- File Comparison Tool Windows
- Mac Compare Tool
- Mac File Compare
- Excel File Comparison Tool
- Duplicate File Finder
- Best File Comparison Tool For Windows 10
- File Compare 1.1 - GUI for simplified file comparison. Download the latest versions of the best Mac apps at safe and trusted MacUpdate Download, install, or update File Compare for Mac from MacUpdate.
- A file comparison tool outputs the difference between the two files, these diff utility is used to reveal the changes occur between the old version and the new version of the same file. These tools display the changes made per line for the text files.
- The best of the file-recovery apps that we reviewed make it effortless to recover files from traditional spinning hard drives, flash drives, SD cards, and other forms of portable storage.
File Compare Tools were created by experienced software developers, but the target audience of almost all the tools differs. Graphic designers, web developers, article writers, thesis composers, and spreadsheet users are just but a few examples of the categories of people who find these software solutions useful. Three comparison panes with horizontal and vertical layouts Integrates with version control systems as the merging tool for conflicting file revisions Non-conflicting changes are merged automatically Merging conflicts are highlighted One-click conflict resolution with a mouse button See More.
This article compares computer software tools that compare files, and in many cases directories or folders, whether it is their main purpose or as part of more general file management.
General[edit]
![Tool Tool](https://www.bestagencies.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/Files-and-Documents-Comparison-Tools-docuproof.jpg)
File Comparison Tool Windows
Basic general information about file comparison software. Mac tool set for sale.
Name | Creator | FOSS | Free | First public release date | Year of latest stable version | Windows | Macintosh | Linux | Other platforms | Max Supported File Size |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Beyond Compare | Scooter Software[1] | No; Proprietary | No | 1996 | 2019-05-28 (v4.2.10) | Yes | Yes | Yes | > 2GB (64 bits) | |
Compare++ | Coode Software[2] | No; Proprietary | No | 2010 | 2014-11-12 (2.21.2.0) | Yes[3] | No | No | ||
diff, diff3 | AT&T | Yes; BSD 3-clause, BSD 4-clause, CDDL, GPL, Proprietary | Yes | 1974 | Yes | Yes (Mac OS X) | Yes | ported to most platforms as part of SCCS | > 2GB but less than 64 bits | |
Eclipse (compare) | Yes; Eclipse Public License | Yes | 2004-07-21 | 2016-09-28 (4.6.1 (Neon.1)) | Yes | Yes | Yes | Anything with Java | ||
Ediff | Michael Kifer[4] | Yes; GPL | Yes | 1994 | 2.81.4 | Yes[5] | Yes (Mac OS X) | Yes | Anything with Emacs and diff | |
ExamDiff Pro | PrestoSoft[6] | No; Proprietary | No | 1998 | 2017-09-23 (v 9.0.1.6) | Yes (Win98 and up) | No | No | ||
Far Manager (compare) | Eugene Roshal (original); FAR Group | Yes; Revised BSD license | Yes | 1996 | 2017-08-07 (v3.0 build 5000) | Yes | No | No | ||
fc | Microsoft[7] | No; Proprietary | Yes; Part of OS | 1987 | Yes (DOS) | No | No | |||
FileMerge (aka opendiff) | Apple Inc. | No; Proprietary | Yes; (part of Apple Developer Tools) | 1993 (part of NEXTSTEP 3.2[8]) | 2014 (v2.8) | No | Yes (Mac OS X) | No | ||
Guiffy SureMerge | Guiffy Software[9] | No; Proprietary | No | 2000 | 2019-05-07 (v11.10) | Yes | Yes | Yes | Anything with Java | > 2GB |
IntelliJ IDEA (compare) | JetBrains[10] | No; Proprietary | No | 2001 | 2019-08-20 (2019.2.1) | Yes | Yes | Yes | ||
jEdit JDiff plugin | Various[11] | Yes; GPL | Yes | 1998 | 2012-10-04 (3.3.0) | Yes | Yes | Yes | Anything with Java | |
Kompare | Otto Bruggeman[12] | Yes; GPLv2+ | Yes | Yes [13] | Yes (Mac OS X) | Yes | ||||
Lazarus Diff | Lazarus (software) | Yes; GPL | Yes | 2000 | 2016-11-13 (1.6.2) | Yes | Yes | Yes | FreeBSD | |
