Find and merge duplicate photos on a Mac with the Photos app

To find duplicate photos on a Mac, open the Photos app and click Duplicates below Utilities in the sidebar. Photos builds that list by itself, by analyzing your library, and it includes videos as well as photos. Select the duplicates you want to combine, click Merge, and confirm.

Merging keeps one copy of each photo where the duplicates were. Apple's iPhone guide for iOS 16 and 17 described the kept copy as the highest quality version, with the relevant data from all the copies combined into it. The extra copies move to Recently Deleted, where you can recover them for 30 days.

Two things change how far a merge reaches. With iCloud Photos, it happens on every device that uses the same library, and it frees iCloud storage as well as space on the Mac. And the space only comes back once the extras leave Recently Deleted, either after 30 days or when you delete them there.

What you should never do is open the Photos Library in Finder and delete files inside it. Apple warns that changing a library's contents in Finder can delete items or corrupt the whole library. Duplicates inside Photos are removed in Photos.

Where to find duplicate photos in Photos on a Mac

The Duplicates collection has moved a little between macOS versions, and it can be hidden. Here's where it is now, and what to do when it isn't there.

Where is Duplicates in the sidebar?

On macOS 27 Golden Gate and macOS 26 Tahoe, it's in the Utilities group of the Photos sidebar, with Recently Deleted and Hidden. If you don't see it, hold the pointer over Utilities and click the small arrow that appears; the group is collapsed.

If you use an iCloud Shared Photo Library, also check the Library pop-up menu in the toolbar. Choose Both Libraries, as Apple's guide says, so the collection covers your personal library and the shared one together.

Which macOS versions have the Duplicates collection?

It arrived with macOS Ventura. Apple's guide for duplicates goes back to Ventura and no further, while its other Photos pages cover versions back to High Sierra. On macOS Monterey and earlier, Photos has no duplicate finder of its own.

The wording has changed along the way, which matters when you follow an older article.

macOS	Where Duplicates is	The button
macOS 27 Golden Gate	Below Utilities in the sidebar	Merge with the number of items, then confirm
macOS 26 Tahoe	Below Utilities in the sidebar	Merge with the number of items, then confirm
macOS 15 Sequoia	In Utilities, opened with the arrow beside it	Merge with the number of items
macOS 14 Sonoma and 13 Ventura	An album in the sidebar	Merge with the number of duplicates
macOS 12 Monterey and earlier	Not available	None

Why is the Duplicates collection empty or missing?

There are three usual reasons. Photos may still be analyzing: Apple says that, depending on the size of your library, duplicates may take some time to appear. After a macOS update or a large import, give it time with the Mac awake and Photos open.

Second, there may be nothing to show. Apple's iPhone guide says the collection doesn't appear when the library has no duplicates, and the Mac guide says they appear in it if your library has any.

Third, you may be looking at the wrong library. Photos only compares items inside the library that's open. A second library, or photos kept as plain files in a folder, never shows up there.

How long does the analysis take?

Apple doesn't give a figure. Macworld's test in 2022 found it could take from hours to days after an update, depending on the device and the size of the library. A Mac that sleeps most of the time, or that's busy with an iCloud upload, gets there more slowly.

What Photos counts as a duplicate

Apple doesn't publish the exact rules. Its guides describe the result: duplicate photos and videos are found automatically, and merging keeps the highest quality version. That tells you something useful, because it only makes sense if copies can differ in quality.

Exact copies

The simplest case is the same file twice. That happens when you import the same pictures from a camera card two times, drag a folder into Photos that it already holds, or save a photo from a message that iCloud Photos had already brought in.

These copies match pixel for pixel. Merging them loses nothing, and they're the easiest gigabytes to recover.

Copies that look the same but aren't identical

Photos also groups copies that look the same while differing underneath. A smaller version of a photo saved from a chat or a social network is the common example. So is the same picture in two formats, or with different dates, captions or keywords attached.

Macworld described the Duplicates list as images Photos believes are actually or effectively identical. That's why Merge keeps the best copy rather than the first: a full-resolution original and a compressed copy shouldn't be treated as equals.

