This Python script finds duplicate files:

• any file by exact match of blake2b hash
• images using a perspective hash (pHash) to compare images. pHash ignores the image size and file size and instead creates a hash based on the pixels of the image. This allows you to find duplicate pictures that have been rotated, have changed metadata, and slightly edited.
• videos by extracting N frames at respective times and hashing them with perspective hash (see above)

This script hashes files added to it, storing the hashes into a database (MongoDB). To find duplicate files, hashes are compared. If the hash is the same between two files, then they are marked as duplicates. A web interface is provided to delete duplicate files easily. If you are feeling lucky, there is an option to automatically delete duplicate files.

As a word of caution, pHash is not perfect. I have found that duplicate pictures sometimes have different hashes and similar (but not the same) pictures have the same hash. This script is a great starting point for cleaning your photo or video library of duplicate pictures, but make sure you look at the pictures before you delete them. You have been warned! I hold no responsibility for any family memories that might be lost because of this script.

This script requires MongoDB, Python 3.12 or higher, and a few Python modules, as found in requirements.txt.

I suggest you read the usage, but here are the steps to get started right away. These steps assume that MongoDB is already installed on the system.

First, install this script. This can be done by either cloning the repository or downloading the script.

git clone https://github.com/bolshevik/duplicate-images.git

Next, download all required modules. This script has only been tested with Python 3. I would suggest that you make a virtual environment, setting Python 3 as the default python executable (mkvirtualenv --python=/usr/local/bin/python3 <name>)

pip install -r requirements.txt

Last, run script:

python duplicate_finder.py

# Add your pictures to the database
# (this will take some time depending on the number of pictures)
python duplicate_finder.py add ~/Pictures
python duplicate_finder.py add /Volumes/Pictures/Originals /Volumes/Pictures/Edits

# Find duplicate images
# A webpage will come up with all of the duplicate pictures
python duplicate_finder.py find

Usage:
    duplicate_finder.py add <path> ... [--db=<db_path>] [--parallel=<num_processes>]
    duplicate_finder.py remove <path> ... [--db=<db_path>]
    duplicate_finder.py clear [--db=<db_path>]
    duplicate_finder.py show [--db=<db_path>]
    duplicate_finder.py cleanup [--db=<db_path>]
    duplicate_finder.py find [--print] [--delete] [--match-time] [--trash=<trash_path>] [--db=<db_path>] [--threshold=<num>]
    duplicate_finder.py -h | --help

Options:
    -h, --help                Show this screen

    --db=<db_path>            The location of the database or a MongoDB URI. (default: ./db)

    --parallel=<num_processes> The number of parallel processes to run to hash the files
                               (default: number of CPUs).

    find:
        --threshold=<num>     Hash matching threshold. Number of different bits in Hamming distance. False positives are possible.
        --print               Only print duplicate files rather than displaying HTML file
        --delete              Move all found duplicate files to the trash. This option takes priority over --print.
        --match-time          Adds the extra constraint that duplicate images must have the
                              same capture times in order to be considered.
        --trash=<trash_path>  Where files will be put when they are deleted (default: ./Trash)

python duplicate_finder.py add /path/to/images

When a path is added, files are recursively searched for. Binary content hash is applied to all files, for image files like JPEG, PNG, GIF, and TIFF the perceptive hash is applied. Video hash is applied to video files. Adding a path uses 8 processes (by default) to hash images in parallel so the CPU usage is very high.

python duplicate_finder.py remove /path/to/images

A path can be removed from the database. Any file inside that path will be removed from the database.

python duplicate_finder.py clear

Removes all hashes from the database.

python duplicate_finder.py cleanup

Clean disappeared files from the database.

python duplicate_finder.py show

Prints the contents database.

duplicate_finder.py find [--print] [--delete] [--match-time] [--trash=<trash_path>] [--threshold=<num>]

Finds duplicate files that have been hashed. This will find files that have the same hash stored in the database. There are a few options associated with find. By default, when this command is run, a webpage is displayed showing duplicate files and a server is started that allows for the files to be deleted (files are not actually deleted, but moved to a trash folder -- I really don't want you to make a mistake). The first option, --print, prints all duplicate files and does not display a webpage or start the server. --delete automatically moves all duplicate files found to the trash. Be careful with this one. --match-time adds the extra constraint that images must have the same EXIF time stamp to be considered duplicate pictures. --trash=<trash_path> lets you select a path to where you want files to be put when they are deleted. The default trash location is ./Trash. Last, --threshold=<num> specifies number of bits of Hamming distance to run fuzzy matching of hashes.

sudo apt-get install python3 python3-pip python3-setuptools gnupg curl file
curl -fsSL https://pgp.mongodb.com/server-7.0.asc | \
   sudo gpg -o /usr/share/keyrings/mongodb-server-7.0.gpg \
   --dearmor
echo "deb [ arch=amd64,arm64 signed-by=/usr/share/keyrings/mongodb-server-7.0.gpg ] https://repo.mongodb.org/apt/ubuntu jammy/mongodb-org/7.0 multiverse" | sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/mongodb-org-7.0.list
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install -y mongodb-org
sudo mkdir /data/db
sudo mongod

pip install --only-binary=numpy,scipy -r requirements.txt
pip install -r requirements-test.txt

I take no responsibility for bugs in this script or accidentally deleted pictures. Use at your own risk. Make sure you back up your pictures before using.