Remove Itunes Duplicates Mac Free

Remove Duplicate from iTunes Library with Rinse. Rinse is a very good software which allows you to do a lot of tasks with your iTunes library. It is able to add or fix album tracks or songs in album. There is a problem with this software that it’s not that much of stable as compare to iMusic while using. You can turn to Leawo Tunes Cleaner Mac, an expert iTunes cleaner tool that could help you delete duplicates of songs, complete music information, repair music, etc. Within only a few clicks, it could help you repair and clean up iTunes music library and other music collections. How to delete duplicates in iTunes? It’s impractical to manually remove duplicate songs. Fortunately, you can pull the job off with the best iTunes duplicate removers. Here we have listed top 7 iTunes duplicate remover for Mac and Windows, be it free or paid. 7 Best iTunes Duplicate Removers for Mac and Windows #1. If you need to find and remove all duplicate songs in iTunes and all duplicate files such as photos, videos, documents, etc. From Mac, Gemini 2 comes to the best duplicate iTunes remover and duplicate file finder for Mac, and the price is worthy for its finding and removing duplicates features. If you are on Windows, Tune Sweeper could be a.

This article will show you how to mass delete duplicates in iTunes. iTunes is a very great app to purchase, play and manage digital multimedia such as music. But it’s not free from issues. Duplicate items are one of the common issues. It can be annoying if every song in iTunes plays twice or more before it goes to the next song.

iTunes has a built-in “Show Duplicate Items” feature, which automatically finds duplicate tracks but requires users to remove the found duplicates manually one by one. It’s of limited use if there are lots of duplicates. Below you will find an easy, fast way to find and delete iTunes duplicates in bulk in one go.

The Best iTunes Duplicate Remover for Mac

  • Remove duplicates from iTunes & Music
  • Also delete duplicates in Photos & iPhoto
  • Find duplicate photos, audios, videos, documents, archives and other duplicates
  • Find and eliminate duplicates on Mac, external HD, SD card, etc.
  • Identify true duplicate files by content
  • Offer 3 preview modes, letting you preview music and images within the app
  • Automatically select duplicates for you to remove with 1 click
  • Also provide multiple selection rules
  • Support macOS 10.11 and later
Free Download

How to mass delete duplicates in iTunes automatically

This part talks about how to batch delete duplicates in iTunes for Mac and iTunes for Windows.

It’s recommended to back up your iTunes library first.

Steps to delete duplicates in iTunes all at once on Mac

If you are looking for a fast way to delete duplicates in iTunes for Mac (replaced by Music since macOS Catalina), it’s recommended to use iTunes duplicate removers like Cisdem Duplicate Finder for Mac.

You can use this app to find and get rid of all duplicates songs (purchased or not) in iTunes in a few clicks. Are you serious about cleaning up your iTunes library? Use this app to get the job done by following the instructions below.

1. Download this duplicate remover for iTunes. Install it.

2. In iTunes, go to Preferences > Advanced. Know about the location of your iTunes Media folder.

3. Drag your iTunes Media folder into the app. Click Scan.

4. When the scan is done, choose Music tab. View and preview the found duplicate songs listed there.

There are three preview modes. The second mode lets you preview the songs.

5. Cisdem Duplicate Finder’s auto mode already smartly selects iTunes duplicates for mass deletion.

If not satisfied with auto-selection, choose a desired selection rule, or select by hand.

6. Click Delete.

This is how to mass delete duplicate songs in iTunes 12. All iTunes duplicates are grouped for one-click removal.

The steps above will help if you have a lot of duplicate songs in your iTunes library or if there are also other duplicate files scattered around your Mac.

Tip

It’s also possible to quickly delete duplicates in iTunes using Tune Sweeper. Open the app. In the top toolbar, click Duplicates. Click Search for Duplicates. When the search is completed, click View Results. In the results window, you can find groups of iTunes duplicates.

Select the tracks you want to delete. In the left column, you can set selection preferences. Click the Remove Duplicates button at the upper right corner to delete duplicates in iTunes all at once. But before you select them, it’s recommended to preview. You can select a song and click the Preview button.

In addition to deleting duplicate tracks in iTunes, it also provides other features such as downloading missing artworks.

Steps to delete duplicates in iTunes Windows 10

The “Show Duplicate Items” feature is also available in iTunes for Windows. But if you want to mass delete duplicates in iTunes Windows, you need to use software like Ashisoft iTunes Duplicate Finder.

