Help · Mac storage

How to find duplicate files on a Mac.

By Grant and Brad, who make Pangalin's apps · Updated 11 October 2026

Duplicates pile up quietly: the same download saved twice, a project copied “just in case”, photos imported from two devices. They're rarely the biggest use of space, but they're easy wins once you can see them.

Photos: use the built-in Duplicates album

1. Open Photos. In the sidebar, under Utilities, click Duplicates. (It appears only if Photos has found some. On macOS Ventura and Sonoma it's a Duplicates album in the sidebar.)
2. Check each pair, then click Merge. Photos keeps one original and moves the other copies to Recently Deleted, where they stay for 30 days.

Other files: find them with Finder

macOS has no duplicate finder for ordinary files, but Finder can narrow things down.

1. Look for copies by name. Open a folder such as Downloads or Documents and search (⌘F) for copy, or for names ending (1) or 2. Browsers and Finder add these to repeated downloads and copies.
2. Find big files, then compare. Press ⌘F, choose This Mac, click the first criterion (“Kind”), choose Other…, tick File Size, then set “is greater than 500 MB”. Sort by Size: files with the same size and similar names are likely copies.
3. Check before you delete. Open both, compare dates and sizes with File › Get Info (⌘I), and keep the one in the place you actually use.

Be careful with “duplicates” inside apps and projects. Libraries (Photos, Music, Final Cut), code projects and app folders often contain files that look identical on purpose. Deleting one copy can break the project that uses it. When in doubt, leave it.

Deleting isn't the only option

Your Mac's disk format (APFS) can let identical files share one set of storage, called a clone: copying a file in Finder already does this. Two copies that were made separately, though, take the space twice. Merging them into clones gets the space back while every copy stays where it is, so nothing that relies on either location breaks. Editing one later only changes that copy.