder exclusion.

This top-rated free app has three types of scanning mode: “Regular Mode”, “Image Mode” and “Audio Mode”. The latter two modes are available only in the pro edition. The free Regular mode allows you to find duplicates by content, or file attributes, or a combination of them.

Even the free edition of this Windows duplicate file finder provides enough setting options. New users may feel overwhelmed by the array of search criteria and options. Don’t worry. Each feature or option comes with a Help button. Click it to display the help information.

If you are looking for a free duplicate photo finder, you will be pleased to find out that it supports all popular image formats (like PNG, JPEG, TIFF, etc.) and popular RAW image formats (like CR2, RW2, SR2, etc.). It can compare images by exact content, tags and even geographical distance.

The pro edition is called Duplicate Cleaner Pro. The developer releases updates for both editions several times a year to fix bugs or bring new features.

Pros

Free Duplicate File Finder Mac
  1. Support multiple file types and formats including RAW images
  2. Enough useful features and options even in the free version
  3. Various options for finding and removing duplicate files
  4. Good at finding duplicate and similar images
  5. High scan speed
  6. Handy keyboard shortcuts
  7. Offer useful minor features such as scan results export and folder exclusion

Cons

  1. Not very user friendly to new users
  2. Installer comes with components which you may not want

Also Read:8 Best Duplicate File Finders for Mac of 2021: Paid and Free

#3 dupeGuru | Windows, Mac & Linux

Compatibility: macOS 10.12 or later, Windows, Linux

License: Freeware

Rating: 4.5

Latest version: 4.1.1 (for Windows), released on 03/22/2021

dupeGuru is probably one of the oldest duplicate file finders. The app came out in 2004. It used to be a paid app and has been free and open-source since 2010. It offers three modes. The Standard mode supports all common file types. The Music mode only scans for duplicate music files such as duplicate MP3 files. The Picture mode is specialized in looking for duplicate photos.

It lets you add one or multiple folders to scan for duplicate files. When the scan is done, the dupeGuru Results window will open. There, all detected duplicate files will be listed. You can easily sort them by file kind, filename and size.

To preview an image or media file within the app, highlight a file and click the eye icon in the toolbar. Check the boxes next to the unwanted duplicate files. From the top menu bar, select Actions > Send Marked to Trash. These duplicates will be moved to Trash. You can also choose to move them to a specific folder of your choice.

The best free duplicate file finder for Mac offers a rich set of features and options to help basic and advanced users to deal with duplicate files and customize the process.

Pros

  1. Free to use and open-source
  2. Support all popular file types and formats
  3. Offer three modes to handle different file types
  4. Provide multiple scan types
  5. Allow you to scan one or more folders at once
  6. Can ignore small files to improve scanning efficiency
  7. Enable you to save scan results for later use
  8. Let you preview image, audio and videos files
  9. Offer multiple ways to remove duplicate files
  10. Highly flexible and customizable

Cons

  1. Crash when scanning an entire drive
  2. Limitedly useful preview feature
  3. No support for Mac Photos app

#4 Ashisoft Free Duplicate File Finder | Windows

Compatibility: Windows 10, Windows 8/8.1, Windows 7, Windows Vista, Windows XP, both 32 and 64 bit

License: Free and Pro

Latest version: 8.1.0.1

Rating: 4.0

Ashisoft Duplicate File Finder can compare files byte by byte, so it can find true duplicate files regardless of filename. It has a free edition and a pro edition. Both allow you to look for various types of duplicates such as duplicate music files, pictures and videos.

The interface is simple and easy to understand even for new users. It displays options and actions for users to take. You can choose to identify duplicates by byte-by-byte comparison, the SHA-1 algorithm or file properties. It provides multiple search filters, duplicates marking options and removal options. You can also exclude folders for scanning, which is a safety feature to prevent accidental delete. Its ability to find duplicate music files is also worth mentioning. This duplicate file finder for Windows 10 (and other versions) can measure and identify similarities between songs by content or by ID tags like title, album and artist. If you choose to find duplicate music by content, the app will ignore these tags and only focus on file content.

