Help · Mac storage

How to delete duplicate photos on a Mac.

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

Importing from two phones, re-importing an old card or syncing from several places can leave the same photo in your library twice. The Photos app can find and merge them itself, and it's the only safe way to change what's inside the library.

Never delete or “dedupe” files inside the Photos Library in Finder. The library is a database, and removing files behind Photos' back can damage the whole library.

Merge duplicates in Photos

1. Open Photos. In the sidebar, under Utilities, click Duplicates. On macOS Ventura and Sonoma it's a Duplicates album in the sidebar. It appears only once Photos has found some, which can take a while after a big import.
2. Look through each set. Photos shows exact copies and versions that differ slightly, such as size or format. If you use an iCloud Shared Photo Library, choose Both Libraries in the Library menu.
3. Select the items to merge (one set, several, or ⌘A for all) and click Merge … Items (Merge … Duplicates on older macOS), then confirm. Photos keeps one original and moves the other copies to Recently Deleted.
4. To get the space back now, open Recently Deleted and delete them. Otherwise Photos removes them after 30 days. Once deleted from there, they're gone for good.

With iCloud Photos on, merging applies to all your devices.

Similar shots

Bursts and near-identical retakes aren't duplicates, so Photos doesn't merge them. Choose the best one and delete the rest by hand: select photos with ⌘-click and press Delete.

Photos outside the library

Pictures saved in Downloads, Desktop or Documents (not imported into Photos) are ordinary files. You can delete copies of those in Finder. See finding duplicate files.