Duplicate files in iTunes

I have copied my 4,000 mp3 files from a PC to the MAC folder and then added them to the iTunes library. Now I have 4,000 duplicate files in iTunes and I want to remove at least one of the two duplicates. Can anyone how I can do this without deleting them manually.
Thanks,
Henk.

here are some options:
_*How to find and remove duplicate items in your iTunes library*_
_*http://www.araxis.com/find-duplicate-files/ (free trial)*_
_*http://dougscripts.com/itunes/itinfo/dupin.php (commercial)*_
JGG

Similar Messages

How do i display duplicate files in itunes 11?

hi,
does anyone know how to display my duplicate songs in itunes 11 please?

The show duplicates/show exact duplicates features have been left out of iTunes 11. Rumor suggests they will be restored in the next build. In the meantime I have written two Windows scripts to make playlists of Duplicates and Exact Duplicates, either from a selection of tracks or the entire library. Note that, as with the iTunes feature, this list makes no distinction between "originals" and "dupes", you have to decide which is which.
There is also my DeDuper script for automatically removing duplicates copies but keeping one remaining copy of each set. This can preserve ratings, play counts, playlist membership, etc. which are lost in a manual clean up. Please take note of the warning tobackup your library before deduping. See this thread for background on deduping and the script.
If you want to manually remove duplicate tracks use shift-delete to remove selected tracks from the library as well as the playlist. Keep one of each repeated group of files and don't send the others to the recycle bin unless you are sure that there are multiple files on the disc as opposed to multiple entries to the same file. Same advice to backup applies.
tt2

Duplicate files in itunes music folder with title 1.mp3

Can anyone tell me why there might be duplicate files with this number in my music folder? I'm interested to know what might cause this to happen.

Any help here? This question has been bugging me for some time. It's hard to believe that this seemingly simple task / question is so difficult to find a solution for. Please - if you know a way, I'd love to clear some space from my itunes music folder.

Is there a fast way to remove duplicate files from itunes?

I relocated a lot of my music on my computer to a single folder so there would be less clutter. So far as I know there is no easy way to relocate all of my music without going through each song one by one, and I have a rediculous amount of music so this was simply not an option. Instead I dragged everything back into itunes from that folder. Now I have a large number of 'ghost' files in my itunes and I was wondering if there is a fast way to get rid of them all without selecting and deleting them all individually?

I actually have scripts for reconneting moved media, and I could have shown you how to move the library without breaking the links. Normally moving the entire iTunes folder and then shift-starting-iTunes does the trick. Sometimes it is possible to put a broken library back together again.
I'm working on a rebuild of my DeDuper script which will merge stats from missing files before deleting. It's been on the back burner for a while but the lack of show duplicates feature in iTunes 11 has prompted to have another look at the issue so with luck I'll get it done in the next few days. That would be one way to tidy up.
If you just want to remove all the dead tracks right now you can download and install iTunes Folder Watch. Point it at your iTunes Media folder, connect it to your .xml file and enable the option to Check for dead tracks on startup.
tt2

Help: there is a way to delete duplicate files in itune?

every time when im importing music on my itunes is storing the files in the itunes music folder. now i have to backup this folder and the size is more than 80GB. i found that there are many duplications of songs. is there any easy way to delete duplicate files and songs that are unchecked from itunes playlist?
thank you

Robert Jacobson has written a duplicate removal script which you can download here:
http://mysite.verizon.net/teridon/itunesscripts/
You imply that your duplicates are unchecked. You can create a playlist containing unchecked tracks. This would allow easy manual deletion.
You need two playlists.
First create a smart playlist called "checked" containing checked items:
Uncheck "Match the following rule"
Check "Match only checked items"
Live updating checked
Next create a playlist with the following rule:
Playlist is not checked.
Match only checked items not checked.
Live updating checked
This second playlist should have all your unchecked tracks in it.
Then you can use shift del to delete the tracks from you library.

