It gets rid of mach-o universal binaries to save some space
- python3 required for
archify.py
brew install python
via https://brew.sh- or use a binary from releases
ldid
can also be found in releases
git clone https://github.com/Oct4Pie/archify.git
cd archify
To start
python3 archify.py [-h] -app APP_DIR [APP_DIR ...] [-o OUTPUT_DIR] [-arch ARCH]
[-ld LDID] [-Ns] [-Ne]
-app and --app_dir
support one or more apps-arch, --arch
is the target architecture. I use arm64 on a m1 device.- Intel 32-bit should be
i386
and 64-bitx86_64
for macs. arch
command is another way to find out-ld, --ldid
the path toldid
binary. ()ldid
is not required but may be needed for some apps- if
ldid
is found:-Ne
does not sign with the original binary signature-Ns
does not sign at all (might be helpful for some apps that have self-check)
- To have a fully native apple silicon Adobe Illustrator
packaged in
/Users/oct4pie/apps/ptest
:
python3 archify.py -app /Applications/Adobe\ Illustrator\ 2022/Adobe\ Illustrator.app
-o /Users/oct4pie/apps/ptest -arch arm64
- To have a 64-bit intel version of Excel and OneNote:
python3 archify.py -app /Applications/Microsoft\ Excel.app
/Applications/Microsoft\ OneNote.app -o /Users/oct4pie/apps/ptest -arch -arch x86_64
I was tired of downloading bloated universal apps and managing the space became a hassle. I don't think people should lose storage space because of that. I just wrote this script to help me.
Hopefully it will be useful to others as well. I was able to free up ~34GB after using the script on large apps (such as Adobe apps, Unity, 3D Engines, Microsoft Office, etc). Some apps were already native, so the size change isn't as impressive.
Application | Original Size | Stripped Size | Percentage Shrinked | Space Saved |
---|---|---|---|---|
Adobe Premiere Pro 2022.app/: | 6.55GB | 4.09GB | 37.5% | 2.46GB |
Adobe Media Encoder 2022.app/: | 5.38GB | 3.12GB | 41.96% | 2.26GB |
Adobe Photoshop 2022.app/: | 4.73GB | 3.6GB | 23.97% | 1.13GB |
Adobe Illustrator.app/: | 2.51GB | 1.59GB | 36.5% | 936.93MB |
Google Chrome.app/: | 939.3MB | 552.75MB | 41.15% | 386.55MB |
Microsoft Excel.app/: | 1.95GB | 1.62GB | 17.02% | 340.12MB |
Microsoft Word.app/: | 2.23GB | 1.92GB | 14.0% | 319.26MB |
Microsoft PowerPoint.app/: | 1.7GB | 1.4GB | 17.59% | 306.47MB |
Microsoft OneNote.app/: | 1.07GB | 894.02MB | 18.69% | 205.47MB |
Visual Studio Code.app/: | 504.7MB | 331.2MB | 34.38% | 173.5MB |
Element.app/: | 420.65MB | 248.03MB | 41.04% | 172.62MB |
Discord.app/: | 369.58MB | 205.3MB | 44.45% | 164.29MB |
Parallels Desktop.app/: | 678.22MB | 522.76MB | 22.92% | 155.46MB |
Microsoft Remote Desktop.app/: | 263.64MB | 121.17MB | 54.04% | 142.47MB |
Pages.app/: | 517.74MB | 377.25MB | 27.13% | 140.49MB |
Numbers.app/: | 462.44MB | 330.96MB | 28.43% | 131.48MB |
Android Studio Preview.app/: | 1.91GB | 1.79GB | 6.14% | 120.13MB |
Elmedia Player.app/: | 207.09MB | 121.28MB | 41.44% | 85.82MB |
CMake.app/: | 194.92MB | 117.59MB | 39.67% | 77.33MB |
Wine Stable.app/: | 960.44MB | 900.48MB | 6.24% | 59.96MB |
VN.app/: | 347.47MB | 290.14MB | 16.5% | 57.34MB |
Books.app/: | 132.59MB | 77.91MB | 41.24% | 54.69MB |
Cloudflare WARP.app/: | 116.24MB | 70.95MB | 38.97% | 45.3MB |
HMA VPN.app/: | 100.66MB | 66.41MB | 34.02% | 34.25MB |
Music.app/: | 105.35MB | 71.74MB | 31.9% | 33.61MB |
