What Is the Best Duplicate Photo Finder?

When you have a large photo library, it's really easy to lose track of things. A lot of people take hundreds of snaps with their phone camera or a point-and-shoot only to dump all the photos into their Pictures folder, unsorted. Worse still, some of these photos get copied and pasted into other folders and you get duplicate photos all over your drive. That's why you need a duplicate finder. But how can you be sure that the program you're getting is the best duplicate photo finder? Here are some tips that will help you make your choice.

There are many duplicate finders that claim to work with photos. Unfortunately, some of them only compare photos by file name, which means that they won't see a renamed photo as a duplicate. So, when you are looking for a duplicate photo finder, you should make sure that it offers several different file comparison methods. Ideally, you should find one that can compare image files byte by byte because only this comparison method guarantees 100% accuracy.

Another feature the best duplicate photo finder should have is an option to preview photos before you hit the Delete button. The preview feature is very important because if you can't preview the duplicate photos you're deleting, you risk to accidentally wipe some photos you may want to keep.

If all you want is a general duplicate finder that works well with photos, then these features are enough (Mac users would appreciate integration with iPhoto and Photos). But if you want to give your photo library a good sweep and manage similar photos as well as delete duplicates, then look for an app that can compare images based on their similarity. This will help you identify and remove resized and cropped photos, as well as photos of the same subject taken with different settings.

Ultimately, the best duplicate photo finder is the one that suits you. So try different apps (there are plenty of them for both PC and Mac) and find the one that works for you.