What isn't a duplicate?

Several things look like copies but are single items, or deliberate ones. Photos treats them separately, and Merge isn't the tool for them.

What you see	How Photos treats it	Where to handle it
A burst of shots	One burst, with every shot inside	Bursts below Media Types, then Keep Only Selection
A Live Photo	One item: a still image and a short video	Open it and click Edit to change or turn off the video
RAW and JPEG from one shot	One item, with the JPEG as the original	Image › Use RAW as Original
An edited photo	One item; Photos keeps the original	Image › Revert to Original
A copy made with Image › Duplicate	A second item, made on purpose	Delete it yourself if you no longer need it
Similar shots seconds apart	Separate photos	Review them yourself

Can Photos group two different photos?

Apple doesn't promise it won't. Photos finds duplicates by analyzing the pictures, and two different images can look almost the same: two screenshots of the same screen, or two frames of a still scene. Before you merge, look at each row, especially in sets of screenshots and documents.

Opening a photo from the row shows it full size. If two items in a set aren't the same picture to you, don't select that row, and merge the rest.

How to merge duplicate photos on a Mac

These steps follow Apple's Photos User Guide for macOS 27, and they're the same on macOS 26 Tahoe.

Step by step

1. Open Photos and click Duplicates below Utilities in the sidebar.
2. If you use a Shared Library, choose Both Libraries from the Library pop-up menu in the toolbar.
3. Select the duplicates to merge: items in one row, several rows, or press Command-A to select every set.
4. Click Merge with the number of items, then click the same button in the dialog that appears.

Apple says one original photo or video then appears where the selected duplicates were in your library, and the deleted duplicates appear in Recently Deleted.

Should you merge one row or everything at once?

The first time, go row by row. It takes longer, but you'll see what Photos considers a duplicate in your library, and catch any set you'd rather keep apart. Once you trust the list, Command-A and a single merge are fine.

A sensible middle way: scroll the whole list first, deselect anything that looks wrong, then merge what's left in one go.

Which copy does Merge keep?

Apple's Mac guide says one original photo or video stays. Its iPhone guide for iOS 16 and 17 was more specific: merging combines the highest quality version and all of the relevant data across the duplicates, and keeps that one in your library.

In practice, the largest, sharpest copy survives, and details such as captions and keywords that were spread across the copies end up on it. Apple doesn't document how it breaks a tie between equal copies.

What if you want to keep one copy in particular?

Delete the others yourself instead of merging. Select the copy you don't want, press the Delete key, and click Delete. It goes to Recently Deleted like any deleted item.

Deleting by hand doesn't combine anything, so add any caption or keyword from the deleted copy to the one you keep first. When a photo is in Recently Deleted, Apple says it doesn't appear anywhere else in Photos, including your albums.

Does merging change albums?

Apple says the kept original appears where the selected duplicates were located in your library. It doesn't document album membership in more detail. If a particular album matters, open it after the merge and check its photos are all there; anything missing is still in Recently Deleted for 30 days.

After the merge: Recently Deleted and the space

A merge moves the extra copies; it doesn't erase them. That's a safety net, and it's also why your free space doesn't change at first.

Where do the extra copies go?

To Recently Deleted, below Utilities in the sidebar. Apple says items there are permanently deleted after 30 days. Until then they keep their space on the Mac, and in iCloud if you use iCloud Photos.

How do you get the space back now?

1. Click Recently Deleted below Utilities in the sidebar.
2. If the album is locked, click View Album and unlock it with Touch ID or your password.
3. Select the items you want to remove, then click the Delete button with their number, or click Delete All.

That step can't be undone in Photos. Do it after you've checked the merge, not straight away.

How do you undo a merge?

Open Recently Deleted, select the copies you want back, and click Recover. They return to your library. Apple notes that once items are deleted permanently, a Time Machine backup may still let you restore them, by restoring the library from that backup.

Why didn't Storage settings change?

