Many owners of computers and laptops who are fond of photography or store a large number of images, photos or screenshots on these devices, sooner or later face the fact that hundreds of similar files are stored on their hard drive, which take up a large amount of space. At the same time, searching for and deleting identical photos, pictures and screenshots manually is a rather tedious and time-consuming task. Therefore, when faced with a similar problem, it is best to use a specialized utility.
Finding duplicate photos is the first step to freeing up disk space. The total size of secondary files can reach several gigabytes. Searching for and deleting every photo yourself is absurd, but using specialized software is just the thing. Next, let's look at programs designed for this purpose:
Questions and answers in the field of IT technologies and PC setup
It just so happens that many PC users have their hard drive clogged with unnecessary files. Among them there are many duplicate photographs that occupy a certain amount of memory.
Considering that a computer can store thousands of pictures, searching for and deleting copies manually is not a pleasant task. To make your task easier, you can use special programs that will quickly find all duplicate photos.
dupeGuru
The program searches for files with the same or similar names and identical content. Works well with music and can find identical music files even if they have different tags. In addition, dupeGuru can compare images to find not only identical, but simply similar photos.
Developed for Mac and Linux. The Windows version is no longer supported by the developer, but it can be downloaded from the official website and is fully functional.
Platforms:
Windows, Mac, Linux.
Ways to find identical photos on disk
Today there is a large selection of programs for finding duplicate files of any format. In terms of working with images, the following options have proven themselves well:
- Image Comparer;
- Similar Images Finder;
- Duplicate Cleaner;
- CCleaner.
When searching, such programs take into account not only the file name, but also a number of other parameters, including resolution, shooting date, amount of memory occupied, etc.
Method 1: Image Comparer
This is one of the most functional tools for finding identical and similar images. Image Comparer finds duplicates, even if they have different formats.
The program is extremely simple to use:
- In the main window, click the “Create Gallery” button and select the folder where all your photos are stored. Click OK.
Now define a location to save the gallery by giving it a name. Click "Save".
Please note that the gallery is not an archive of all images, but only a database with links to them. Creating a gallery will speed up the search for duplicates.
You will see a list of all added images in the left column. Next, you need to press the “Compare inside open gallery” button or F2 on the keyboard.
- Now you need to specify a location to save the file with the results.
- After the search procedure, the “Image Pairs” tab will appear. By default, photos with 100% similarity are displayed first. You can use the mouse wheel to move to the next pair. Along the way, mark unnecessary photos.
Finally, open the Actions menu and click Remove all tagged images.
In case of comparing pictures with less similarity, you can check the box next to “Highlight differences” and distinctive details will be marked on each of them.
Pay attention to the green arrow. She points to what is supposedly the best quality photo.
Method 2: Similar Images Finder
A simple and functional program with everything you need to find duplicate photos.
Instructions for use are as follows:
- Click the “Add Folder” button and select one or more photo folders. Make sure there is a checkmark next to “Scan subfolders”.
In the “Method” list you can select the selection principle. The best option is “Visual Compare”, when the program analyzes the contents of photos. You can start the search by clicking the “Start Scan” button.
Attention! The speed of searching for copies in any program depends on the number and weight of images.
Carefully look through the pairs of photos, uncheck/check them if necessary. To delete selected files, open the context menu and click “Delete”.
Method 3: Duplicate Cleaner
You can easily get rid of unnecessary duplicates using this program. It features a pleasant interface and extensive search customization options.
You can find identical photos using Duplicate Cleaner by following simple instructions:
- Go to the “Search Criteria” tab and open “Picture Mode”.
- In the “Find pictures” block you can set the degree of similarity. By selecting “Custom”, you can specify this value as a percentage. A selection of additional tags and parameters for comparison is also available.
In the “Additional parameters” block, you can specify the criteria for selecting identical photos.
The “Search Filters” block allows you to include or exclude certain file resolutions, set limits on their size, and narrow the search among photos created in a certain period.
Open the “Scan Path” tab, highlight a photo folder and click the button pointing to the right so that this folder appears in the search field. All you have to do is click the “Scan” button.
