diff --git a/src/auto-reply/reply/reply-payloads.test.ts b/src/auto-reply/reply/reply-payloads.test.ts
index 790900e8e85f..a959fd926cff 100644
--- a/src/auto-reply/reply/reply-payloads.test.ts
+++ b/src/auto-reply/reply/reply-payloads.test.ts
@@ -131,10 +131,13 @@ describe("filterMessagingToolMediaDuplicates", () => {
     expect(result).toBe(payloads);
   });
 
-  it("dedupes equivalent file and local path variants", () => {
+  it.each([
+    ["/tmp/photo.jpg", "file:///tmp/photo.jpg"],
+    ["FILE:/tmp/photo.jpg", "file:///tmp/photo.jpg"],
+  ])("dedupes equivalent media references %s and %s", (mediaUrl, sentMediaUrl) => {
     const result = filterMessagingToolMediaDuplicates({
-      payloads: [{ text: "hello", mediaUrl: "/tmp/photo.jpg" }],
-      sentMediaUrls: ["file:///tmp/photo.jpg"],
+      payloads: [{ text: "hello", mediaUrl }],
+      sentMediaUrls: [sentMediaUrl],
     });
     expect(result).toEqual([{ text: "hello", mediaUrl: undefined, mediaUrls: undefined }]);
   });
diff --git a/src/media/media-reference-comparison.test.ts b/src/media/media-reference-comparison.test.ts
index d7de2551a77c..8db35cb1ab7d 100644
--- a/src/media/media-reference-comparison.test.ts
+++ b/src/media/media-reference-comparison.test.ts
@@ -6,6 +6,9 @@ describe("normalizeMediaReferenceForComparison", () => {
     expect(normalizeMediaReferenceForComparison("file:///tmp/generated%20image.png")).toBe(
       normalizeMediaReferenceForComparison("/tmp/generated image.png"),
     );
+    expect(normalizeMediaReferenceForComparison("FILE:/tmp/generated%20image.png")).toBe(
+      normalizeMediaReferenceForComparison("/tmp/generated image.png"),
+    );
   });
 
   it("keeps parent segments distinct without resolving filesystem identity", () => {
@@ -60,6 +63,9 @@ describe("normalizeMediaReferenceForComparison", () => {
     expect(normalizeMediaReferenceForComparison("file:///tmp/100%.png")).toBe(
       normalizeMediaReferenceForComparison("/tmp/100%.png"),
     );
+    expect(normalizeMediaReferenceForComparison("FILE:/tmp/100%.png")).toBe(
+      normalizeMediaReferenceForComparison("/tmp/100%.png"),
+    );
     expect(normalizeMediaReferenceForComparison("file:///tmp/link/../asset%.png")).toBe(
       "/tmp/link/../asset%.png",
     );