Check four things. The extras may still be in Recently Deleted. Storage settings, in System Settings › General › Storage, can take a while to update. With Optimize Mac Storage, the Mac may only have held small versions of the copies, so removing them frees little on the Mac. And the duplicates may have been small to begin with.

Merging is tidying more than a big space saver in most libraries. The gigabytes are usually in videos; the post on what fills a Photos library covers where else to look.

Step	Space on the Mac	Space in iCloud	Can you undo it?
Merge	Unchanged for now	Unchanged for now	Yes, with Recover
30 days in Recently Deleted	Freed when they expire	Freed when they expire	No, except from a backup
Delete in Recently Deleted	Freed at once	Freed at once	No, except from a backup

Duplicates with iCloud Photos and a Shared Library

With iCloud Photos on, your Mac, iPhone and iPad share one library. A merge on any of them is a merge on all of them.

Does merging on the Mac remove duplicates from my iPhone?

Yes. Apple says that with iCloud Photos, edits and removals appear on all your devices. The extra copies go to Recently Deleted everywhere, and one copy of each photo stays everywhere. You only need to merge on one device.

That's different from deleting photos on a Mac but not in iCloud, which iCloud Photos doesn't allow: there's one library, so one action.

Does merging free iCloud storage?

Yes, once the extras leave Recently Deleted. Apple says deleting photos you don't need frees iCloud storage, and that deleted items can be recovered from Recently Deleted for 30 days.

If your plan is nearly full, merging duplicates is one of the gentlest ways to make room, alongside the ones in the post on a full iCloud storage plan.

What if iCloud storage is already full?

Apple notes one exception: if you exceed your iCloud storage limit, your device immediately removes any photos and videos you delete, and they can't be recovered from Recently Deleted. When you're over the limit, a merge has no 30-day safety net, so go row by row.

Duplicates between your personal and Shared Library

An iCloud Shared Photo Library is a second library that up to six people share. A photo can end up in both: once in yours, and once added by someone else. Choose Both Libraries from the Library pop-up menu before you look in Duplicates, or Photos only compares the library you're viewing.

Apple says the shared library's photos count only towards the iCloud storage of the person who created it. Merging copies there frees that person's storage, not yours.

Who can delete what in a Shared Library?

Any participant can delete an item from the shared library, and it moves to Recently Deleted. Apple says only the person who contributed a photo can delete it from there permanently.

If you added a photo to the shared library and delete it, you won't have a copy left in your personal library. To keep it for yourself only, select it and use the Image menu's command to move it to your Personal Library instead of deleting it.

RAW and JPEG pairs, Live Photos, edits and bursts

These four look like duplicates in Finder or in a camera's file list. Photos handles each as one item, and each has its own control.

Are RAW and JPEG pairs duplicates?

No. Some cameras shoot RAW and JPEG at the same time. Apple says that when you import these, Photos uses the JPEG file as the original, and you can switch to the RAW file with Image › Use RAW as Original while editing the photo.

The pair is one photo in your library, with both files kept inside. A RAW collection appears below Media Types if your library has RAW photos.

Are Live Photos counted twice?

Inside Photos, no: a Live Photo is one item that holds a still image and a short video. Outside Photos, it can look like two files. Image Capture, for example, saves a Live Photo as two separate files, a still and a video.

So when you tidy a folder of Image Capture imports, a short video next to a photo with the same name is the other half of a Live Photo, not a copy. With Optimize Mac Storage and little free space, Apple says Photos keeps Live Photos on the Mac as still images.

Do edits create duplicates?

No. When you edit, Photos keeps the original so you can always undo your changes and choose Image › Revert to Original. The edit and the original are one item.

A real second item only exists if you make one, with Image › Duplicate or Command-D. Apple suggests it for trying out different edits. For a Live Photo, Photos asks whether to include the video or make a still photo only. Those copies are yours to delete once you've chosen a version.

What about bursts?

A burst is a quick run of shots that Photos keeps together. To keep the best ones:

1. Click Bursts below Media Types in the sidebar, and double-click a burst.
2. Click Make a Selection, then click each shot you want to keep.
3. Click Done, then Keep Only Selection.