Meld | Stephen Kennedy[14] | Yes; GPLv2+ | Yes | 2002 | 2018-06-19 (v3.18.2) | Yes[15] | Yes | Yes | BSD, Solaris | |
Notepad++ (compare) | Various | Yes; GPLv3 | Yes | 2009 | 2015-01-06 (1.5.6.6) | Yes[16] | No | No | ||
Perforce P4Merge | Perforce | No; Proprietary | Yes | 2019 (2019.1/1815056) | Yes | Yes | Yes | Sun Solaris | ||
Pretty Diff | Austin Cheney[17] | Yes; MIT-compatible | Yes | 2009 | 2016-11-11 (2.1.14) | Yes (Web) | Yes (Web) | Yes (Web) | Node.js | |
Tkdiff | Tkdiff[18] | Yes; GPLv2+ | Yes | 2003 (or before) | 2011-11-27 (v4.2) | Yes (Tcl) | Yes (Tcl) | Yes (Tcl) | Anything with Tcl | |
Total Commander (compare) | Christian Ghisler[19] | No; Proprietary | No | 2016-11-23 (v9.00) | Yes | No | No | |||
twdiff (TextWrangler Diff Helper) | Bare Bones Software, Inc.[20] | No; Proprietary | Yes; with TextWrangler | 2012 (1.0 (v22)) | No | Yes | No | No | ||
vimdiff | Bram Moolenaar et al. | Yes; GPL-compatible [21] | Yes | 2001 | 2016-10-03 (v8.0.0022) | Yes | Yes | Yes | Anything with vim | |
WinDiff | Microsoft[22] | No; Proprietary | Yes; Part of Platform SDK | 1992 | 2002-08-16 14:36:14 (v5.00.2195.6601) | Yes | No | No | No | |
WinMerge | Dean Grimm[23] | Yes; GPL | Yes | 1998 | 2018-11-22 (v2.18.0) | Yes (Win95 and up) | Yes (in wine[24]) | Yes (in wine[24]) | 2 GB | |
UCC | USC CSSE[25] | No; USC-CSSE Limited Public License | Yes | 2009 | 2015-12-30 (2015.12) | Yes | Yes | Yes {2.6.9} | Sun Solaris | |
Name | Creator | FOSS | Free | First public release date | Year of latest stable version | Windows | Macintosh | Linux | Other platforms | Max Supported File Size |
Compare features[edit]
Name | Show in-line changes | Directory comparison | Binary comparison | Moved lines | 3-way comparison | Merge | Structured comparison[26] | Manual compare alignment | Image Compare |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Beyond Compare | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes (Files and Folders) | Yes (Pro only) | Yes | Yes | |
Compare++ | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes (C/C++,C#,Java,Javascript,CSS3) | ||||
diff | No | Yes | partly | No | No | No | |||
diff3 | No | No | Yes (non-optional) | ||||||
Eclipse (compare) | Yes | No (only ancestor) | Yes | No | |||||
Ediff | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | ||||
ExamDiff Pro | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes[27] | Yes (ExamDiff Pro Master only)[28] | Yes | manual synchronization | ||
Far Manager (compare) | Yes (Via plugin) [29] | Yes | Yes | Yes (Via plugin) [29] | No | No | |||
fc | No | No | Yes | No | No | ||||
FileMerge (aka opendiff) | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes (optional ancestor) | Yes | ||||
Guiffy SureMerge | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | ||
IntelliJ IDEA (compare) | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | |||
jEdit JDiff plugin | Yes | No | Yes | ||||||
Kompare | Yes | No | No | Yes | |||||
Lazarus Diff | |||||||||
Meld | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | line alignment, unlink scroll | ||
Notepad++ (compare) | Yes | No | No | Yes | No | No | No | ||
Perforce P4Merge | Yes | No | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | |||
Pretty Diff | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | No | Yes | No | |
Tkdiff | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | |||
Total Commander (compare) | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No | Yes | No | resync comparison | No |
vimdiff | Yes | Yes (via DirDiff plugin) | Yes | Yes | |||||
WinDiff | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No | |||
WinMerge | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | |
UCC | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | |||
Name | Show in-line changes | Directory comparison | Binary comparison | Moved lines | 3-way comparison | Merge | Structured comparison[26] | Manual compare alignment | Image compare |