The software can quickly locate and get rid of duplicates in iTunes library on your computer and help keep your music collection organized.

Mac

1. Launch the software on your computer.

2. Adjust the Name Similarity, Artist Similarity and Album Similarity based on your preferences.

3. Click Start Search.

4. View the found iTunes duplicate tracks under the Result List tab. If needed, you can tweak the similarity levels and search again to get more desirable results.

5. Clicking Easy Marking will automatically mark duplicate iTunes songs for you to delete.

Also, you can mark by hand if you want to.

6. Click on Delete Tracks to bulk delete the unwanted duplicates in iTunes.

Tip

Another available duplicate remover for iTunes is ManyProg iTunes Duplicate Remover Free. It supports Windows 10, 8, 7 and XP. Despite being free and lightweight, it does a good job of bulk removing duplicates in iTunes. Before you use it to scan for dupes in your iTunes library, there are a few things you can do.

  • Choose the scan principle
  • Exclude specific audio file formats
  • Specify the minimum and maximum file size for scan

Open the app. Under the Search tab, navigate to the Comparison type section. There are three options: Strong duplicate, Music tag and File properties. With Music tag, you can include or exclude tag(s).

If you click the Settings button, a dialog box will pop up allowing you to include or ignore specific audio types. It’s optional. You can also filter by file size by going to the File size section. Click Add iTunes library, and it will start automatically looking for and add your library. Once the process is done, click the Start button.

After the scan is finished, you will be taken to the Search result tab where you can select the unwanted iTunes duplicates. Click the Action dropdown list and click Remove to mass delete duplicates in iTunes.

How to remove iTunes duplicates one by one manually

As mentioned at the beginning of the article, iTunes itself comes with a feature to help users locate duplicate items in their libraries. If you have only a few duplicate tracks in iTunes and don’t want to install an iTunes duplicate finder, you can use the feature and then do the cleanup by hand.

1. Open iTunes on your computer.

2. Press and hold the Shift key (PC) or Option key (Mac), and simultaneously choose File > Library > Show Exact Duplicate Items at the top of the iTunes window (PC) or from the top menu bar (Mac).

Remove Itunes Duplicates Mac Free

3. Now iTunes will display groups of exact duplicate songs that have the same name, artist, album and length. Note that they may different in the sample rate (audio quality) or size.

4. In each group of duplicates, right-click the song that you want to eliminate and choose the Delete from Library option that appears.

5. Click Delete Song to confirm the deletion.

6. Choose to remove the song from your library only (via Keep File) or to move it to Trash (via Move to Trash).

If you are not sure which songs to keep and which to delete, it’s recommended to keep the higher quality one, the one marked as Loved or the one with more complete song info (e.g., song details, artwork, lyrics, etc.).

Remove Itunes Duplicates

Tip

In addition to the exact duplicates, you may also have different versions of the same song, such as a studio version and a live version in your library. Unless you are a hardcore fan, you may want to keep the favorite version only. To show this type of iTunes duplicates, don’t hold down the Shift or Option key in Step 2.

Helpful tips

iTunes Show Duplicate Items greyed out? What to do

Why is this happening? If this feature appears greyed out, there are two possible reasons.

  • The Show Duplicate Items feature only applies to iTunes Music. And iTunes has iTunes has libraries for different media types such as Music, Movies, TV Shows, etc. To fix the issue, make sure that your iTunes is opening the Music Library instead of a different library.
  • Also, this feature only supports the Music Library on your computer rather than a portable device such as your iPod.

Stop iTunes creating duplicates

  • When you manually copy a music folder, duplicates are created. One of the easiest ways to copy a music folder to iTunes without duplicates is by adding the folder to your library. And iTunes will add any new files you place in the folder automatically without creating duplicates.
  • You can change the iTunes settings to automatically import your music without causing duplicates. Open iTunes. Select iTunes and click Preferences. Select the Advanced tab. Uncheck the option: Copy files to iTunes Media folder when adding to library.
  • The best way to prevent iTunes duplicates is to store all your music in the iTunes media folder by default. If you download music from websites other than iTunes, choose the iTunes folder as your default download folder.
  • Don’t regularly transferring purchased music from your iOS devices to iTunes.