At the end of the scan, a report will appear showing how many files were scanned and how many duplicates were found. It can be closed by clicking the corresponding button.
In the main program window there will be a pairwise list of identical files. For convenience, turn on the “Preview” mode.
Now you can view each pair of photos and immediately mark the odd one.
When everything you need will be o.
Method 4: CCleaner
The main purpose of this program is to clean and optimize the disk, but its capabilities also include searching for duplicates.
To find extra photos you will need to do the following:
- Go to the “Service” section and select “Search for duplicates”.
Place checkboxes where you see fit in the “Search criteria” and “Skip files” blocks. Considering that we are talking about pictures, it is advisable to o.
To narrow your search, uncheck the local drives and click “Add.”
By clicking “Browse”, specify the folder with photos, below you can specify the formats of the files you are looking for and, if there are subfolders, indicate this in the “Options”. Click OK.
Click the Find button.
In the report, identical files will be located together. You can check the boxes manually or open the context menu and click “Select All”.
This will mark all copies.
All that remains is to click “Delete selected” and confirm the action.
Programs for finding and removing duplicates can significantly save your time if you need to clear your computer of unnecessary photos.
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In this material we will talk about tools for identifying duplicate photos. In particular, today we will review six programs for finding duplicate photos on a Windows computer. We will compare and choose the best and fastest among them.
Yandex Pictures - will help you find a matching picture on the Internet
The Yandex search engine is the most popular search engine in Russia. The quality of her search queries is excellent. And, despite the fact that foreign analysts note its shortcomings compared to competitors from Google and Bing, we recommend the Yandex Images service for searching images online. Yandex functionality will show you where the images you are looking for are used. It will also provide a list of such photos on the Internet in different sizes. If the system does not find exact matches, it will display images similar to the searched one.
Follow these steps to check:
- Go to yandex.ru/images;
- Click on the button with the camera icon to the right of the search line; Click on the button with the image of a camera
- Click on “Select file” and upload a photo to the resource, or enter the address of the image in the field on the right;
- View the results found.
Finding identical photos: programs and their comparison
There may be several reasons for the demand for programs for searching identical photos on a computer, for example:
In our selection there was room for six interesting programs, four of which are distributed free of charge. Below we are:
- We’ll tell you about each of these search programs and help you quickly navigate their interface;
- Let's compare all the programs, in which we'll see how they cope with searching for identical images when they are slightly modified;
- Let's check how well the programs can cope with a large set of photos weighing several gigabytes.
Kerish Doctor
A program for finding identical photos, but its main function is to monitor the state of all computer systems. Recommended for work. The interface is Russian-language, intuitive. Free use for 30 days, then a license at a symbolic price of 390 rubles for one PC.
Features of Kerish Doctor:
- Search not only for photo clones, but also for other files – music, videos, documents, etc.;
- Search by name and size or by content.
How to use Kerish Doctor when searching for photo duplicates:
- Download and run the file. Go to the "Maintenance" section. Select "Search for duplicate files";
- Specify the path to the scan object;
- Choose a comparison method: by size or by content;
- Select the cleaning method: complete deletion or moving to the trash;
- Select search objects: photos, videos, music, documents, applications, archives.
Click Next. Wait until the scan finishes. Remove duplicate photos.
The program definitely deserves your attention. Everything here is clear, simple, fast and understandable. Nothing extra.
Find duplicate photos with Image Comparer
The first program in our review that searches for duplicate photos is called Image Comparer. Its strengths: good functionality and an interface translated into Russian, including detailed help information.
Now about the disadvantages. First, the program is not free. However, the cost of a license is a humane 350 rubles (although for some reason the number on the website is 500). In addition, you can use Image Comparer for free for the first 30 days.
The second negative point is that it is slightly confusing, which can confuse an inexperienced user. For example, in order to search within one folder (which may contain others), you need to click on the “create gallery” button and select the desired directory in which to scan.
Next, you will immediately be prompted to give a name and save the file of the gallery being created to any convenient location (the program itself will need this file). Once this is done, a list of all the images in the specified folder and its subfolders will open in front of you in the form of a list or thumbnails:
Buttons marked with arrows start a search for duplicates. The first button is a search within one gallery (the folder you selected), the second button a little to the right is within several galleries. We went with the first option.
