Proven Ways to Find & Remove Duplicate Videos

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Duplicate videos usually show up in system’s local storage because of multiple downloads, cloud sync conflicts, having multiple backups, or repeated copying of video files between folders or different devices. If these files accumulate over time, they can take up too much space, especially if they’re large in size. There are different ways to find duplicate video files on Windows and macOS. This blog will talk about the different ways to find and remove duplicate video files from Windows, Mac, as well as smartphone’s storage.

Check This Before You Remove Duplicate Video Files (A Safety Checklist)

Make sure that you check these things before you delete the duplicate files:

Make sure that you’ve an original copy of all the video files.
Backup your data at a safe location.
Files deleted from USB drives or network storage in Windows aren’t stored in Recycle Bin till the recovery period.
In Mac, deleting files with the Option-Command-Delete skips the Trash folder.
Delete video files from cloud platforms carefully as deleting the videos from cloud-synced folder usually deletes them from everywhere.
Don’t empty the recycle bin folder right after deleting the duplicate files, make sure that you haven’t deleted any wrong files.

How to Find Duplicate Video Files and Remove Them on Windows?

There are two practical ways to find duplicate video files and remove them on a Windows OS. We’ve explained both of the methods in detail below.

Method 1. Find and Remove Duplicate Video Files Using File Explorer

Open File Explorer on your system and go to the location where your files are saved.
Type in .mp4 in the search bar and press Enter.
Filter the output files as per their properties like name, size, and the date when they were created.
Look for files that look like duplicates and preview them.
Delete the duplicate file that you no longer have any need for.

Method 2. Find Duplicate Video Files Using PowerShell

With the PowerShell commands, you can find and delete duplicate video files from Windows 11 PC. Here are the steps to do so:

Launch Windows PowerShell and run the command given below to define the video file path and formats to scan:

$TargetFolder = “C:\Your\Video\Folder” $VideoExtensions = @(“*.mp4”, “*.mkv”, “*.avi”, “*.mov”, “*.wmv”, “*.flv”)

Use the command given to list all the files matching the given file extensions:

$VideoFiles = Get-ChildItem -Path $TargetFolder -Include $VideoExtensions -Recurse -File

Now, run the command given below to calculate hashes, group by identical hashes, and filter for duplicates

$VideoFiles | Get-FileHash -Algorithm SHA256 |
Group-Object Hash |
Where-Object { $_.Count -gt 1 } |
ForEach-Object {
Write-Host “`n[+] Duplicate Set Found (Hash: $($_.Name))” -ForegroundColor Cyan
$_.Group | Select-Object Path, @{Name=”Size (MB)”; Expression={[math]::Round($_.Length / 1MB, 2)}} | Format-Table

Once you have the list, copy-paste the following script to delete the duplicate files from the storage:

$folderPath = “C:\Files”
$files = Get-ChildItem -Path $folderPath -Recurse | Where-Object { -not $_.PSIsContainer }
$hashes = $files | Get-FileHash -Algorithm MD5
$duplicates = $hashes | Group-Object -Property Hash | Where-Object { $_.Count -gt 1 }
foreach ($group in $duplicates) {
$firstFile = $group.Group[0].Path # Keep the first file
$duplicateFiles = $group.Group[1..($group.Count – 1)] # All but the first file
foreach ($duplicate in $duplicateFiles) {
Write-Host “Deleting duplicate file: $($duplicate.Path)”
Remove-Item -Path $duplicate.Path -Force # Delete the duplicate
}
}
Write-Host “Duplicate removal complete.”

Clean Up Your Video Library with Kernel Duplicate File Finder

Using manual ways to declutter your video folder have risks and limitations. It has chances of missing renamed video files, can’t track the scattered video files, and have risks of accidental data deletion. To avoid these issues and effectively manage bulk redundant files, you can use Kernel Duplicate File Finder. Here’s what the tool does:

Help you find and remove duplicate videos and even audio files, images, documents, PDFs, etc.
Highlight the identified duplicate files in a different color.
Compare duplicate files byte by byte to deliver accurate results.
Allows the option to exclude hidden folders from the drive scanning.
Provides easy choice to decide whether to retain the recent or older version of the file.

The tool simply scans the selected drive or folder to scan and detect duplicate files, list them, and manage duplicates without performing any manual transfer or data deletion.

How to Find Duplicate Video Files on Mac OS and Remove Them?

Users can find duplicate video files on Mac OS and remove them with the help of Finder and Terminal. Here are the step-by-step methods:

Using a Duplicate File Finder to Find and Remove Duplicate Video Files

Follow the steps given below to detect and delete identical copies of a video file using the File Finder:

Open the Finder App from the Applications folder.
Go to the folder where all the video files are stored.
Set the folder view to List View and sort videos by name or size.
Now, identify the videos having same name or file size.
Press Command button and select each duplicate file manually.
Right-click and select Move to Trash.

Using Terminal to Locate and Delete Duplicate Media Files in MacOS

Use the given steps to remove duplicate copies of video files from your MacOS device:

Go to Applications> Utilities> Terminal.
Now use the command cd /path/to/folder to navigate to the video folder.
Run the given command to detect duplicate files:
find . -type f -exec md5 {} ; | sort | uniq -w32 -d –all-repeated=separate
After finding the files, use the command below to delete duplicate files:
rm /path/to/duplicate/video

Note: Remember that deleting files with Terminal often means permanent deletion, therefore, take a backup before beginning.

Conclusion

Duplicate video files can accumulate a lot of space over the time and make it harder to manage the data. Windows File explorer or Mac Finder can be helpful if you want to find and remove a few duplicate video files. However, if you’ve a large video collection, then a duplicate finder tool can be a good choice for you. To help you narrow down the search for a duplicate finder, we suggest you Kernel Duplicate File Finder . This tool scans the internal drives, hard disks, or USBs to detect duplicate files (videos, photos, documents, and database files) and remove them from your system.

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Frequently Asked Questions

Q1. How do I find duplicate files with different file names?

A. File names aren’t reliable markers to identify duplicate files because actual duplicate files can sometimes have completely different names. To find duplicate video files with different names, use the hash method to compare the video files.

Q2. Are MP4 files with the same size duplicates?

A. No, two MP4 files having the same size aren’t duplicates if the video content is different. File size doesn’t matter much in identifying which two video files are identical.

Q3. How do I safely delete duplicate MP4 files?

A. Before deleting a duplicate MP4 file, verify that it contains the same content as the copy you want to keep. Check the file’s location, size, date, and other relevant details, and preview the video if necessary. Keep the copy stored in the preferred location and move the unwanted duplicate to the Recycle Bin or Trash first rather than permanently deleting it immediately.