ITunes consolidation creates duplicate files in iTunes Media folder

Hi,
I recently downgraded from iTunes 11.0.2.26 to 10.7 to get around an AirPlay bug i see starting in 11.0.
As a result I need to rebuild part of my iTunes library and am seeing some strange behavior.
I have some Movie files currently in the iTunes Media folder (where iTunes is pointed for the media) -- when I drag and drop these into iTunes and do "Consolidate Library", iTunes creates 2 files (1 is a duplicate) in the Movie folder. For example, if I have a movie titled "HomeMovie" I see the following folders:
"Movies --> HomeMovie" and within the HomeMoview folder I see the following 2 files: HomeMovie.m4v, HomeMovie 1.m4v
There is only a single listing (HomeMovie) in the iTunes interface, pointing to HomeMovie 1.m4v.
Strange.
I can get around this by deleting HomeMovie 1.m4v. and pointing iTunes to HomeMovie.m4v, but this is not desirable.
"Copy files to iTunes Media Folder" is disabled.
I am also seeing this behavior when dragging and dropping files from an external Hard Drive.
Any suggestions?
Thanks,
Kevin

Hi,
I have been doing some testing on this subject and I agree that PSE does leave unwanted temporary files around.
I checked out PSE 9, PSE 10 and PSE 11 and they all leave the temporary files there. I'm assuming that the files are created as a safety measure for when the main file is updated but as you have found out, PSE doesn't remove them.
By reading other forum threads, I get the impression that Adobe aren't really interested in it as they feel we should tidy up our own file system. It's like taking a walk through the park and dropping some litter - do you pick it up or leave it for the park keeper to pick up. I was always told to pick it up.
I'm not sure whether you are aware, but there is another Adobe forum for bug reports and feeback. I think Adobe may look there more than they do on this forum. I searched that forum and found a similar question asked but nobody has answered. I have added my count and comments with a link to this thread. If you can, it might be good for you to add your count.
http://feedback.photoshop.com/photoshop_family/topics/photoshop_elements_organizer_leaves_ temporary_files
Sorry it's not an answer to your problem, but you are not alone.
Brian

Deleting hundreds of duplicate files in Itune Library

how do I delete HUNDREDS of duplicate files that show up in my ITunes library? I guess I (or my teenagers) keep importing or adding the same files and folders back in somehow, and now I have 5 or 6 files of each song, hundreds in all. I can't delete these individually..... and the 'consolidate' thing seems to want to erase my mp3 library, I don't want that because I have an old Samsung/Napster that uses those. I just need to delete duplicate files in my Itunes library with one click. Any way to do that?

I had the same problem. I found many duplicates on my pc after moving files to an external hard drive. Some duplicates existed before this move but I did not worry about them. So, after a while my children were running out of space on their ipods so I used the "Show Duplicates" feature and deleted "the .....ing duplicates". Now my children tell me a great deal of their purchased music is missing and they are very annoyed. I told them that I thought Apple/iTunes spoke English and that Duplicate means just that, A Duplicate. This is extremely annoying. It seems like such a common sense fubar thing which is contrary to the awesome quality of the itunes/ipod in general. How do I get the songs we already *payed for* back on our computer? Or, are we screwed and in a spot where we must repurchase this music? Honestly, this is something I expect from microsoft, not Apple.

IPod will not sync, "duplicate file name" - iTunes 10

I upgraded to iTunes 10 now my library won't sync! It syncs a few hundred songs (I have thousands) and then stops with the error "The iPod "blah" cannot be synced. A duplicate file name was specified."
I've changed the usb port, restored the iPod, "Repaired" iTunes in Control Panel, Formatted the disc in Windows - done EVERYTHING every forum has suggested. And the error STILL occurs. It seems many people are having this same problem. Please APPLE help out here.

I'm having the same problem, I've been looking everywhere how to solve it, but I can't found a solution for windows. `Somebody help!

Quick way to remove duplicate files in iTunes Library folder?

I "consolidated my iTunes Library", which caused iTunes to place duplicate mp3/mp4 files in my iTunes library folder (I assume it copied them all over from my backup drive) which has doubled the size of my iTunes Library folder.
Keep in mind, that iTunes actually shows only one copy of each song/video within the app. It's only that the actual files have been doubled on my hard drive. iTunes is only using half of those files.
Is there a way to quickly identify and delete the duplicated files on my hard drive that aren't being used by iTunes?