Next, the program suggested creating another service file in which the results will be saved for further convenient access to them. Actually, creating a file for the gallery and this file with search results can be a little confusing for an inexperienced user. However, then everything is already simple. The found duplicates will appear in front of you:
You can view them in the form of thumbnails, or by clicking on the “image pairs” tab, go to the view where the photos will be compared with each other:
The center slider allows you to adjust the threshold of image similarity. Set it to 100% and you will only have a list of identical pictures that are perfectly similar to each other. Lower values will only show similar photos.
In the settings you can see a huge list of formats from basic JPG and PNG to more exotic ones that the program works with. Formats can be added and excluded from the search. You can also configure the accounting of reflected and inverted images.
- Image Comparer program. Official site;
- Russian language;
- Distribution: paid, 30 days free use.
Visual Similarity Duplicate Image Finder
Visual Similarity Duplicate Image Finder is a utility that allows owners of laptops and computers to search for and delete identical and similar images present on the computer. The program has a convenient, simple and understandable interface, which allows the user, even those who have installed this utility for the first time, to quickly develop its functionality and clean up the hard drive.
Features of the program
- The user can independently configure the parameters by which it should find duplicate pictures.
- Thanks to a well-thought-out system of settings, the program can even search for duplicate images that have a smaller format, resolution and size.
- For the convenience of users, this software has the function of maintaining a cache of previous search results for duplicate images, which significantly speeds up the search process.
- The program is available for download in both paid and free versions.
You can download this program to search and delete duplicate pictures, photographs and screenshots on your computer on our website by simply following this link.
A user who has downloaded and installed the program on his or her computer or laptop for the first time must follow the following algorithm to search for and remove duplicate images from the hard drive:
- After installation, you should launch the utility, after which the main window will open.
- You should add folders to the window in which the program will search for duplicate images. You can add folders simply by clicking on the “Add Folder” button or by dragging them using standard Windows Explorer.
- After adding folders to scan, you need to select a scan type, for example, whether you prefer automatic scanning or self-scanning. Also at this stage, the user will need to select the type of image verification from the drop-down list and specify information about the percentage of similarity at which the image will be considered a duplicate, for example 95%.
- After completing the settings, you should start scanning. After the scanning process is completed, the program will display the result, and duplicate images will be grouped together.
- Files grouped together can be checked automatically or manually, and then any unnecessary duplicate images can be deleted into the trash.
Like any product, the program has its own disadvantages and advantages.
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Finding identical photos in three clicks with VisiPics
The next program is VisiPics. Unlike Image Comparer discussed above, VisiPics is a free application that also specializes in duplicate photos. Alas, there is no localization into Russian here, but you definitely shouldn’t be upset about this: everything is very simple and extremely clear.
Using the side navigation bar (we've outlined it in a frame), select the desired directory. Next, click the arrow with the “+” sign to add this folder to the list that will be searched. If you wish, you can select several more folders in the same way. Finally, as a third step, click the Play button to start the process of finding duplicates.
To the right of it is a special slider where you can adjust the level of “attention” of the program. With the default baseline, VisiPics found only two groups of duplicates for us, one of which consisted of three images and the other of two:
These are the images that the program considers to be almost identical duplicates. However, if you lower the slider to the Loose level, then there will be images that are simply similar to each other. In our case, when installing Loose instead of Basic, the application found four more (5 in the final test below) groups of duplicates, and added one more picture to one of the two already found:
The program has relatively few additional options. Here you can configure search in subfolders (it is enabled by default), display of hidden folders, and take into account photos rotated by 90 degrees. On the loader tab, you can ask VisiPics to ignore small files or, conversely, pictures with too high a resolution. The latter is important for speed.
- VisiPics program. Official site;
- English language;
- Distribution: free.
Who is Image Comparer™ most useful for?
Image Comparer™ can be useful for anyone who stores photos on a computer. Here are some examples.
- Professional photographers. As a photographer, you can automatically select a series of photos and select the best images from each. Especially for photographers, we have added support for the RAW image format.
