What are these __MACOSX folders I keep seeing in Zip files made by people on OS X? Some take as much as 30% of the file.
What program are producing these __MACOSX folder and how can mac users avoid this mistake?
4 Answers
Apple provides built-in capability to ZIP files in OS X 10.3 and higher, and these files are the result of Apple storing Resource Forks safe manner. You would never see these files running OS X 10.3 or higher, but since Windows and other operating systems do not understand this special form of Resource Forks they will appear as you see them.
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28You make it sound like a feature. .zip files are intentionally lacking in the metadata department. If you want metadata, use a different format, not a Mac. Example of proper zip + metadata implementation: .jar– ZenexerCommented Aug 22, 2013 at 4:11
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17
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98"since Windows and other operating systems do not understand"--Ugh. I just hate this kind of terminology Commented Apr 23, 2014 at 2:38
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9Just discovered: if you're on a Mac, using the command line,
unzip filename.zipwill unpack the __MACOSX/ directory, which you don't want, butopen filename.zipwill do the right thing. Commented Jun 22, 2016 at 18:40 -
13Empty, meaningless explanation. Just like everything apple. Wtf is a resource fork? oh it's garbage. gotcha! Commented Aug 18, 2018 at 11:24
Here's a link that explains it pretty well. I suppose it is a bit late to help Yada, but for posterity.
The rest is my opinion:
@nickf: Never seeing these files is not a FEATURE of those OS X versions it is a FLAW.
People produce data, wrap it up, store it on different mediums and so on. They need to know what is needed or what is not needed.
Hiding it keeps them in the dark.
The age old bad idea of hiding things from users:
A programmer, concerned with expediency of accomplishing their own work, abuses something in the domain of the end user, to make it easy for themselves.
In this case they stored meta data in the user's data space, they then hid it from the user. They missed the big picture: The user won't become aware of the hidden details. When the user packages their data and ships it somewhere unanticipated by the programmer, missing parts won't get shipped or unknown parts will arrive which neither the user nor the recipient can explain.
Hiding things from the user is bad.
It assumes the user is stupid, when more accurately it is the programmer being stupid, or lazy.
To be clear, this bad habit is not confined to MAC. It is everywhere.
It's a consequence of programmers falling in love with their own schemes and vendors prioritizing their own goals ahead of the needs of the end user.
In brief:
__MACOSX: Weird smelling programmer droppings emerging from under the rug where they were swept.- Programmers and vendors: Please keep things in the open. When you hide them, you make yourself stupid and the user uninformed.
answered Dec 3, 2011 at 1:31
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34This answer would be better if it was just an answer. The extended ranting about stupid programmers and lazy users detracts from it. Commented Jun 19, 2015 at 13:15
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2@pbernatchez Actually, if you stopped to learn about how things looked like and how they evolved, probably you wouldn't leave here your own ranty, arrogant "droppings". Resource forks were a (really nice!) implementation detail pre-Mac OS X and users only found them when interfacing with other systems; since the 90s, Apple has increasingly moved to a world without resource forks, but still bending backwards to keep compatibility. "Store metadata in the user's data space"? WTF? How twistedly do you have to define "metadata" and "user's data space" to say that? You must hate filesystems!– hmijailCommented Jan 20, 2017 at 12:28
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4"Hiding things from the user is bad". Man, you must also hate all kind of user interfaces, and libraries, and abstraction, and... well, any kind of programming and computers more advanced than an abacus.– hmijailCommented Jan 20, 2017 at 12:39
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12This does not answer the question. After reading this answer I still have no idea what metadata is contained in the _MACOSX folder, or what resource forks are. I guess people are upvoting this just because they agree with the rant?– bkoodaaCommented Feb 15, 2017 at 13:25
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3While I agree that the emotionally-charged tone is not helpful, I also absolutely agree that creating hidden things that are occasionally needed is a really bad idea, precisely as stated in this answer: users will either (a) not ship hidden files that are needed, or (b) ship hidden files that the recipient can see and neither understand. These files should either be visible, or the data should be embedded in the files in some manner that is flagged as "skippable" by other OS's. Hidden files and directories should be used primarily to protect users, not keep them in the dark. Commented Oct 25, 2018 at 1:47
To answer your final question:
how can mac users avoid this mistake?
macOS users can install a 3rd-party archiving utility like Keka, then tell it to not use Resource Forks, then set it as the default compressor.
How to do this with Keka
Tell Keka to not use Resource Forks
- Open Keka without a file (From Launchpad, Spotlight, etc.)
- Press ⌘ Cmd+, to open Preferences
- Select the Compression tab
- Check "Exclude Mac resource forks (eg: .DS_Store)"
Make Keka the default compressor
- In the same Keka Preferences window
- Select the General tab
- Click "Set Keka as default compressor/uncompressor" [sic]
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1This could be improved my adding some information on the last 2 steps, "tell it to not use Resource Forks, then set it as the default compressor." Commented Feb 16, 2016 at 21:17
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@stvn66 Done! Just FYI, though, that's usually outside the scope of these questions, which is why I didn't at first.– Ky -Commented Feb 16, 2016 at 21:52
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2Downvoting, sorry. I'm not a fan of installing 3rd-party software to fix a problem that can be fixed with the default software. As Chris Johnson pointed out above,
zip -dwill remove the resource forks from a zipfile. In fact, I think if you use zip in the first place, the resource forks don't get added in the first place. Commented Jun 22, 2016 at 18:44 -
2@EdwardFalk That's fair! This answer was meant to solve the "How do I get it to always behave this way?" problem, not the "How do I get it to behave this way once?" one.– Ky -Commented Nov 9, 2016 at 14:24
What is __MACOSX?
This is a question that comes up a lot, particularly from Windows users. So what the devil is the folder called __MACOSX and what can or should I do with it?
The technical term for what is contained within this curious folder is a resource fork.
__MACOSX, as you may have gathered, will only be created on a Mac. If you’re creating files on Windows, you won’t ever (unintentionally) create these or see them.
However, a common place windows users do see these is in ZIP files that they download or files that they share with Mac users.
Outside of a Mac, they are useless. Depending on who you ask, you may get told that they’re useless fluff wherever they are – a debate that I’m sure will continue to rage on. The point being they do actually have an intended purpose in the OS X operating system.
So, why do Mac Users keep sending them to me if they’re useless?
The answer to this one is that Mac users simply don’t see these folders. Take the ZIP file that you’re looking at and have a look on a Mac a hey presto, just like magic, they’re invisible. And they aren’t the usual type of hidden folder. They’re really hidden! Hence why Mac users won’t remove them from the archive before they distribute.
Can I Delete The __MACOSX folder?
On Windows, absolutely – it’s no good to you at all. Just useless tat taking space up. On Mac, you can’t see it anyway.
The main complaint is that these files can, on occasion, take up massive amounts of space. Usually, they are KB’s so apart from cluttering up your file system and MFT the space they take up isn’t usually of a concern.
Reference: What is __MACOSX?
zip -d filename.zip __MACOSX/\*