The free version only provides basic features and options, which may be enough in many cases. To have access to advanced features (such as support for Google Drives), you need to upgrade to the pro edition. Its ability to find duplicate files is slightly lower than that of some similar tools such as Auslogics Duplicate File Finder.

Pros

  1. User-friendly interface
  2. Multiple supported file types
  3. Can identify duplicates by content
  4. Multiple options for scanning, searching, filtering, etc.
  5. Excels at finding duplicate music files

#5 Fast Duplicate File Finder | Windows

Compatibility: Windows 10, 8.1, 8, 7, Vista, XP, NT, 2000, 2003, all Windows Server operating systems

License: Free and Pro

Rating: 4.0

Latest Version: 5.9.0.1

Fast Duplicate File Finder is fast and powerful when it comes to searching duplicate files in folders and subfolders on PC. It is particularly useful if you have duplicate files with different names. This tool has many nice-to-have features, such as options to manage duplicates, the ability to preview files before deleting, and the support for external devices such as USB drives, external hard drives and SD cards.

Its Pro edition allows you to find similar files, export scan results and exclude folders for scan. If the free version can’t satisfy what you need, you can pay $39.95 to buy the Pro version. The comparison table below will show you the differences between the free and professional editions.

Pros

Free
  1. Look for duplicates by content or file properties
  2. Can find duplicate images, documents, and media files
  3. Can also find similar files (Pro edition only)
  4. Allow users to preview files
  5. 2 removal options
  6. Useful features such as auto-check and renaming files

Cons

  1. No filtering options in the free version
  2. Relatively slow scanning

#6 Duplicate Manager | Mac

Compatibility: Compatibility: macOS 10.7 or later, including macOS 11 Big Sur

License: Free and Pro

Rating: 4.0

Latest version: 1.3.9, released on 02/05/2021

I recommended Duplicate Finder & Remover for Mac users. It is not officially available now, so I replace it with another great free Mac duplicate file finder called Duplicate Manager.

Best

Thanks to its support for all file types, this app can locate all types of duplicate files such as songs, photos, movies, videos and documents. It offers multiple comparison modes. The default mode is Checksum, which scans your computer for exact duplicates.

With the convenient preview feature, it’s easy to preview and examine the found duplicate files. You need to select duplicates to delete. Clicking the Auto Select button will automatically select the duplicate for deletion, but it only applies to one group of duplicates at a time. You need to upgrade to the Pro edition to be able to apply to all.

This free app has the essential features that duplicate file finder software should have. It does a good job of remove duplicate files from Mac’s folders. When it comes to duplicates in Mac’s Photos app, it won’t help. For this task, you need a duplicate file finder safely designed for Mac’s Photos.

Pros

  1. Free to use
  2. Find all types of duplicate files
  3. Come with a simple and straightforward interface
  4. Offer different modes to compare files and identify duplicates
  5. Useful preview feature
  6. 2 ways to remove duplicates: moving to Trash or delete instantly
  7. Highly customizable

Cons

  1. Can’t mass delete duplicates
  2. No support for Photos

#7 Anti-Twin | Windows

Compatibility: Windows 10, Windows 8, Windows 7, Windows Vista, Windows XP

License: Freeware, for personal-use only

Rating: 4.0

Latest Version: 1.8d (2010)

This portable free duplicate file finder is lightweight and useful, allowing you to find duplicate files on Windows PC by file content or by filename. Users can accurately find both identical and similar images, thanks to its ability to do pixel-based image comparison.

There are two comparison methods: Compare names and Compare content. The latter is recommended, but note that scanning for duplicates by content will take a longer time. With both methods, you can adjust the matching level. You can directly delete the unwanted duplicate copies or send them to the recycle bin.

