Duplicate Detective
Duplicate Detective is a macOS utility from FIPLAB for finding exact duplicate files and folders so you can recover storage space.
What is Duplicate Detective?
Duplicate Detective is a Mac duplicate file finder that helps users locate and remove exact duplicate files and folders from their storage. It is designed for everyday Mac users who want to free disk space and reduce clutter in places such as document folders, media collections, and external drives. The app scans selected folders, compares file contents to identify true duplicates, and presents grouped results for review before deletion. It also supports filtering and sorting results by attributes such as file type, size, name, and date, which can make large cleanup sessions easier to manage. Duplicate Detective is commonly used when cleaning up photo libraries, downloads, backups, and other file-heavy areas on macOS. FIPLAB publishes a newer version called Duplicate Detective 2, but Duplicate Detective remains a legitimate duplicate-removal utility for Mac.
Key features
- Scan selected folders for exact duplicate files and folders
- Compare file contents to identify true duplicates instead of similar-looking files
- Filter and sort duplicate results by type, size, name, and date
- Preview found items before deciding what to remove
- Move deleted duplicates to the Trash for safer cleanup
- Create aliases to keep shortcuts to original files after removal
Review app leftovers with diCleaner
Inspect caches, support files, containers, and login items before cleaning.
Safety overview
Status: Mostly safe
Duplicate Detective is a legitimate cleanup utility, but it works by scanning locations you choose and can remove duplicate files if you approve the action. Access to your files is normal for this type of app. The main practical risk is deleting copies you later realize you still wanted, especially if you change settings to bypass the Trash or work with photo and document folders. Review results carefully and keep the default Trash-based removal behavior when possible.
Recommendation: Keep Duplicate Detective if you actively use it to find and remove duplicate files on your Mac. If you no longer use duplicate-cleanup tools, removing it is usually fine and should only affect your ability to scan for and manage duplicates with this app.
Common paths
/Applications/Duplicate Detective.app
Cache paths
~/Library/Caches/com.fiplab.duplicatedetective
Support paths
~/Library/Application Support/Duplicate Detective
Preference paths
~/Library/Preferences/com.fiplab.duplicatedetective.plist
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