What to do when you find duplicate songs on iPhone but not in iTunes

Another common iTunes problem is that songs are listed twice on iPhone but only once in iTunes. The following steps should fix the issue.

  • Connect your iPhone to a computer with iTunes installed. Back up your iPhone. Alternatively, you can do it via iCloud. Eject your phone from iTunes.
  • Go to Settings on your iPhone. Select General > Usage > Storage > Music > Edit. Tap on Delete.
  • Restart your iPhone and connect it to iTunes again. Sync your iTunes playlist manually.

Conclusion

How do I mass delete duplicates in iTunes? If you have many duplicate songs your iTunes library, the instructions provided in this article can help. Once the iTunes duplicates are automatically grouped together, you can easily get rid of them in one click. In addition to duplicate tracks, there can also be duplicate playlists. To fix it, check out this guide to removing iTunes duplicate playlists.

Find and Remove Duplicates

Find out the best iTunes duplicate removers, free and not free, to help you get rid of duplicates in your iTunes library.

An iTunes user asked this question in Apple Community – “How do I easily delete thousands of duplicates in my iTunes library?” This iTunes user is not alone at all. Duplicates in iTunes are very common and can be caused by quite a few things such as buying certain songs without realizing that you’ve already have them in your iTunes, importing songs from sources where duplicates already exist, iTunes glitches, etc.

iTunes duplicates are useless if not annoying. They take up precious hard drive space and make it less easy to organize iTunes music library. The best solution is to use an iTunes duplicate remover to find and delete the duplicates. What is the best iTunes duplicate remover available? Are there any iTunes duplicate remover free tools for easy and effective duplicate removal? Let’s find out.

The Best iTunes Duplicate Remover for Mac

  • Find and mass eliminate duplicates in iTunes
  • Also support Music, Photos and iPhoto
  • Find duplicate audios, videos, photos, documents and other duplicate files
  • Identify true duplicate files based on content
  • Work with Mac’s internal drive, external hard drive, SD card, etc.
  • Automatically select all duplicates for a one-click removal
  • Also let you select or deselect by hand
Free Download

iTunes has a built-in feature to find duplicates

Apple is considerate enough to provide an easy-to-use feature in iTunes that helps users identify duplicate songs. It’s available for free for both iTunes for Mac (replaced by Music in macOS Catalina, macOS Big Sur or later) and iTunes for Windows.

1. In iTunes, from the pop-up menu in the top left, choose Music.

2. From the top menu bar, choose File > Library > Show Duplicate Items.

Now iTunes will identify duplicates according to the song name and artist and display them for you to deal with. Note that 'Show Duplicate Items' will find the following types of duplicates.

  • Exact duplicate songs: They have the same song name, artist and album name.
  • Different versions of the same song by the same artist from different albums: For example, there can be studio, single and live versions.

To find only exact duplicates in iTunes, when in Step 2, press and hold the Option or Alt key (on a Mac) or the Shift key (on a Windows PC) and choose Show Exact Duplicate Items.

By the way, if you want to remove iTunes duplicate playlists, you need to manually identify and remove them one by one.

You need a 3rd-party iTunes duplicate remover to mass delete duplicates in iTunes

With the built-in feature described above, to remove duplicates in iTunes on Windows 10 or macOS, you need to manually select unwanted duplicates (by clicking them one by one), press the Delete key and then confirm the deletion. If there are only a few duplicates, you can clean up your iTunes library in this way.

What if you have a large iTunes library with hundreds if not thousands (or even more) of duplicates songs in it? It’s not a mission impossible to get rid of them by hand one by one. But, believe me, you won’t want to try.

This is when you need a third-party iTunes duplicate remover. Such iTunes cleanup software can find and bulk remove duplicates in iTunes automatically, saving you from tedious and time-consuming manual work.

Review: the best iTunes duplicate removers

#1 Cisdem Duplicate Finder | Mac

Cisdem Duplicate Finder is a powerful and easy-to-use duplicate file finder for Mac to detect and clean up duplicate music files, videos, photos, documents, archives and other duplicate files. Safely support iTunes, it can be an excellent iTunes duplicate finder and remover.

