How To Clear Duplicate Files

5+ best tools to find and remove duplicate files in Windows 10

Passionate about all elements related to Windows and combined with his innate curiosity, Ivan has delved deep into understanding this operating system, with a specialization in drivers and driver troubleshooting. When he's not tackling... Read more

Updated: Oct 8, 2021

Posted: January 2021

Finding and removingduplicate files stored on your Windows 10 device could help avoid some issues with your PC in the long run.
The list below will help you find the best duplicate file finder for Windows 10.
The best tool from our list uses advanced algorithms to identify duplicate files very fast.
Read about each one of them because you will find cleaning tools for your PC.

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There are computer problems that can resurface depending on the way that hardware components evolve. Finding and removing duplicate files stored on your Windows 10 computer is one of them.

More than a decade ago hard drives were pretty expensive, especially the larger capacity ones, so people opted for the smaller ones that were in a decent price range.

This meant that you had to keep an eye on the free space available and do regular cleanups to remove unneeded files stored on your hard drive.

The first thing people used to look for was duplicate files as this was the most obvious way of freeing up space.

But as time went by and bigger hard drives became more accessible to the masses free space became a problem of the past. Most of us couldn't be bothered to organize our files library.

Duplicate files can also be a problem when creating backups as the process will take longer to finish and you will need more space on the backup destination. This can also slow down the process of restoring a backup.

In this article, we are going to list a few Windows 10 compatible applications that you can use to find, compare, and remove duplicate files, freeing up precious storage space in the process.

What are the best tools to find and remove duplicate files?

Easy Duplicate Finder

Easy Duplicate Finder is a powerful tool that uses smart algorithms to find all kinds of duplicate files on your PC. It's extremely easy to use and it has a simple drag-and-drop interface that can be mastered in seconds.

If you don't want to make any effort, you can use the Wizard tool that does all the work for you with the price of a few clicks.

However, you can go into an advanced mode because you have over 10 scan modes and search methods for advanced file management to play with.

And not only that you can clean the duplicate files from your drives, but you can do the same on your Cloud storage solutions like Google Drive and Dropbox.

Your files are always secured but if you feel that you did something wrong, you will always have the Undo button on your side to make things right again.

Let's review some of the key features of Easy Duplicate Finder:

Smart scan technologies to identify the duplicate files quickly
Google Drive and Dropbox cloud storage integration
Compatible with Windows and Mac
Works on most file types including photos, videos, e-mails and music

Easy Duplicate Finder

Use the smart Wizard tool inside Easy Duplicate Finder to get rid of the duplicate files in seconds.

Copernic Desktop Search

If you are looking for a tool that will help you search files through multiple internal or external drives, all at the same time, then we recommend you use Copernic Desktop Search.

The software completes the search in no time so you will not have to wait long to see the results.

Copernic Desktop Search comes with the Preview function that allows you to first see the found file, before initiating any action. If needed, you can keep the software in the background.

If there are specific files you are searching for, the custom feature allows you to filter the results so that you can only see the desired files.

Copernic Desktop Search

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Duplicate Cleaner

Duplicate Cleaner's simple interface makes it easy to start searching for duplicate files on your PC. You can customize your search by the type of file, sizes, dates, and more.

You can specify which drives and folders to look in, and you even get an option to search inside Zip archives.

This software will assist you in selecting which duplicate files you want to delete. Its Selection Assistant allows you to select files by dates, drives, folders, and more.

You can select a favorite folder, and remove files that duplicate it in another place, or maybe select the smallest images, or the lowest quality mp3. In case you have made a copy of a directory – this is not a problem.

Duplicate Cleaner can scan popular music formats to find duplicates by Artist, Name, or Title. It supports formats such as MP3, OGG, WMA, M4A, AAC, FLAC, and WAV.

It is capable of listing details of the audio files found, including bit rate, sample rate, and length.

Duplicate Cleaner will show you that in the Duplicate Folder browser. Quickly see duplicated directories, and easily get rid of the ones you don't want to keep.

You can also save Scan Profiles (just like presets in Winamp) and reuse different settings for different jobs.

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Moreover, you don't have to worry about the important System Files: several safeguards are offered to make sure that these files won't be touched.

Duplicate Cleaner

Safely delete duplicate files of all types and formats, with an assisted selection process and detailed reports.

CCleaner

We are sure most of you have already heard of CCleaner, perhaps the number 1 Windows application when it comes to cleaning junk from your computer.

But what most of you don't know is the fact that it has a built-in duplicate file scanner that does its' job really well.

It has the option to scan the files for duplicate filenames, matching sizes, content, or by their modified dates.

If you are already a CCleaner user than this news can be good for you as you don't need to look for and install other applications that will use more space on your drive.

The Duplicate Finder in CCleaner can be easily found under the Tools tab.

The problem we have with CCleaner is that it has a lot of other extra features, features that you don't need, features that you may never use, and that only take up space.

A new feature of CCleaner is the automatic software updater. An outdated software will make your computer more expoed to cyber threats.

CCleaner is a commercial software but it does offer a free version with limited functionality.

CC Cleaner

Find and get rid of duplicate files and use the other optimization features to keep your system running perfectly.

dupeGuru

dupeGuru has become the industry standard when it comes to searching for duplicate files under Microsoft Windows. It offers 3 versions of the app – the Standard edition, a Music edition, and one for Pictures.

The Standard Edition is the default one that can search through all your files, either by filename or the contents of the files.

It features a fuzzy algorithm that can detect files even if the name has been changed or if part of the content matches to other files.

The Music Edition (ME) is dedicated to finding duplicate music files using the following file formats: MP3, WMA, AAC, OGG, and FLAC. It can scan the filenames, tags, and even the contents of music files.

The main advantage of this edition is the fact that it can detect duplicate music files even if they use a different encoder or are saved at a different bitrate, giving you the chance to locate and keep only the high quality files.

The third version is called the Picture Edition (PE) and as the name suggests it can be used to find duplicate image files that use the JPG, PNG, TIFF, GIF, and BMP file formats.

The search engine in the Pictures Edition can match image files even if they use different file formats or have been resized or rotated.

It can even match files that have been slightly edited, helping you find the source of an edited image.

All editions of dupeGuru are free of charge and open-sourced and can be downloaded from their official website.

⇒ Get dupeGuru

Duplicate Files Finder

This is another lightweight tool aimed at finding and removing duplicate files stored on your computer.

This application has been around for some years now and even has a version compatible with older, pre NT versions of Microsoft Windows.

It hasn't been updated in a very long time because well, it doesn't need to be. It does its job really good, really simple, and really fast and you can use it even on legacy Windows versions.

⇒ Get Duplicate FilesFinder

Of course, there are many more software solutions out there that you can use to find and remove duplicate files. These are some of the best ones.

Do you have any experience using these tools? Don't by shy to share it with us via the comments section below.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do I find and remove duplicate files on Windows 10?
What tool is very good for removing duplicate files?

If you're looking for a reliable tool to find and remove duplicates on your PC , check out Easy Duplicate Finder. It's also one of the best junk file remover software.
How can I remove file duplicates from my PC?