Duplicates

Frameleaf finds photos and videos that look visually similar, even if they’re different files, and groups them so you can decide what to keep. Duplicate detection uses machine learning on your server and is on by default.

Exact copies of the same file are a separate matter: an identical file is never stored twice in your library, whether it came from the web app, a phone or the command-line tool. That still happens even if your administrator turns duplicate detection off.

How duplicates are found

Photos are compared by what they look like, so a resized or re-saved copy is still found.
Videos are compared on several frames from inside the video, not just the first one. This avoids false matches between videos that merely start the same way, with black frames, title cards or intro screens, and finds copies of the same video at different resolutions. By default four frames are compared and two must match.

Administrators can change how similar items must be in the duplicate detection settings, from 0.001 to 0.1. Higher values find more duplicates, and more false matches.

Review duplicates

Open Library Care at the bottom of the sidebar, or Settings, then Utilities, and choose Duplicate review. Items appear here once they’ve been processed and placed in a duplicate group.

For each group:

Click a photo to zoom into both copies at the same point, and move to pan both. Videos can be played side by side from the start.
Where the copies differ lists the differences between them, and Why this copy explains each suggestion, such as Original format, Highest resolution, Largest file or Most metadata.
Choose which copies to keep. The rest move to the trash. If you keep more than one, you can stack the kept items together instead.
Keep all copies keeps every copy.

Nothing is removed until you choose an action.

Suggested keepers

When you look at suggestions or choose Keep suggested, Frameleaf preselects what to keep:

The native original. A RAW file first, then HEIC or HEIF, over a re-encoded copy such as a JPEG, even when the JPEG is the bigger file. Re-saved and shared copies are often larger but lower quality.
The largest file, when every copy is the same kind of file.
The copy with the most metadata.

Preferring the native original is on by default. Administrators can turn it off with Prefer original format in the duplicate detection settings. You can change any pick before you confirm.

Working through many groups

Review is built for thousands of groups:

Each decision takes effect straight away and moves you on to the next group.
Routine keep and stack decisions don’t ask for confirmation.
You can undo recent decisions.
Select matching groups and Keep suggested decide many groups in one step. A group without one clear suggestion waits for you to choose.

Bursts are shown on a contact sheet. You can keep several frames, or stack the burst without deleting anything. Similar burst frames are never treated as throwaway copies, and burst frames stay independent originals when stacked.

When the trash is off

If your administrator has turned the trash off, the copies you don’t keep are deleted permanently. Frameleaf says so in the review and asks you to confirm. Stacking keeps every photo.

With the trash on, the space is only freed once the trash is emptied.

Whose photos are in a group

Duplicate groups only ever contain your own photos, and only the owner of every photo in a group can decide what to keep. If some photos in a group are Locked, unlock to review the whole group.

Duplicate groups also appear as a queue in Library Care.

What happens to albums, favourites and tags

When you keep exactly one item and trash at least one other, the details from the trashed copies are merged into the one you keep:

Detail	What happens
Albums	The kept item is added to every album any copy was in.
Favourite	If any copy was a favourite, the kept item becomes one.
Rating	The highest rating is kept.
Description	Descriptions from all copies are combined.
Visibility	The most restrictive visibility is applied.
Location	Copied only if every copy with a location has the same coordinates.
Tags	Tags from all copies are combined.

If you keep more than one item, nothing is merged. Each keeps its own details and they simply leave the duplicate group.

Duplicates with partners

Duplicates are detected separately for each person. If you and a partner both uploaded the same photo, it can appear twice in your timeline when you show their photos there. See Sharing.

Saving disk space in a family library

Separate from reviewing duplicates, administrators can turn on physical deduplication. When several people on the server upload the exact same file, Frameleaf can store it on disk once while each person keeps their own copy in their library, with their own albums, favourites, descriptions, faces, Locked state and permissions. It doesn’t share anything between accounts and doesn’t need partner sharing; it’s purely a storage saving.

For you, nothing changes:

Your item stays yours, in your timeline, with its own details and its own XMP sidecar.
Deleting your copy never removes the stored file while someone else’s item still uses it.
Your storage quota works as before.

It’s off by default. An administrator turns it on in the storage template settings and chooses the account whose originals are kept. Existing libraries are then converted from Settings, then Storage & originals, then Physical deduplication, where the administrator previews a plan, reviews it and applies it before anything changes on disk.