Image mode
Overview
Section titled “Overview”Image mode is for finding duplicate and similar images. The actual images are visually compared (unless Ignore is selected), regardless of file type, resolution or tags.
Image data is also cached by Duplicate Cleaner, meaning that a scan covering any previously scanned (and unchanged) images is a lot faster. Non-image files are ignored in this mode.
Supported image types include .jpg, .png, .gif, .bmp, .tif, .webp, .heic,
.avif, .ico and more. The full list is shown under All file extensions in
Search filters, and can be changed in
File types settings. You can also scan camera RAW formats - see below.
Image Similarity
Section titled “Image Similarity”Set how similar the images you want to find must be:
- Exact match - Finds exact pixel colour duplicates of the images (ignoring tags). Images need to be the same dimensions - this won’t match differently sized images.
- Very close match - Similar image match.
- Good match - Similar image match.
- Loose match - Similar image match.
- Custom - Allows you to set a matching percentage (50% to 99%).
- Ignore - Don’t match by the image; match by another attribute such as time taken or metadata.
Notes:
- If you just want to compare image tags (including time taken), and ignore the actual image, select Ignore.
- For very small images, such as icons, exact matching may produce better results.
- If you are getting false matches, try unticking Find rotated and Find flipped, and lock the scan to Same dimensions and Same aspect ratio. Also try a closer similarity.
- All similar matching (not Exact match) is colour-insensitive (greyscale). If you want colour matching then turn on Match histogram.
Find rotated
Section titled “Find rotated”Tick this if you want to group rotated images as duplicates. Rotations of 90, 180 and 270 degrees are considered.
Find flipped
Section titled “Find flipped”Tick this if you want to find flipped images (flipped horizontally or vertically).
Same dimensions
Section titled “Same dimensions”Tick this if you only want images of the same dimensions (for example 1024x768) to be matched. A pixel Tolerance can also be set.
Same aspect ratio
Section titled “Same aspect ratio”Tick this if you only want images of the same aspect ratio (for example 16:9) to be matched. Not available with Exact match, which already requires the same dimensions.
Match histogram
Section titled “Match histogram”Tick this to also match by the colour histogram of the image - images must have similar colour distributions. The Tolerance (70% to 100%) sets how close the colours must be.
Additional options
Section titled “Additional options”Group by time taken
Section titled “Group by time taken”Groups photos by the time they were taken, as recorded by the camera. There is a Tolerance, in seconds.
Group by GPS location
Section titled “Group by GPS location”Groups images by where they were taken, within a Tolerance radius in metres. The location is taken from the latitude and longitude in the image’s metadata. The image must contain location tags for this to work - this is supported by most modern cameras and smartphones, if enabled.
Include camera RAW files
Section titled “Include camera RAW files”Tick this to scan camera RAW image formats (.cr2, .cr3, .nef, .dng, .arw, .orf,
.raf, .rw2 and many more), and Photoshop .psd files.
Due to the raw nature and larger file size of these formats, scans will tend to be slower than with regular image formats.
Match RAW images using embedded JPG [faster]
Section titled “Match RAW images using embedded JPG [faster]”RAW files often have a JPG preview embedded within them. This option tells the program to match using this preview (if present) instead of the raw image itself - resulting in a much faster scan.
Notes:
- Exact match always uses the full RAW image for comparison.
- There may be unexpected results using this option if the embedded preview is corrupt, or has not been updated by image editing software after the photo was edited.
Metadata
Section titled “Metadata”Image mode can show and match image metadata, such as Date/Time taken, Make, Model, Lens, ISO, Keywords and Rating. For instance, if Make and Model are set to be matched then two or more images with matching Make AND Model will be grouped as duplicates. See Metadata.