- Webmasters . Webmasters whose sites contain a lot of photos and graphics can use Image Comparer™ to organize images and remove duplicate photos that are taking up space on their hard drive.
- Photograph Collectors . People who collect photos, digital images and desktop wallpapers can rely on Image Comparer™ to remove redundant or slightly altered files and make their collection unique.
Awesome Duplicate Photo Finder
If you are looking for an extremely simple program for high-quality search of duplicate photos and images, which would be extremely easy to understand, then pay attention to Awesome Duplicate Photo Finder. The interface is in English, but it is so simple that anyone can understand it.
Using the “+” button, specify the directory or several directories you need to search, then click Start Search and the search will begin. The Scan Subdirectories option is enabled by default and is responsible for searching subfolders. The program copes with its tasks, finding both very similar:
And here are pictures that are slightly more different from each other:
In the program settings, you can set the match to 100% if you only need absolutely identical photos.
As you can see, there are few settings. Perhaps the saddest thing is that the program works with only five main formats: BMP, JPG, PNG, GIF and TIFF. Moreover, the latter is not taken into account by default.
There are also options to ensure that duplicates are deleted directly to the Trash and to disable the pop-up confirmation. The program can also update itself automatically.
- Awesome Duplicate Photo Finder. Official site;
- English language;
- Distribution: free.
What the program can do:
- Find photo duplicates and similar images based on the actual content of the images
- Scan for duplicates within the same folder or compare between two folders
- Detection of photo duplicates in various formats: RAW, JPEG, J2K, BMP, GIF, PNG, TIFF, TGA
- Select a custom similarity threshold to filter similar matches
- Preview photos in the built-in image viewer
- Classification and sorting of image files according to various criteria: name, date, size, width, height
- Delete, copy, move files with one click
- Automatically flag high or low quality images for subsequent operations
- The program has a Russian-language interface (among dozens of other available languages)
Looking for similar images with Similar Images Finder
The Similar Images Finder application greets us with an unkind message in English that we need to pay $34 for it. However, the program is ready to work for free for 30 days. Next, a window appears asking you to select directories to search for duplicates:
From it we learn that Similar Images Finder supports 29 image formats, and the user can select specific formats to search or exclude unnecessary ones. In the list, among other things, you can see ico and wbmp.
Clicking Next will start the search for duplicates, and when it's finished, click Next again to see additional settings. By adjusting these, you can more carefully customize what appears in the results list. Finally, by clicking Next a third time, you will see the result itself:
You can move to the next found picture by clicking the miniature arrow in the upper right corner. The entire list of found duplicates opens by clicking on the large button at the top with the addresses of the current files.
In turn, clicking the Next button at the bottom will lead to the final stage of work. There the program will display a list of what, in its opinion, are definitely duplicates and offer to delete them. In the screenshot above, Similar Images Finder coped with an image where a watermark was added and the histogram contrast was changed.
Distinguishing between the pictures, the program calculated at the level of 5.5%. Moreover, in another example, where we added a strong blur effect to the second picture, the differences, according to the application version, for some reason amounted to only 1.2%:
Alas, the program, while finding real duplicates, by default also shows many images that are completely different from each other, as if they have something in common:
- Similar Images Finder. Official site;
- English language;
- Distribution: paid, 30 days free use.
Universal search for duplicates with Duplicate Remover Free
Duplicate Remover Free is the only program in our review that is not focused specifically on duplicate photos, but on finding duplicates in general.
As practice shows, such universal solutions do not perform very well in problems related to some narrower area.
However, today we are giving one such program a chance. As the word Free suggests, it is distributed free of charge. The second advantage of the application is the Russian language, and the third is its relative modernity compared to other programs in this collection, many of which, unfortunately, have not been updated for many years.
You should click on the “add directory” button and select the desired folders. By default, the program did not find anything for us in the given directory, however, when at the top instead of “exact duplicates” we selected the “similar images” item, four groups of duplicates were immediately found, one of which consisted of three files at once:
The application has very few additional features. In particular, you can exclude files from the search before and after a certain size.
- Duplicate Remover Free. Official site;
- Russian language;
- Distribution: free.
