Finding similarly captured and duplicate photos can become an overwhelming project. This is where duplicate photo finders come in. Remember that you should always backup all files before doing any deletion, which is a good practice to take regularly, for example to a DVD or an external hard drive. All software in this article is sorted from best to worst.
Auslogics Duplicate File Finder
Besides images, Auslogics Duplicate File Finder will also by default scan for duplicate archives, videos and applications. One interesting feature is that in the search results, you can click “Header” to take a look at the file’s hex data. Since it is meant to find and delete a wide variety of duplicates on your computer, this program also comes with a Rescue Center module, where you can undo changes and restore files. By default, backups are automatically deleted every 3 months, but you can keep them forever and allow them as much disk space as you wish. The image comparison algorithm ignores visual similarity and takes into account names, file sizes and modification dates, which makes it extremely fast.
Caution: Comes with bundleware
Rating: 10/10
Details: For Windows; Free
Duplicate Cleaner
Duplicate Cleaner’s Regular mode can compare byte-to-byte, MD5 or SHA values, Audio mode can match audio tags or audio data, while Image mode can check the aspect ratio, flipped and rotated images. One interesting feature of this program is the ability to create Hard Links. It functions by turning duplicates into shortcuts to the original, with the difference that all copies can be operated upon as if they were the original file. In fact, all changes done to a hard link will reflect on the original.
Rating: 10/10
Details: For Windows; Available as free Standard version or 30-day trial of Pro, €23.95 for full Pro version
Easy Duplicate Finder
Easy Duplicate Finder’s UI is cool, futuristic and looks like something out of a Sci-Fi show. Once you select target folders, you have the option of typing in filter parameters and setting minimum and maximum file sizes. EDF doesn’t stop there, it can clean duplicate e-mails, contacts, iTunes library entries, music tags and delete empty folders. It can use several methods of comparison: byte-by-byte, CRC32 checksum or filenames only. It also comes with a built-in CRC32 checker. Results can be exported as plain text, CSV or HTML. Note that you will have to click the “Scan” button, wait a little while, and then click it again to get correct results.
Caution: Comes with bundleware
Rating: 9/10
Details: For Windows and Mac; Free trial, 1-year subscription for $39.95
Duplicate Photo Cleaner
Duplicate Photo Cleaner supports ten image file formats, including Photoshop’s PSD and icon files. By default, the similarity threshold is set at 50%, which is also the minimum value you can choose. You can broaden the search by checking the “Use grayscale comparison” and “Image rotation” boxes in the settings. Combined, these options give impressive results and by far the most duplicates found of all other programs in this list. Once the scan finishes, go to the results page and click on the box in the top right corner of the thumbnail to select it.
Rating: 8/10
Details: For Windows and Mac; Free trial, $39.95 for full version
Ashisoft Duplicate Image Finder
Duplicate Photo Finder only looks for exact duplicates. By default, it will use a byte-by-byte comparison method but you can set an advanced search criterion of using the SHA-1 hash value plus look at only the same file names, extensions and timestamps. Further, this program can find duplicate music by looking at the album, artist and title in ID3 tags. Filters allow for creating of exclusion masks, which can also check files against a specified filesize and date modified range.
Rating: 8/10
Details: For Windows; Free trial, $29.95 for full version
Fast Duplicate File Finder
Fast Duplicate File Finder supports to all file types, not just pictures and uses an extremely fast binary algorithm. You can set the program to compare only files with the same extension or to ignore extensions altogether. System files, folders and some locations, such as the Desktop, are automatically excluded from the search, so there is no danger of accidental deletion of critical files, but you can include them as well. Fast Duplicate File Finder can also delete empty folders it finds.
Rating: 8/10
Details: For Windows; Free full version, $39.95 for a Pro version
Awesome Duplicate Photo Finder
When you start this program, click the big “+” icon to add folders to the top pane. After that, click “Start Search” and Awesome Duplicate Photo Finder will quickly find visually similar photos, show their previews and details in the center part of the application window and display the file names of both pictures in the lower pane. Clicking on the title of the “Similarity” column will sort pictures by descending percentage of similarity, which is a handy way for getting to the most obvious duplicates and deleting or moving them.
Caution: Comes with bundleware
Rating: 7/10
Details: For Windows; Free, also available as portable
Visual Similarity Duplicate Image Finder
VSDIF has 4 methods of finding duplicates: visual comparison, hash value, EXIF data and file size. You can also set the precision level, similarity threshold and a whole host of other filters. Advanced settings allow searching for flipped and rotated images and, though this tends to be time consuming, you can set the action you want the program to do upon scan completion, such as shutdown or hibernation.
Rating: 7/10
Details: For Windows; Free limited demo, full version costs from $24.95 to $499
Anti-Twin
Anti-Twin can use either byte-to-byte or pixel-to-pixel comparison to check for image similarity. Otherwise, you can activate name comparison, content comparison or both. By default, Anti-Twin marks itself as a low priority process, but this can be changed by going to “Control” and unchecking the option. To select files for deletion in the result list, click the box left to the filename and the symbol will change to a red X.
Rating: 7/10
Details: For Windows and Mac; Free for private use, with a donate option
VisiPics
Vertical slider on the right determines the similarity threshold in 10% increments. Click on the green Play button to start the scan. While it is in progress, the left pane will populate with results. Here, mousing over a thumbnail will show its enlarged preview while a green dot will indicate which picture falls inside the similarity range you set with the slider. Left-clicking a thumbnail will mark it for either deletion or moving to another folder while right-clicking gives you the option of renaming or ignoring the chosen picture or picture group.
Rating: 7/10
Details: For Windows; Free, with a donate option
Duplicate Images Finder
Duplicate Images Finder is a fairly straightforward utility that won’t burden you with excessive options. Once you launch the program, check the “Include subfolders” box and select the target folder and click “Search”. Left pane will show the original image, the bottom pane will show duplicates, while the center will display previews of both. Clicking the red X on either preview will delete the picture. Note that there is no undo option and the images are deleted straight away, without going to the Recycle Bin. It uses a publicly available comparison algorithm which mainly focuses on comparing image resolutions.
Rating: 6/10
Details: For Windows; Free
For iPhoto (Mac & iOS devices)
Photos Duplicate Cleaner
This app makes deleting copies of photographs a real 1-click pleasure. As the scan is running, the results will populate and the real-time stats will show how much space is being taken by copies. After the scan finishes, previews of all photographs will be shown, so you can confirm they are indeed duplicates. Click the “Clean Duplicates” button and you’re all set. This app can also scan external hard drives.
Details: For Mac OS X 10.6 and newer; Free
iPhoto Library Manager
Besides helping you find duplicate photos, this app also has a wealth of other useful features that make it a complete solution to managing your photo library. Its duplicate search function will enable you to tag images with keywords, sort them according to any of different criteria, move, password protect or delete them. iPhoto Library Manager also creates a log of actions performed, so you can always keep track of what happened to that picture you’re looking for.
Details: For Mac OS X v10.6.8