One of the great things is that it can also find duplicate files in shared network folders, which requires decent network connection. This free duplicate file remover does allow you to preview images, but it will open a separate window, which can be inconvenient.

Pros

  1. Portable
  2. Supports local hard drive, external devices and network folders
  3. Supports common file types and formats
  4. Can find identical or similar files with adjustable matching levels
  5. Can compare files by content or by filename
  6. 2 removal options

Cons

  1. Limited search filters
  2. Relatively low scan speed

The best free duplicate photo finder Windows 10

Awesome Duplicate Photo Finder

Compatibility: Windows 10, 8, 7, Vista, XP, 2000, 2003 Server

License: Freeware

Rating: 5

Latest version: 1.2, released on 04/09/2021

It’s a free yet powerful software program designed for photo deduplication. The freeware offers the following main benefits.

  • Simple, easy-to-understand interface
  • Lightweight with a download size of only 1.2 MB
  • Detect both exact duplicate photos and similar ones
  • Support 5 common image formats like PNG, JPG and TIFF
  • Support CR2 - Canon RAW files
  • Allow you to scan multiple folders at once
  • Work with internal and external hard drives, memory card, and more

This excellent free duplicate photo finder has been around for more than 10 years and has gone through four upgrades. Version 1.2 added support for CR2 RAW images. It contains no adware or malware and is safe to download and use.

It has all the basic functions that a duplicate photo cleaner should have. The support for all popular image types makes it useful in most cases. One of the great things is its ability to find the resized pictures. Resized photos are the same in photo content but different in size. With this app, you can easily find them out and quickly remove the unwanted versions.

If your purpose is to get rid of relatively large images to free up space, you can exclude small image files from scan so as to reduce scan time. There is an option allowing you to do the exclusion. If you want to eliminate dupes and better manage your photo collection, it’s recommended to scan all images in the target folder or drive.

Guide and tips: How to use free duplicate file finder software

Duplicate file finders may vary in performance, usability, capabilities and supported platforms, but they are likely to work in a similar way. Here we will take the best free duplicate file finder for Windows as an example and show you how to use such software to get rid of duplicates on Windows and free up hard drive space.

Step 1. Add folders to scan. Add folders, subfolders or drives (partitions) to scan for duplicates files.

Step 2. Set scan and removal preferences. It lets you find duplicates of all file types or of only certain file type(s) such as images and audios. Specify file size range if needed. Choose a preferred removal option. Click the Search button.

Step 3. Preview. Previewing allows you to better known the files you are dealing with. If the preview feature is not that useful, you can open and view files with associated apps. You can also sort groups of duplicates by name, type and size.

Step 4. Delete. There are multiple selection options available. Click the dropdown list to choose one. Click Delete Selected Files to remove the unwanted copies in the way you prefer.

Tips

These tips are applicable regardless of the duplicate file finder or operating system you use.

  • Back up your files first It’s not necessary but is a good practice before you perform any file cleanup actions. You can make a backup on a different drive or use cloud storage.
  • Exclude important folders If you want to scan your entire hard drive for duplicate files, it’s recommended to exclude important folders and system files for scanning.
  • Make the most of customizable options All good duplicate file finders have multiple filter and action options. They can help improve efficiency and avoid file deletion by mistake.
  • Remove files in safe manner Choose to move unwanted duplicates to the Recycle Bin (or Trash) or a rescue center (if available). This way you can easily recover files that have been erased by mistake. In addition, if you are a Mac user and want to get rid of the duplicates in Photos, make sure you use software safely compatible with Photos.

Conclusion

The duplicate file finder freeware is generally not as good as the paid counterpart in terms of capacities and performance, but sometimes they are already useful enough. Some of the apps on our list of the best free duplicate file finder software are freeware. Some also have paid editions which have more advanced features. There are also a few decent open-source apps. However, they haven't been updated for years. Therefore, they are not included in this list. If you are also a Mac user or plan to switch to Mac, you can use the best duplicate file finder for Mac for duplicate files cleanup.