  • Quickly scan your iTunes library for duplicate songs
  • Let you easily preview duplicates with its built-in media player
  • Let you mass select duplicates in iTunes to delete with a single click
  • Provide three removal methods
  • Also work if you have multiple iTunes libraries
  • Also search for and erase duplicate music files outside of iTunes

How to use the best iTunes duplicate remover to mass remove iTunes duplicates

1. In iTunes app, go to Preferences > Advanced. Find the location of your iTunes Media folder.

Windows Remove Duplicates From Itunes

To open the folder, in Finder, from the menu bar, choose Go > Go to Folder, paste the location and click Go.

2. Download Cisdem Duplicate Finder and install it. Open the software.

3. Drag iTunes Media folder into the software. Click Scan.

4. Once the scan is done, you can find all the duplicate iTunes songs under the Music tab and duplicate iTunes videos or movies (if any) under the Videos tab.

There are three preview modes. You can switch to the second one to play a song.

5. This iTunes duplicate cleaner already automatically selects all duplicate copies for you to delete with one click.

If not satisfied with it, you can highlight all items under the All tab with Command-A, click the list icon and choose a desired selection rule.

6. Make sure the unwanted duplicates are selected. Click Delete.

Pros

  1. Identify and mass erase duplicate items in iTunes
  2. Automate the identification and deletion of iTunes duplicates
  3. Find duplicate audios, videos, movies, images and other types of duplicates
  4. Remove duplicates from Mac, external hard drive, SD card, etc.
  5. Also support Music, Photos and iPhoto
  6. Offer 3 preview modes
  7. Provide 3 removal methods (e.g. moving to Trash)
  8. Allow 1-click restoring from Trash
  9. Support macOS 10.10 or later

#2 Tune Sweeper 4 | Windows & Mac

Tune Sweeper 4 is primarily an iTunes cleanup app and enables you to quickly find and remove duplicates songs in your iTunes library. It searches for iTunes duplicate tracks based on your preferred search criteria, such as matching track names, artist and so on. In the latest version, version 4.41 for PC and version 4.25 for Mac, the search speed is improved.

This iTunes duplicate remover will list the duplicates found in your iTunes library in groups, suggest which tracks to keep based on your preference and then remove unwanted duplicates from iTunes library. Optionally, tracks removed from iTunes are backed up for safekeeping.

New users may get a bit overwhelmed by the interface and the array of features and options provided. When you open the app, you need to click Duplicates in the toolbar to access the deduplication feature.

Pros

  1. Can do a decent job of finding dupes in iTunes
  2. Provide a number of duplicate search criteria
  3. Allow mass selection and mass deletion
  4. Provide a preview feature
  5. Also offer other features like Missing Artwork
  6. Available for macOS and Windows

How To Remove Duplicate Songs Itunes

Cons

  1. Can find duplicates that don’t even exist in your iTunes library

#3 iTunes Duplicates Cleaner | Windows & Mac

As one of the best iTunes duplicate remover software, iTunes Duplicates Cleaner is made for cleaning up your iTunes library by finding and eliminating the duplicated tracks in it.

It received several updates in December 2020 to the improve accuracy when finding duplicates. The improved accuracy helps this iTunes duplicate deleter become one of the best among its kind.

It sorts duplicated tracks into groups according to user defined various conditions and checks which tracks should be deleted smartly. With iTunes Duplicates Cleaner, you can delete and remove all of the thousands of duplicates from your iTunes library in less than one minute.

Pros

  1. Help users easily get rid of duplicates in iTunes
  2. Display the found duplicates with detailed song info
  3. Automatically mark duplicates for users to delete
  4. Lightweight and cross-platform
  5. Display how-to instructions at application startup

Cons

  1. Sometimes detect non-existing duplicates
  2. No preview

#4 TuneUp | Windows & Mac

TuneUp is one of the best iTunes duplicate remover tools. It can also repair mislabeled songs and add missing cover art. It’s versatile and costly. The $39.95 price tag is why it’s ranked a bit low on our list. A free trial is available though.

The iTunes duplicate finder utterly cleans up your iTunes library. It helps you save time by automating the otherwise time-taking manual removal. In this iTunes cleanup software's DeDuper tool, once you click the Finding Duplicate Songs button, the tool will start looking for the duplicated tracks right away.

When it finishes, you will be presented with a list of the detected duplicates with basic info such as song name, artist and bit rate. The duplicate copies are automatically marked so that you can mass delete them with a click of the Dedupe All button. You can find your deletion history by going to the Files tab.

