ARCHIVED: How do I decode a Mac file with a .bin extension?
Although it is occasionally used to represent other formats, a
.bin
extension indicates that the file has most likely
been encoded in MacBinary, a file encoding protocol common
to Mac OS, and to a lesser extent, Mac OS X. The
file is probably an archive, application, or other binary
file encoded to protect the Mac's forked file
structure. To decode a MacBinary document in Mac OS, Mac OS X,
or Windows, use StuffIt Expander. Simply drag and drop the
file onto the icon and it will decode the
file. When necessary, it will also decompress the file into a usable
form. If dragging and dropping doesn't work, double-click the
icon and, from the menu,
select . In the Open
dialog box that
appears, choose the file you wish to convert.
Most dedicated FTP and SFTP programs (e.g.,
Transmit and Fetch) can also decode MacBinary
files, and so can some mail clients. Other programs, such as
Internet Explorer, will automatically decode any file with
the .bin
extension as long as StuffIt Expander is
installed.
StuffIt Expander is available from Smith Micro. The Mac version is included with later versions of Mac OS and early versions of Mac OS X (up through OS X 10.3.x).
Note: To correctly decode MacBinary III files, you must have StuffIt Expander 5.0 or higher. Older versions will work to some extent, but won't extract icon badges and routing information, which are Finder features introduced in Mac OS 8.5.
This is document aeix in the Knowledge Base.
Last modified on 2018-01-18 12:08:48.