Background of the Study
Duplicate media is a challenge in the digital ecosystem these days. With smartphones, digital cameras, and other multimedia devices, users generate a huge number of photos, videos, and audio files. Sometimes, such files get duplicated by mistake during backups, transfers, or even editing Nauman & Herschel, (2022) .These duplicates go on adding up with time and occupy precious storage space, which creates inefficiency in managing digital libraries Kaczmarczyk, (2015). It is a particular phenomenon that has prevailed with integration into users’ lives by cloud storage and synchronization technologies.
These duplicate file-creation patterns differ greatly. Often, users download the same file many times or, after some small modification, save it under a different name. For example, photo editing might result in the storage of many versions of one and the same picture. Similarly, transferring media between hosts may also lose their original timestamps and/or metadata, making identification more complicated Patil, Jagtap et al.,(2017). Applications that create temporary copies, or even automated backups that are poorly managed, can also lead to duplicates. This is further exacerbated by the rapid growth in storage capacity and, consequently, its affordability, which encourages users to retain large volumes of data without effective management practices. This behavior encourages the proliferation of redundant files, making it increasingly difficult for users to locate specific items in their digital collections. Duplicate files affect not only personal devices but also organizations with extensive multimedia archives Adegboye, James & Jiboku, Folahan., (2022).
Efforts to solve this problem often rely on manual deletion or generic duplicate detection tools. These can be extremely time-consuming for big datasets and are prone to errors. Duplicate file detection software does exist, but many solutions lack the precision and user-friendly interfaces that would make them effective in identifying and managing duplicate media files Arora, Trelogan, & Ba, (2016). Furthermore, they often do not consider those cases where duplicates are not exact but with minor variations in resolution, format, or metadata.
Part of the most promising solution lies in the development of mobile applications for duplicate media file management. Given the widespread use of smartphones, users now have very powerful computing tools in their hands that can carry out real-time analyses and organization of media libraries Thakur et al.,(2023). Equipped with sophisticated algorithms and user-friendly interfaces, mobile applications provide faster access to handling duplicate files.
With such challenges, there is an increasing need for new approaches that not only accurately detect duplicates but also let users manage their media files effectively. This research therefore, probes into the development of an Android-based mobile application that solves this problem by guaranteeing usability, efficiency, and scalability.
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