Pros

  1. Can work as a great iTunes duplicate remover
  2. Use acoustic fingerprinting technology to bring high accuracy
  3. Offer an auto-mark feature
  4. Allow mass removal
  5. Also offer other features like fixing missing artwork

#5 Dupe Away | Windows & Mac

Designed to be a dedicated iTunes duplicate remover, Dupe Away is available for Mac and Windows PC. It comes with four features: Dupe Files, Playlist Dupes, Missing Files, and Abandoned Files.

Every time you open the app, it will automatically start analyzing your iTunes for duplicate songs, which is convenient. It identifies duplicates based on the default or custom attributes. You can do the customization in Preferences. You are also able to custom the removal. In addition, it will go through your iTunes playlists and display the found duplicates for removal. Note that it was able to find only some of the duplicates in the tests.

You can find the found iTunes duplicates in the results window. The duplicates will be automatically marked as Delete. Clicking the Delete Tracks button will eliminate them in one go.

Pros

  1. Automatically start finding duplicate tracks in iTunes upon opening
  2. Also clean up duplicate playlist entries
  3. Highly customizable
  4. Can also scan iTunes for missing files

Cons

  1. Can find only some of the existing duplicates in an iTunes library

iTunes duplicate remover free

#1 ManyProg iTunes Duplicate Remover Free | Windows

This iTunes duplicate remover freeware is designed exclusively for PC. As one of the best iTunes duplicate remover software for Windows, it allows you to identify duplicates in iTunes using different comparison types and then delete them.

Before you use iTunes Duplicate Remover Free, allow this best iTunes cleanup software program to connect to your iTunes library. And it will automatically locate the library and build a connection to it.

Select a comparison type, say, Music tag, and then Press Start. The process to find duplicates songs will start immediately. The results will be displayed once this process finishes. Remove the duplicates and leave only the original files. By doing so, you can make your iTunes clean and more convenient to manage. This free remover fully supports Windows 10, 8, 7 and even XP.

Pros

  1. Completely free to use
  2. Provide multiple comparison types
  3. Help get rid of duplicate songs in iTunes and outside of it

#2 AllDup | Windows

AllDup is another freeware tool that can find and eliminate iTunes duplicate tracks on Windows. It also supports various types of files including audios, videos, documents and pictures. It does a decent job of searching for the double, triple (or even more) tracks in iTunes. However, the interface is not as user-friendly as the ones recommended above.

When using AllDup, you will be impressed by the customizability it has to offer. For example, it offers an array of comparison criteria, which can be used for comparing duplicates. It may require a bit configuration and testing until you find the best criterion or criteria to check for the duplicate songs in your iTunes.

Pros

  1. Completely free to use
  2. Offer multiple search methods and criteria
  3. Support all common types of files
  4. Display a quick start guide on its interface

Comparison: Which iTunes duplicate remover suits you best?

iTunes duplicate removerOSSupported iTunes versionsRemove iTunes dupesRemove duplicate photos, videos, etc.Price
Cisdem Duplicate FinderMac12 or earlierYesYes$29.99, with free lifetime upgrades
Tune SweeperWindows & MaciTunes 10, 11 or 12YesNo$25.00
iTunes Duplicates CleanerWindows & MacNot specifiedYesNo$14.95
Dupe AwayWindows & MacNot specifiedYesNo$19.99
TuneUpWindows & Mac10.7 or laterYesNo$39.95/year
ManyProg iTunes Duplicate Remover FreeWindowsNot specifiedYesNoFree
AllDupWindowsNot specifiedYesYesFree

Wrapping up

If there are only a few, say ten or less, duplicates in your iTunes library, it’s recommended to use iTunes’ Show Duplicate Items feature. Why not? It’s handy. If you have a big iTunes library, the best iTunes duplicate remover software recommended above can do a good job of searching for duplicates and removing them all at once.

You can choose the iTunes duplicate remover suits you best according to the review and the comparison table. If you need to get rid of tons of duplicate songs in iTunes and also want to locate and delete duplicate photos, documents and other duplicate files scattered all over your Mac to free up space, you can use Cisdem Duplicate Finder which can fast find and eliminate duplicates regardless of file type and location.

Do you find this article helpful? Is there another best iTunes duplicate remover that you’d like to recommend? Welcome to leave a comment and share your thoughts and opinions.

Which iTunes duplicate remover you use to get rid of duplicates in iTunes?