This information from Doug should help you decide what you can use.
http://dougscripts.com/itunes/itinfo/duplicates.php

Deleting duplicate files in itunes

Im new to itunes can anyone tell me how to delete hundreds of multiple tracks and songs quickere than one at a time? thank you

I've written a free script called DeDuper which can help remove unwanted duplicates. See this thread for background. Depending on how you've ended up with duplicates it may even be easy to clean up by hand.
Hold down shift and use File > Display Exact Duplicates for a more useful listing than Display Duplicates.
tt2

Huge number of duplicate files in iTunes music library, every song twice! Can I just uplug my external hard drive and clear all songs, then resync?

iTunes seems to have a duplicate listing of every song that is on my removeable external USB hard drive. Is there an easy way to remove these? Every song is listed twice, but one of the listings gives an error when you try to access it.
I haven't tried this yet, but can I just unplug the HD, then delete all of those songs, then plug it back in and let iTunes "find" them again?

Try iTunes Folder Watch with its option to scan for dead tracks on startup. Alternatively...
Lost & Found
Create a playlist called Found, select everything in Music and drag it into the Found playlist. Create a smart playlist called Lost matching All the rules Playlist is Music and Playlist is not Found. Your "missing" tracks will be in this playlist. If it suits your purposes you can select them all with Ctrl-A then delete them with Ctrl-Shift-Delete.
tt2

HT2905 how do I find duplicate files in itunes 11?

how do I do this with itunes 11?

Apple removed that feature along with several others in the first release of iTunes 11 but returned it in iTunes 11.0.1 (today). Update with Software Update.

Duplicate title and files in iTunes

Problem: Duplicate titles in iTunes
I have tried to find asolution for my problem with duplicate titles and duplicate files in iTunes andiTunes media (witch is the folder that iTunes keeps music and other media in).
I have/need:
Over 1000 duplicate titles
Some of the duplicates with same file and Some of them with two different files (this makes it much more difficult)
Allot of duplicated titles with the same “added date”
All the files are organized by iTunes in iTunes media,
Playlists that I don’t want to delete
Genre, album and artist information I don’t want to delete
I use Mac
The possibilities I have found:
"Show duplicates" in the menu in iTunes (To much work when there is over 1000 duplicate songs) and (Allot of duplicated titles with the same “added date” so I cant sort them that way)
Tuneup,plug-in (I’m not sure if Tuneup just removes the duplicate titles or the file behind the duplicate titles. If it deletes the file I’m going to end up with allot of songs missing their files, in other word the tunes are gone)
Idupe,app (cantboth remove duplicate files and leave the files of the oneswitch are only duplicate titles iniTunes)
Removeall music from iTunes an thenimport it all again after moving all iTunes media into one folder with “bigmean folder machine” (I’m afraid this is going to affect my playlists andgenre, artist, album organization.
"Consolidate" in the iTunes menu (not quitesure what that does)
Sorry for my badspelling

You could try "Dupin". It costs $ 15, but there is a demo available for testing: http://dougscripts.com/itunes/itinfo/dupin.php

HT1660 i have two independent itunes libraries on my computer right now. how do i consolidate them into one library? how do i get rid of duplicate files?

i have two independent itunes libraries on my computer right now. how do i consolidate them into one library? how do i get rid of duplicate files?

Hello rmunsey,
Thank you for the question. It sounds like you have two separate iTunes Libraries but would like to add the music from one to the other to have one consolidated library.
If you know where the files are for each library, I recommend opening one iTunes Library in iTunes and importing the files from the other library using the following steps:
Open iTunes
From the File menu, choose one of the following choices:
MacAdd to Library
Windows
Add File to Library
Add Folder to Library
Navigate to and select the file or folder that you want to add
Adding music and other content to iTunes
http://support.apple.com/kb/ht1473
Next, you can search for duplicates:
Choose View > Show Duplicate Items to show duplicate items (matches are based on the song name and artist). If you have multiple versions of the same song (for example, live and studio versions, or versions from different albums) you can hold the Alt or Option key (for Mac OS X) or the Shift key (for Windows) and choose View > Show Exact Duplicate Items. This will show only duplicate songs having the same name, artist, and album.
How to find and remove duplicate items in your iTunes library
http://support.apple.com/kb/ht2905
This should help you identify the duplicates all at one time so that you can delete the extra versions of songs.
Thank you for using Apple Support Communities.
Best,
Sheila M.

