FREEAPC Editorial tool · Images
Plugin to find duplicate images and clear out the copies
APC Editorial's Repeated images compares the photos in your Media Library by how they look, shows where each copy is used and swaps every use for the image you keep before deleting the copy. Free, with no AI, and always on.
- Compares by appearance
- Swaps the uses before deleting
- Free and always on
In short
The APC - Repeated images button, in the WordPress Media Library, groups the images that show the same photo, even under another name, size or format. You choose the one that stays, and the plugin swaps every use of the copies for it before deleting any file.
It is part of APC Editorial, but it works on its own: you don't need to generate articles, it uses no AI and it never sends an image outside your server. There is nothing to turn on.
- Where
- A button in the Media Library, list view
- Compares
- By appearance, not by name
- Finds
- The same photo at another size, format or quality
- Shows
- Where each copy is used, with title and address
- Swaps
- Every use, revisions included
- Deletes
- Only when nothing points to the copy
- Plan
- Free, always on
Why it happens
The same photo, uploaded again.
On almost every site that has been around for a few years, the same image was uploaded more than once: by different people, in a smaller version for a banner, as a PNG and then as a JPG, or along with a theme or a page kit. WordPress doesn't warn you, and each upload gets a new name, such as equipe-escritorio-1.jpg.
That weighs more than it seems. For every photo uploaded, WordPress creates several files, one for each size your theme uses, so every copy multiplies the files on your server and in your backups.
- Space and backups: fewer copies, fewer files to store and copy.
- One photo, one address: the browser stores the image once and reuses it on every page that uses the same file.
- A single alt text: instead of 3 versions of the same photo, each with a different alt text or none.
- A library you can find things in: less time hunting for the right version of an image.
How it compares
By appearance, not by name.
Looking for duplicates by file name misses almost everything: a copy hardly ever has the same name. That is why the plugin looks at the image itself.
Each image gets a fingerprint made of its pattern of lights and darks, the colors of each part and the shape of the picture. A photo saved at another size, in another format or at another quality keeps that fingerprint, and lands in the same group. A copy that was cropped, stretched or recolored is no longer the same image, and stays out. The comparison happens on your server, with no AI.
| The other image is… | Joins the group? | Why |
|---|---|---|
| The same photo under another name | Yes | The name doesn't count: the appearance does. |
| The same photo, smaller or larger | Yes | The image's pattern doesn't change with size. |
| The same photo as JPG, PNG, WebP or AVIF | Yes | The file format doesn't change what the photo shows. |
| A cropped or stretched version | No | The shape of the picture changed: it is another image. |
| The same icon in another color | No | Colors count: blue and red are not the same image. |
| Two very similar photos | Now and then | That is why you check each group before deleting. |
The WebP and AVIF copies the Image Converter creates don't count as repeats: they are the same library image, not a new upload.
What it does
From a group of copies to a single image.
All in the Media Library, in place of the file list, while the button is active.
Groups of copies
Each group shows every copy with its picture, name, size, upload date and alt text, so you can compare them by eye.
Where each one is used
Under Used in:, the title and address of each page that uses the copy. With no use, it says Not used on any page.
You choose the one that stays
Keep this one starts on the largest. If you pick a smaller one, the screen warns that it may look less sharp where the other one was used.
Swapped across the site
Delete/replace puts the kept image everywhere the copy appeared, revisions included, and only then deletes the copy.
Dates untouched
The swap doesn't change the modified date of any post or page, and nothing is saved again through the editor.
Always up to date
The first comparison runs on screen, in parts, and picks up where it stopped if you leave. After that, new images are compared on their own.
No broken page
It only deletes when nothing uses the copy.
Deleting an image that still shows on a page leaves a hole where the photo was. That is why deletion follows a fixed order:
- It looks everywhere: post and page text, featured images, Elementor, galleries, ACF image fields, product galleries, widgets, theme settings, the site logo and icon, categories, profiles, comments and the SEO plugin's social image.
- It checks again: after the swap, the whole site is searched once more. The copy is only deleted if nothing points to it anymore.
- It says what's left: if a place can't be updated safely, the copy is not deleted and the screen names that place.
- It never deletes someone else's file: a file 2 library items share stays on the server.
- One clean-up at a time: while the converter deletes its converted images, the swap doesn't start and the screen asks you to try again in a minute. The reverse holds too.
Deleting is final: the copy does not go to the trash. Check each group before clicking. An image another plugin keeps only by its number may not show up in the list of uses.
Step by step
Clear the duplicates in 4 steps.
There is nothing to turn on: the button is already in the Media Library of every site with APC Editorial.
-
Open the Media Library
In Media › Library, use the list view. The APC - Repeated images button sits in the filter bar.
-
Let it compare
The first time, the bar shows Comparing your images… X of Y. You can leave: it picks up where it stopped.
-
Check each group
Look at the pictures and where each copy is used. Mark Keep this one on the image that should stay.
-
Swap and delete
Click Delete/replace on each copy and confirm. At the end, the screen says Done: only one copy of this image is left.
Want to see each screen? The step by step in the docs shows the groups and the list of uses.
Free and PRO
Repeated images is Free. All of it.
Nothing in this tool is locked behind PRO, and it comes ready on every site. PRO adds images created with AI, which are born with a name and alt text.
Forever, with no image limit
- Comparison by appearance, with no AI
- Groups showing where each copy is used
- Every use swapped, revisions included
- Deletion only when nothing uses the copy
AI images, already organized
- The AI-generated featured image, with your logo and palette
- Alt text written by AI for the images that remain
- 30 days free to try everything
FAQ
Questions about duplicate images.
How do I find duplicate images in WordPress?
WordPress has no such feature. With APC Editorial installed, open Media › Library in list view and click APC - Repeated images. After the first comparison, the button shows how many images have a copy.
Does it find the same photo under a different name?
Yes. The comparison is by appearance, so the file name doesn't count. The same photo at another size, in another format (JPG, PNG, WebP, AVIF) or at another quality joins the group too.
Will deleting the copy break a page?
No. First, every use of the copy starts showing the kept image. Then the whole site is searched again, and the copy is only deleted when nothing points to it anymore. If a place can't be updated safely, the copy stays and the screen names that place.
Can I undo a deletion?
Not through the plugin: the copy does not go to the trash. That is why the screen asks you to confirm and shows each copy's picture. Check each group first, especially when 2 photos are very similar.
Does it work with Elementor, WooCommerce and ACF?
Yes. The search covers Elementor, product galleries, ACF image fields, galleries, widgets, theme settings and the Yoast and Rank Math social image, among other places. An image another plugin keeps only by its number may not show up in the list.
Do my posts' dates change?
No. The swap changes only what points to the image, without saving the post again, so the modified date of posts and pages stays as it was.
Does it need a subscription or an AI key?
No. Repeated images is Free, always on and uses no AI: everything runs on your own server. Your hosting only needs to be able to open images, which almost all of them do; when it can't, the screen tells you.
Do the converter's WebP and AVIF copies count as repeats?
No. The light versions the Image Converter creates are the same library image, not a new upload. Only images uploaded more than once go into the groups.
More add-ons and tools
Works together with these.
Each add-on and each tool turns on and off on its own, in Global Settings › Add-ons/Tools.
APC Editorial
Download it free and use it today.
The Repeated images tool is part of APC Editorial, the plugin to generate articles with AI with editorial planning. Free add-ons and tools stay free forever; PRO ones are unlocked during the 30 free days.