API / editor features[edit]
Name | GUI | CLI | Scripting | Horizontal / Vertical | Syntax Highlighting | Reports |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Beyond Compare | Yes | Yes | Yes | Both | Yes | XML, HTML, CSV, Text, Unix Patch |
Compare++ | Yes | Yes | Both | Yes | HTML, Text(combined or side-by-side) | |
diff | No | Yes | Horizontal | Yes pipe to diff-highlight[30] | ||
diff3 | No | Yes | Horizontal | |||
Eclipse (compare) | Yes | Vertical | Yes | |||
Ediff | Yes | Yes | elisp | Both | Yes | |
ExamDiff Pro | Yes | Yes | optional | Yes | UNIX, HTML, Diff | |
Far Manager (compare) | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | |
fc | No | Yes | Horizontal | |||
FileMerge (aka opendiff) | Yes | Yes | Vertical | Yes | No | |
Guiffy SureMerge | Yes | Yes | Java API | Both | Yes | HTML, Text, Unix Patch |
IntelliJ IDEA (compare) | Yes | Yes | Vertical | Yes | ||
jEdit JDiff plugin | Yes | Both | Yes | |||
Kompare | Yes | Vertical | No | |||
Lazarus Diff | Yes | Yes | ||||
Meld | Yes | No | Horizontal | Yes | No | |
Notepad++ (compare) | Yes | Yes | Both | Yes | No | |
Perforce P4Merge | Yes | Yes | Vertical | No | No | |
Pretty Diff | Yes | Yes | JavaScript | Both | Yes | XHTML |
Tkdiff | Yes | |||||
Total Commander (compare) | Yes | Both | No | No | ||
vimdiff | Yes | Yes | vim script | Both | Yes | HTML |
WinDiff | Yes | Yes | Horizontal | No | Text | |
WinMerge | Yes | Yes | Vertical | Yes | CSV, Tab-delimited, HTML, XML | |
UCC | Yes | Yes | Vertical | Yes | Text, CSV | |
Name | GUI | CLI | Scripting | Horizontal / Vertical | Syntax Highlighting | Reports |
Mac Compare Tool
Other features[edit]
Some other features which did not fit in previous table
Name | ZIP support | FTP support | SFTP support | Version Control browsing | Patch creation | Patch application | Patch preview | Unicode support | XML-aware |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Beyond Compare | Yes | Yes | Yes | SVN | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | |
Compare++ | SVN, CVS, Git, Microsoft TFS, Perforce, VSS using command line | Yes | |||||||
diff | No | No | No | Yes | Yes with patch | Yes with patch | No | No | |
diff3 | No | No | No | ||||||
Eclipse (compare) | Yes CVS, Subversion, Git, Mercurial, Baazar | Yes | |||||||
Ediff | Yes | Yes | RCS, CVS, SVN, Mercurial, git (anything supported by Emacs' VC-mode)[31] | Yes | Yes | Yes | |||
ExamDiff Pro | Yes[32] | Yes[33] | normal diff only | Yes | |||||
Far Manager (compare) | No | No | No | No | No | No | Yes | No | |
fc | No | No | No | ||||||
FileMerge (aka opendiff) | No | supported by OS | No | No | No | ||||
Guiffy SureMerge | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes[34] | ||||
IntelliJ IDEA (compare) | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | |
jEdit JDiff plugin | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | ||
Kompare | Yes | ||||||||
Lazarus Diff | |||||||||
Meld | CVS, Subversion, Git, Mercurial, Baazar | Yes | Yes | ||||||
Notepad++ (compare) | No | Yes[35] | Git, Subversion (compare against base) | No | No | No | Yes | No | |
Perforce P4Merge | No | Yes | |||||||
Pretty Diff | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | Yes | Yes |
Tkdiff | No | No | CVS, RCS, Subversion | No | No | No | No | No | |
Total Commander (compare) | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | No | Yes | No |
vimdiff | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | |||||
WinDiff | No | No | No | No | |||||
WinMerge | Yes | No | Mercurial,[36] Subversion,[37] Visual Source Safe, Rational ClearCase[38] | Yes | Yes | ||||
UCC | Yes | No | Yes | ||||||
Name | ZIP support | FTP support | SFTP support | Version Control browsing | Patch creation | Patch application | Patch preview | Unicode support | XML-aware |
Mac File Compare
Aspects[edit]
What aspects can be / are compared?