ITunes and I seem to have created duplicate files. How do I clean this up?

Hello experts. I have a conundrum I'm too inexperienced to reason out. Hoping to tap your creativity.
I have a huge iTunes library I've created over the years. 50,000+ songs. No problem, other than my desire to whittle through it slowly and pare it down to only the 22,000 or so I want to keep as my primary library. I haven't gone through the effort of creating multiple libraries yet, I simply delete songs or albums from the library as time permits without deleting the original file. I figure iTunes' database will be my primary and in the long-game, I'll create a new library that holds everything, but for now I'll just keep whittling the dB structure away until I get what I want (this is a slow, multi-year project I'm undertaking -- no rush here).
Here's my problem:
Most of these songs are physically saved in the iTunes folder on an external hard drive. Some of the songs I added to my library from the iTunes store when the external hard drive wasn't connected to the Mac - so they are on the Mac's hard drive under the standard iTunes folder structure. I have the "Keep iTunes Media folder organized" and "Copy files to iTunes Media folder when adding to library" checkboxes checked.
As I said, I've deleted songs from the iTunes app, but told it to "Keep Files" so that I could listen to them in the future if I decide to re-add them. Yesterday, I ran out of space on the startup drive of my mac, so naturally, I figured I could consolidate any files on my hard drive over to my external hard drive and delte them from the mac.
In iTunes, I went to File -> Library -> Organize Library. I checked both boxes for "Consolidate files" and "Reorganize files in the folder..." I let this run overnight to consolidate my library into one place. Today, I found that the function was unable to complete due to lack of disk space on my external hard drive. When I went to check the external hard drive, I found that iTunes had duplicated all of the songs that were on the external hard drive in their existing folders.
For example, now I have a file under the structure: iTunes library -> Music -> Blue Oyster Cult -> Heaven Forbid -> Cold Grey Light of Dawn.mp3
And I also have a file under the structure: iTunes library -> Music -> Blue Oyster Cult -> Heaven Forbid -> Cold Grey Light of Dawn 1.mp3
So now the immediate problem... The consolidation didn't finish, so I don't know exactly how much duplication iTunes created. I checked my library, and sure enough, the song in the library is pointed at the duplicate file (the one with a 1 at the end). I don't have the option to just copy the iTunes library to another external drive temporarily (or not easily, at least). I checked out a bunch of duplicate file cleanup programs, but the ones I found (and I even purchased Gemini's dupe file finder/cleanser) don't seem to inherently choose the correct duplicate file that is linked to iTunes library dB. I can't realistically pick and choose from the thousands of files that have been duplicated.
I decided to change the advanced preferences in iTunes to an entirely new folder on the External hard drive. Then I could just go back into File -> Library -> Organize library and select only the "Reorganize files..." checkbox without selecting the "Consolidate files" checkbox. I figured this would just move all the files that are in the iTunes dB to the new iTunes folder. Ummm.... but no. Apparently this "Reorganize files" checkbox is only available if you select "Consolidate files"...? To be clear, "Reorganize files" is greyed out.
So to summarize:
1. Why did iTunes create copies of existing files in the exact same location they were in?
2. What is the right (and I pray easy) way to get my library back to the right size and consolidated into one place? I'm still dangerously low on disk space on the mac...
<sigh>
Thanks for reading through all this!
Tim
Mac Mini OSX 10.8.3; iTunes 11.0.2 (26)

See this thread for background on why iTunes can end up with duplicates and how they can be systematically removed. The script there is for Windows users and the "show duplicates" menus have moved around in iTunes 11, but the advice on clearing recently made duplicates should still hold.
As given in my older post "Reorganize library" is meant as a one time command to change the structure of a pre-iTunes 9 library into the newer layout that places music in its own subfolder of the media folder. Once used, if the option becomes available again that suggests that a file called .iTunes Preferences.plist in the media folder has been deleted or editied.
See also this post.
tt2

Duplicate files in iTunes

Similar Messages

Maybe you are looking for