Gemini 2
A popular Mac application that searches for the same or similar files and shows you the difference between them. Copies in “Photos”, in the iTunes music library - nothing will pass by Gemini 2. The developers have announced a smart duplicate search mechanism that remembers which files you leave and what you decide to delete.
Price:
$19.95.
Search for matching photos using various algorithms with AntiDupl
The final participant in our review, the AntiDupl program, may appeal to you for several reasons. First of all, it's free. Secondly, it has a Russian interface. The latter, however, is not obvious. In order to enable Russian, open the View menu and in the Language section select the appropriate item:
Unlike others, this program is not installed, but is located in a self-extracting archive, which extracts it along with the necessary files into a separate folder.
To prepare the search for duplicates, click on the button labeled Open and add the necessary directories in the window that appears:
Next, you can click OK, and then activate the green “start search” button on the toolbar. Using a basic algorithm, the program found several groups of duplicates for us:
Having switched the algorithm at the top to the more free SSIM, we already received two more groups of duplicates, and after increasing the “freedom” of the search from 20 to 35%, the program gave us an even more detailed list:
Moreover, in all cases, there were indeed images that were at least noticeably similar to each other. So don't hesitate to experiment with the settings.
The program has many additional options:
On the “search” tab you can find out that AntiDupl supports 13 formats, including, in addition to traditional JPG/PNG, ICON, PSD and EXIF. Of course, you can choose formats. The options also include checking for defects, blockiness and blurriness, and in the last two cases you can set a threshold. It is possible to search in hidden and system directories.
- Ant program >Which program is better for finding identical and similar photos?
When searching for duplicates, some users are interested in 100% matching in order to get rid of duplicates in their collection. However, the task often arises of finding simply similar pictures.
And here there is a huge space for possible differences. This can be different formats, resolutions, cropped versions of the same image, adding frames and watermarks, changed colors and captions on the pictures.
We tried to take into account most of these factors and, after all the testing, we ended up creating a small set with more than six dozen pictures. In them we created nine groups of duplicates. Let’s be honest, our experience certainly doesn’t claim to be the ultimate truth, but it was interesting to try. The results are as follows:
- Duplicate Remover Free: found only 3 groups of duplicates;
- Similar Images Finder: found 4 groups, but the inconvenient interface, many false results, and the paid nature of the application greatly spoiled the overall impression;
- AntiDupl found 3 types of duplicates by default, installing the SSIM algorithm increased the search result to 5 groups;
- VisiPics found only 2 groups of duplicates at the basic search level, but setting the slider to the Loose level allowed it to find 7 groups;
- Awesome Duplicate Photo Finder found 7 groups of duplicates;
- Image Comparer was also able to detect 7 groups.
At the same time, Image Comparer was able to find images that Awesome Duplicate Photo Finder and VisiPics missed, and they, in turn, filled in the gaps of Image Comparer.
Universal Applications
Universal applications for finding copies mainly work on the principle of comparing file sizes. And, since the probability of the same number of bytes in different photos is practically zero, identical values are considered a sign of a duplicate.
Sometimes the algorithm provides for checking names - also an important parameter for the search, especially since the same data in most cases also matches by name.
The advantages of the programs are the ability to find files of any type with their help and the relatively high speed of operation. Disadvantage: lower detection accuracy. For example, none of these utilities will consider the same photo saved at different resolutions to be a duplicate.
DupKiller
The application, which allows you to search for files with almost any extension, can be downloaded for free on the official website of its manufacturer.
Among the differences of the program are the interface in Russian, fast operation and a large number of settings.
With DupKiller, you can compare files by size, date, and content (the latter feature is only supported for certain types).
Rice. 1. DupKiller program window.
Duplicate Finder
The Duplicate Finder application allows you not only to search for duplicate files with different extensions, but also to sort them.
For user convenience, the utility settings allow you to search by size, checksums, and name.
In addition, it can be used to delete empty folders and “zero” files. Among the shortcomings, one can only name the lack of support for the Russian language.
Rice. 2. The result of the Duplicate Finder application.
Glary Utilities
The program is not one utility, but several at once - for fixing the registry, for cleaning up the disk, and even for managing security.