The shots you didn't select go to Recently Deleted. Keep Everything instead makes your picks separate photos and leaves the burst whole.

And shots that are only similar?

Ten photos of the same view taken a few seconds apart aren't duplicates, and Photos doesn't merge them. Trimming them is a judgement only you can make. Browse by day, select the misses with Command-click, and delete them; they wait in Recently Deleted like everything else.

Stop duplicates before they start

Most duplicates come from importing the same pictures twice, by two routes. A few choices when you import prevent most of them.

Don't import what iCloud Photos already brings

Apple lists iCloud Photos as one of the ways to import: new photos you take appear on all your devices with iCloud Photos turned on. If your iPhone and Mac both use it, importing the same photos over a cable as well is an easy way to get two of each.

Pick one route. With iCloud Photos on both, let it do the work and skip cable imports from the iPhone.

Import only new items

When you import from a camera, card, drive or another library, Photos offers to import all new items, besides importing a selection. The button is Import for a connected camera or iPhone, Import All New Photos for a card or drive, and Import All New Items for another library. Use it instead of selecting everything by hand.

When you import from a camera or card, you can also select Delete items, or click Delete Items when Photos asks afterwards. A card that's emptied after each import can't bring the same pictures a second time.

What does Copy items to the Photos library do?

It's in Photos › Settings › General, under Importing. Selected, the default, Photos copies every imported file into the library. The file you imported from stays where it was, so you now have two: one in Photos, one in the folder.

That second copy is outside Photos, so the Duplicates collection never sees it. Once the library has the photos and your backup is current, the folder's copies are yours to remove in Finder. The post on finding duplicate files on a Mac covers comparing folders safely.

What happens with the box deselected?

Imports stay where they are, and Photos points to them instead of copying. Apple warns that photos stored outside the library aren't uploaded to iCloud Photos, and that you have to back them up yourself. It avoids a second copy, at the cost of more care.

Image Capture and other routes

Image Capture copies items from a device to the place you choose in the Import To pop-up menu: a folder, or an app such as Photos. Choosing a folder and then importing that folder into Photos makes two copies. Choose Photos directly if the library is where you want them.

Image Capture can also delete items from the device after importing: deselect Keep originals and select Delete after import, in the options in its toolbar. Apple notes the option available depends on the device.

Import route	How duplicates happen	What prevents them
iCloud Photos and a cable	The same photos arrive both ways	Use one route only
Camera or card, again later	Importing old shots a second time	Import All New Photos, or delete after import
A folder from Finder	The library copy plus the folder copy	Remove the folder copies after checking
Image Capture to a folder, then Photos	Two copies on the Mac	Choose Photos in Import To
Saving photos from Messages	A second copy, besides the attachment	Save only what you'll keep

Messages keeps its own copy of every photo in a conversation, so saving one to Photos makes another. The post on Messages attachments explains how to trim those in Messages.

Duplicates across several Photos libraries

Many Macs have more than one library: one from an old Mac, an iPhoto library from years ago, or one made for a project. The Duplicates collection only sees inside the library that's open.

How do you find duplicates between two libraries?

Combine them first. Open the library you want to keep, choose File › Import, select the other library, and click Review for Import. Then click Import All New Items, or select some and click Import Selected.

Once the photos are in one library, the Duplicates collection can compare them. Give it time to analyze the new items, then merge as usual.

What happens when you combine a library with iCloud?

There's a second route, through iCloud Photos, and it's permanent. Apple says that when you designate a different library as your System Photo Library and turn iCloud Photos back on, the photos in iCloud are merged with those in the new library. After the upload, the libraries can't be unmerged.

Apple doesn't say whether that merge removes duplicates. Check Duplicates afterwards, and only choose this route if you're sure you want everything in one library.

What should you do with the old library afterwards?

Keep it until you've checked the combined library: albums, edits and a sample of old photos. Then move it to the Trash in Finder, as a whole, and empty the Trash when you're sure. Never move files out of the library package itself.