Hopper Disassembler v4.app/: | 91.11MB | 59.82MB | 34.35% | 31.3MB |
Parallels Toolbox.app/: | 154.1MB | 124.91MB | 18.94% | 29.19MB |
qbittorrent.app/: | 62.35MB | 33.7MB | 45.95% | 28.65MB |
iTerm.app/: | 72.6MB | 44.71MB | 38.42% | 27.89MB |
Maps.app/: | 82.09MB | 57.85MB | 29.54% | 24.25MB |
Photos.app/: | 64.4MB | 44.61MB | 30.72% | 19.79MB |
Descript.app/: | 359.64MB | 340.0MB | 5.46% | 19.64MB |
TV.app/: | 75.76MB | 56.93MB | 24.86% | 18.83MB |
Podcasts.app/: | 46.27MB | 27.63MB | 40.27% | 18.63MB |
TeamViewer.app/: | 133.97MB | 115.76MB | 13.59% | 18.2MB |
Tunnelblick.app/: | 43.75MB | 30.16MB | 31.06% | 13.59MB |
Notes.app/: | 38.75MB | 28.13MB | 27.4% | 10.62MB |
Speedtest.app/: | 47.03MB | 38.54MB | 18.06% | 8.49MB |
FindMy.app/: | 37.04MB | 29.94MB | 19.16% | 7.1MB |
WhatsApp.app/: | 301.25MB | 294.71MB | 2.17% | 6.54MB |
Reminders.app/: | 17.68MB | 11.28MB | 36.18% | 6.4MB |
AltServer.app/: | 12.72MB | 6.44MB | 49.35% | 6.28MB |
Mail.app/: | 28.17MB | 22.13MB | 21.42% | 6.03MB |
App Store.app/: | 26.49MB | 20.55MB | 22.42% | 5.94MB |
LuLu.app/: | 20.86MB | 14.97MB | 28.25% | 5.89MB |
News.app/: | 11.07MB | 6.05MB | 45.33% | 5.02MB |
FaceTime.app/: | 15.8MB | 11.2MB | 29.08% | 4.59MB |
iMazing.app/: | 347.53MB | 343.32MB | 1.21% | 4.21MB |
Calendar.app/: | 16.13MB | 12.05MB | 25.28% | 4.08MB |
Preview.app/: | 11.06MB | 8.17MB | 26.12% | 2.89MB |
Cyberduck.app/: | 208.18MB | 205.34MB | 1.37% | 2.85MB |
Hex Fiend.app/: | 8.17MB | 5.41MB | 33.79% | 2.76MB |
Grammarly for Safari.app/: | 83.14MB | 80.5MB | 3.17% | 2.64MB |
Transparent Note.app/: | 27.02MB | 24.64MB | 8.82% | 2.38MB |
Color Picker.app/: | 5.98MB | 3.67MB | 38.74% | 2.32MB |
QuickTime Player.app/: | 7.48MB | 5.63MB | 24.8% | 1.86MB |
VoiceMemos.app/: | 5.62MB | 3.81MB | 32.15% | 1.81MB |
Messages.app/: | 5.83MB | 4.03MB | 30.85% | 1.8MB |
Contacts.app/: | 15.12MB | 13.55MB | 10.38% | 1.57MB |
Shortcuts.app/: | 3.76MB | 2.42MB | 35.61% | 1.34MB |
Stocks.app/: | 4.25MB | 3.01MB | 29.2% | 1.24MB |
Font Book.app/: | 7.17MB | 5.95MB | 17.0% | 1.22MB |
Safari.app/: | 14.41MB | 13.32MB | 7.52% | 1.08MB |
Home.app/: | 4.21MB | 3.24MB | 23.03% | 993.53KB |
Photo Booth.app/: | 4.66MB | 3.81MB | 18.26% | 872.29KB |
System Preferences.app/: | 2.89MB | 2.13MB | 26.21% | 775.73KB |
Calculator.app/: | 5.77MB | 5.1MB | 11.64% | 687.75KB |
Cutter.app/: | 612.99MB | 612.33MB | 0.11% | 672.73KB |
Chess.app/: | 7.45MB | 6.84MB | 8.1% | 618.01KB |
Keynote.app/: | 449.24MB | 448.69MB | 0.12% | 554.71KB |
Automator.app/: | 5.39MB | 4.86MB | 9.97% | 550.41KB |
Userscripts.app/: | 3.06MB | 2.56MB | 16.52% | 518.23KB |
Dictionary.app/: | 15.16MB | 14.7MB | 2.97% | 461.36KB |
Telegram.app/: | 113.06MB | 112.7MB | 0.31% | 363.72KB |
Stickies.app/: | 1.9MB | 1.55MB | 18.54% | 361.58KB |
TextEdit.app/: | 2.7MB | 2.44MB | 9.47% | 261.8KB |
Image Capture.app/: | 3.31MB | 3.18MB | 4.05% | 137.34KB |
Time Machine.app/: | 1.25MB | 1.13MB | 9.46% | 121.24KB |
Siri.app/: | 2.54MB | 2.43MB | 4.61% | 120.17KB |
The apps I have generated so far work without any issues. If the app crashes, try ldid
or use different flags for signing.
-Ns
should work most of the time because of fake-signing.
I am publishing the project for educational purposes.
Although the script does not alter the original apps, use it with caution.
I am not responsible for any harm done.
Licensed under GPLv3