Name | Filename casing | CRC | Filedate | Daylight saving | Character casing |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Beyond Compare | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Compare++ | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | |
diff | Yes | No | No | No | Optional |
diff3 | |||||
Eclipse (compare) | |||||
Ediff | |||||
ExamDiff Pro | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Far Manager (compare) | Yes | No | Yes | No | Yes |
fc | No | Optional | |||
FileMerge (aka opendiff) | No | No | No | Optional | |
Guiffy SureMerge | filesystem dependent | Yes | Yes | ||
IntelliJ IDEA (compare) | |||||
jEdit JDiff plugin | |||||
Kompare | Yes | ||||
Lazarus Diff | |||||
Meld | |||||
Notepad++ (compare) | No | No | No | Yes | |
Perforce P4Merge | N/A | No | No | No | Yes |
Pretty Diff | N/A | No | No | No | Optional |
Tkdiff | |||||
Total Commander (compare) | Optional | Yes (in synchronize only) | Optional | ||
vimdiff | No | No | No | No | Yes |
WinDiff | No | No | when different | Yes | Optional |
WinMerge | No | No | Optional | Optional | |
UCC | No | No | Yes | No | |
Name | Filename casing | CRC | Filedate | Daylight saving | Character casing |
Timezone effects[edit]
Excel File Comparison Tool
When files are transferred across time zones and between Microsoft FAT and NTFSfile systems, the timestamp displayed by the same file may change, so that identical files with different storage histories are deemed different by a comparer that requires the timestamps to match. The difference is an exact number of quarters of an hour up to 95 (same minutes modulo 15 and seconds) if the file was transported across zones; there is also a one-hour difference within a single zone caused by the transition between standard time and daylight saving time (DST). Some, but not all, file comparison and synchronisation software can be configured to ignore the DST and time-zone differences.[39] Software known to have daylight-saving compensation is marked in the Aspects table.
See also[edit]
References[edit]
Duplicate File Finder
- ^Scooter Software
- ^Coode Software
- ^Compare++ Operating system information
- ^Michael Kifer
- ^Ediff requires a diff utility to function. As of December 2017, diff is not bundled with Emacs or Windows, so use of Ediff in a Windows environment requires installation of both Emacs and a diff implementation like GNU diff.
- ^PrestoSoft
- ^Microsoft
- ^NeXT Product Marketing (Fall 1993). 'What's New in Release 3.2?'. NEXTSTEP In Focus. NeXT Computer, Inc. 3 (4). Retrieved 18 July 2014.
- ^Guiffy Software
- ^JetBrains
- ^jedit.org
- ^'Otto Bruggeman'. Archived from the original on 2012-04-15. Retrieved 2006-01-12.Cite uses deprecated parameter
|dead-url=
(help) - ^Installing Kompare in Windows
- ^Stephen Kennedy
- ^Meld/Windows
- ^Notepad++ compare plugin
- ^Pretty Diff
- ^tkdiff
- ^Christian Ghisler
- ^Bare Bones Software, Inc.
- ^vim license
- ^Microsoft
- ^Dean Grimm
- ^ abWinMerge in Wine
- ^USC CSSE
- ^ abCompare logical sections (class, methods)
- ^Examdiff
- ^Examdiff
- ^ abVisual Rename
- ^https://github.com/git/git/tree/master/contrib/diff-highlight
- ^gnu.org Support-for-Version-Control
- ^through a plug-in
- ^through a plug-in
- ^UTF8, UTF16, MBCS, SJIS, over 150 file encoding and character set formats
- ^Notepad++ FTP plugin
- ^'tortoisehg / stable / wiki / FAQ —'. Bitbucket.org. Archived from the original on 2010-07-15. Retrieved 2010-07-06.Cite uses deprecated parameter
|dead-url=
(help) - ^'Using WinMerge with other tools – WinMerge 2.12 Manual'. Winmerge.org. Retrieved 2010-07-06.
- ^'About'. WinMerge. Retrieved 2010-07-06.
- ^Example: 'Beyond Compare' help describes a user setting 'timezone differences – ignores timestamp differences that are multiples of an exact hour.'
Best File Comparison Tool For Windows 10
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