Back up first, with Time Machine or a copy on another drive. Apple warns not to keep a Time Machine backup on the same external drive as a photo library, because their permissions can conflict. The post on moving the Photos library to an external drive covers drives that work.

What about photos in other apps?

Lightroom Classic keeps its own catalog, separate from Photos, and has its own check for suspected duplicates when importing. Photos' Duplicates collection never sees it. The post on the space Lightroom Classic takes covers that catalog.

Screenshots are often the other big source of near-copies, both in Photos and on the Desktop. The post on screenshots and screen recordings piling up covers both places.

Third-party duplicate finders

For duplicates inside one Photos library, the built-in collection is all most people need. Other apps help with what it doesn't cover.

When does a separate app help?

Three cases. You want to search several libraries without combining them. You want to find look-alike shots, not just copies. Or your photos are plain files in folders, which Photos never compares.

What do PowerPhotos and Gemini do?

PowerPhotos, from Fat Cat Software, works with Photos libraries. Its site says it finds duplicate photos in one or more libraries, shows them side by side, and can merge libraries while removing duplicates, with a preview before any change.

Gemini, from MacPaw, finds duplicate and similar files, and its site highlights photos. PowerPhotos offers a free trial. Check each app's documentation for how it removes items from a Photos library.

What should you check before using one?

That it removes photos through Photos, so Photos' database stays in step, and never by deleting files inside the library package in Finder. Back up the library first. And remember that with iCloud Photos, whatever any app removes from the library is removed from every device.

If you're tempted to zip old photos instead, to save space without deleting anything, first read when compressing files on a Mac is worth it.

Mistakes to avoid with duplicate photos

Merging is one of the safer cleanups on a Mac, because nothing is final for 30 days. These are the ways people still lose photos or waste effort.

Don't	Why	Instead
Delete files inside Photos Library in Finder	Apple warns it can delete items or corrupt the library	Merge or delete in Photos
Empty Recently Deleted right after merging	You lose the chance to undo	Check albums first, then delete
Merge everything without looking	Two different pictures can look alike	Scroll the list, deselect odd rows
Merge while over your iCloud limit	Deletions skip Recently Deleted	Go row by row, or free iCloud space first
Trash an old library unchecked	It may hold photos the main one lacks	Import it, merge, then remove it
Delete your contribution to a Shared Library	No copy stays in your personal library	Move it to your personal library

Is it safe to merge duplicates?

Yes, with the steps above. Merge keeps the best copy, combines the details, and holds the rest in Recently Deleted for 30 days. The only steps you can't take back are deleting in Recently Deleted, and the exception Apple notes when you're over your iCloud storage limit.

How often should you check for duplicates?

After any large import, after combining libraries, and every few months otherwise. Photos keeps the collection up to date by itself, so a quick look is enough. If it's empty, there's nothing to do.

How the app does it

Wombit is a native Mac app that shows what's using your storage and explains every item in plain language. It scans the whole disk or any folder, reading only names, sizes and dates. File names and paths never leave your Mac.

It doesn't have a duplicate finder, and it never looks inside a Photos library to compare pictures. On the map, each Photos library in your home folder is one item with its real size, including libraries you'd forgotten, explained from the catalog's entry.

The library is Managed by macOS. The app never moves it or anything inside it; it explains what the library holds and points you to Photos' own tools, such as Optimize Mac Storage and moving the library to an external drive. Duplicates, like everything else in the library, are left to Photos.

• ~/**/*.photoslibrary

  Photos library

  A Photos library: your photos and videos, your edits and albums, and the previews Photos makes from them.

  Managed by macOS · Explained only: the app shows you how

The app measures the way the disk does: hard links and APFS clones count once, so copies that share space with their original don't inflate the total.

The scan, the map, the explanations, System Data explained and Apple Data are free. Cleanup and the Apple Data actions are PRO: one payment of $4.99 with lifetime access. Every Pro tool's review is free to open, so you see what would go and why before you buy.