One of the applications in the set allows you to search for duplicate files. Among the advantages of the utility is the Russian interface.
The disadvantages include a certain slowdown of the computer when using the application.
Rice. 3. Duplicate search utility included in the Glary Utilities package.
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CCleaner
The main task of the multifunctional CCleaner program is to clean the computer’s hard drive (as well as tablets and smartphones, since the application also has versions for Android). And among its advantages we can note:
- ease of setup;
- setting multiple search criteria;
- the ability to ignore some files (with a certain size or creation date, as well as system or hidden ones).
Important: If files with a size of zero are detected, they do not have to be deleted. Sometimes this may be information created on another operating system (for example, Linux).
Rice. 4. CCleaner system optimization program can also search for duplicate files.
AllDup
Among the advantages of another program, AllDup, we can note support for any modern Windows operating system - from XP to 10. At the same time, the search is carried out inside hidden folders, and even in archives.
Although the comparison of information by default occurs by file names, so it is advisable to change the settings immediately. But during the search process, each duplicate found can be viewed without closing the application.
And if a copy is found, you can not only delete it, but also rename it or move it to another location. Additional advantages of the application include a Russian-language menu and completely free work for any period of time.
In addition, the manufacturer also produces a portable version in order to search for copies on those computers on which the installation of third-party software is prohibited (for example, on a work PC).
Rice. 5. Search for files using the portable version of AllDup.
DupeGuru
Another useful application that searches for duplicates with any extension is DupeGuru. Its only drawback is the lack of new versions for Windows (although updates for Linux and MacOS appear regularly).
However, even the relatively outdated utility for Windows 7 copes well with its tasks when working in newer operating systems. With its help, even system files are easily detected, and the menu is intuitive and in Russian.
Rice. 6. Detecting copies using the DupeGuru utility.
It is noteworthy that, in addition to the usual universal option, the manufacturing company has created a utility for searching for files of a certain type. There is a separate version for images and another for music.
And, if you need to clean your computer not only from documents and system files (which, by the way, need to be deleted very carefully - sometimes it’s even worth leaving an “extra” copy rather than disrupting the system’s functionality), it’s worth downloading these applications as well.
Duplicate Cleaner Free
Duplicate Cleaner Free, a utility for detecting copies of any file, has the following features:
- filtering data by extension;
- Russian interface language;
- possibility of free use;
- high speed.
Its disadvantages include minor limitations when searching for images (for this it is recommended to purchase a paid version) and not entirely accurate translation of individual menu elements from English. However, due to its effectiveness and ease of use, the application enjoys some popularity.
Rice. 7. Find duplicates using the Duplicate Cleaner Free utility.
The fastest programs for finding duplicate photos
At the same time, the quality of the program also depends on its speed. 60+ pictures is, of course, not something that users can work with. So we did another test. This time for speed. To do this, we took a selection of 4450 very different images, the total weight of which exceeded 2.1 GB.
Unfortunately, two programs from this review did not take any place in the test. As it turned out, Similar Images Finder, which costs $34, in its free version is ready to process no more than 200 images at a time.
In turn, the universal duplicate search engine Duplicate Remover Free, faced with a catalog of serious size, worked intensively for more than five minutes, and then completely froze. The remaining programs showed the following times:
- AntiDupl: 0:39;
- Image Comparer: 1:02 (35 seconds to create gallery and 27 to search);
- VisiPics: 2:37;
- Awesome Duplicate Photo Finder: 3:17.
As a result, Image Comparer and AntiDupl clearly took the lead in the speed test. It took them about or, in the case of AntiDupl, less than a minute to process our archive.
Total Commander
A universal file manager that can do anything with your files. Including finding duplicate files. You can enable the search for copies option on the search parameters tab, in the same place where you specify other attributes of the searched files.
Price:
$43.9.
DupeGuru looks like the most attractive option. It's free, but it offers all the necessary features to rid your drive of accumulated junk. The only sad thing is that development of the Windows version has been stopped. For Windows users who don't want to pay for commercial alternatives, AllDup is a better choice. CCleaner and Total Commander are more universal and widespread solutions that are probably already installed on everyone.
