I’m using the latest plex media media server on a mac mini. My music folder is on the same mac mini and is my iTunes library too. I have noticed that many tracks and albums are duplicating in the Plex Media Server.
I have checked in the Music folder and there are no duplicates. Any ideas as to why this might be happening? And what can I do to correct/prevent this issue?
Ok, I’ve removed this section from Plex and added it anew. Still no luck. A number of Albums are duplicated as are certain tracks in some albums. Very Odd. Is this a bug?
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do you maybe have these tracks twice somewhere? e.g. in a best-of/live at, or summer hits kinda compilation and in an album by the artist?
can you upload a screenshot so we can see what’s exactly happening? 
I've already checked that and no, that's not the problem. I'll try and upload a screenshot soon but in the list of albums one can see clearly the duplicates here and there as one can within an album. Typically half of the tracks on an album will have duplicates included in the list of tracks... I double checked all the original files in itunes and there are no duplicates there...
Same problem here. A number of albums have the tracks listed twice. I have rescanned the library but no luck. No duplicates in my music folders on the server.
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I had same issue and tried uninstalling then re-installing with not luck. Decided to check my program spacesniffer and notice one of my movie files was over 50gb and realized I accidentally slid copy of all my movies inside one of the video files. So basically had double the movies, which added double the results.
Maybe give a program like that a try and see if its something along the same lines. Worth a shot.
I have the same problem. I have attached a screen shot showing itunes, plex media manager, and finder.
The media manager has a warning sign on the duplicated tracks.
/Thomas
Plex media server Version 0.9.5.3-dff0bd5
Most likely, content got scanned at one location, moved to another, and scanned there and done in such a way that the Plex Media Server interpreted it as new content rather than the original moving. In this case, though, you should simply need to [empty the Media Manager trash](http://wiki.plexapp.com/index.php/Frequently_Asked_Questions#Why_does_content_I_deleted_from_my_drive_still_show_up.3F).
Thanks, that solved it for me.
Bumping an old thread but the only way I was able to resolve the duplicates was to delete the whole music library and then re-add the folder I wanted. It was very weird because they would show up as duplicates, but coming from the same source.
I note that this issue has frustrated PLEX users for 5 or 6 years now. Can I ask, how long will it be before this programming bug is squashed? I have reloaded my music library five times now, from scratch, as well as multiple refreshes, but nothing will kill the zombie duplicates in my PLEX music library that DO NOT EXIST in my music files. This issue makes the PLEX music library more trouble than it’s worth. I don’t have the same problem with movies or TV shows - only with the music library. It’s also notable how many albums come up “unknown artist” - it’s a joke.
I tried every hint. I copied all my music files onto a clean hard drive and tried to build my library from there. I now have literally HUNDREDS of duplicate albums showing in my PLEX music library. But not ALL my music files were picked up twice. The weird thing is that I can’t figure out why some files seem exempt from the duplication - which affects probably 80 or 90% of my library. There isn’t anything distinguishing the files which were picked up twice and those that weren’t. And why twice? Why not three or four times? What’s stopping it?
Since this problem has existed for about as long as PLEX has, why hasn’t this issue been fixed long ago? Frustratingly, there isn’t even a delete function that would allow me to prune this crap out manually.
Same issue still persisting. No way of removing the duplicates, or preventing their addition.
Same here anybody find a stable solution?
I have the same issue - how about a fix plex?
yikes this is still going on? seems like a delete button in the music folder would be not to difficult to add
I’m having an issue with this at the moment. I’m thinking perhaps ignoring all playlist files might have something to do with it. I’m creating a .plexignore file in my music directory, and will add the .m3u .m3u8 .pls .xspf .pla extensions and see if it eliminates it.
That being said, a click option for “ignore playlist files in the file structure” (or something like it) should be an easy way of making it an easy fix for all (if, of course, it is that it’s picking up on playlist files).
Did that fix work for you @“lincoln.maurice” ? I have the same problem as this thread.
Looking closer at my library I see at least part of the problem for me anyway.
I had multiple copies of an album (in a different place, one mp3 the other FLAC) and Plex only showed a pointer to one of the (FLAC) versions. When I removed (deleted via the Finder on OS X) one of the (MP3s) set of duplicates the duplication disappeared with a music scan.
Turns out I just happen to have about 6 copies of a lot of my music. I didn’t know I like 30 Seconds to Mars or Burl Ives that much, but I guess I must.
I haven’t pushed a change for it to come into effect @“darrenchilton@gmail.com” so I’ll let you know if it does.
