How to Find and Delete Duplicate Files on Mac

There is no single built-in duplicate finder on a Mac, so the reliable way is to work through the places where copies collect: the Downloads folder, the Photos library, the Music library, and any folders you have copied by hand. Finder, Photos and Music each have a way to surface repeats, and a short Terminal command confirms whether two files are truly identical before you delete one.

Step 1: Clear repeats in Downloads with Finder

Downloading the same file twice is the most common source of duplicates, and macOS marks them for you by adding a number to the name.

1. Open the Downloads folder in Finder and switch to list view with View, then as List.
2. Click the Name column to sort alphabetically. Repeats now sit together, for example invoice.pdf, invoice (1).pdf and invoice 2.pdf.
3. Compare the Size column. The same name stem with the same size is very likely the same file.
4. Select a file and press the space bar to preview it with Quick Look if you want to be sure, then move the extra copies to the Trash.

Step 2: Search for copies in other folders

Files duplicated in Finder get the word "copy" added to the name, which makes them easy to search for.

1. Open your home folder in Finder and press Command-F.
2. Type copy in the search field and choose the Name matches suggestion.
3. Sort the results by size and review the largest first.

A matching name is only a hint. Two files called report copy.docx and report.docx may have been edited separately, so open or preview both before removing either.

Step 3: Confirm two files are identical

When it matters, compare the contents and not the names. Open Terminal, type shasum -a 256 followed by a space, drag both files into the window and press Return. Terminal prints one long code per file. If the two codes match exactly, the files have the same content and one can go. If they differ at all, keep both until you have looked inside.

Step 4: Merge duplicate photos in Photos

On macOS 13 and later, Photos finds duplicate pictures and videos in its own library.

1. Open Photos and look for Duplicates in the sidebar. On recent versions it is under Utilities. It only appears when Photos has found some, and a large library can take a while to finish analysing.
2. Review each pair and click Merge. Photos keeps one combined item and moves the rest to Recently Deleted.
3. Open Recently Deleted and delete the items there if you want the space back straight away.

This only covers pictures inside the Photos library, not image files sitting in ordinary folders.

Step 5: Find duplicate songs in Music

In the Music app choose File, then Library, then Show Duplicate Items. Music lists tracks that share a title and artist. Check the album and length columns before deleting, because a live version and a studio version can look alike in that list.

What MacPrune does about it

To be plain about the limits: MacPrune is not a whole-disk duplicate finder. Its Clean scan includes a category called Duplicate Downloads, which finds the same content saved more than once in the Downloads folder. That automates step 1 above and nothing more. For photos, music and folders elsewhere on the disk, use the manual methods in this guide.

Duplicate Downloads sits in the "Review before cleaning" group, so you see the list and choose what goes. Chosen files move to the Trash, and the space is freed when the Trash is emptied. The Large Files page can also help in an indirect way: it lists files above a size you set, biggest first, and big repeated files tend to show up next to each other there.

Where to go next

You can download MacPrune and scan for free. For the rest of a full disk, see how to free up Mac storage, what to do when storage is full but there is nothing to delete and how to clear System Data.