What Is The Extension Dmg

File TypeApple Disk Image

The usage of the DMG file extension is in the context of a mountable disk image file which is generated by the Mac OS X Operating System platform. Once the file is opened, the system will mount it in a virtual disk located on the user's desktop. Jan 17, 2018  What Is a DMG File?: Apple Disk Image file has a different file extension called as DMG File extension.It is also known as Mac OS X Disk Image file.It is actually a rebuild of the physical disc.This file format is also sometimes used for storing compressed software installers in place of a disc.If you are downloading any MAC. Nov 18, 2019 A file with the DMG file extension is an Apple Disk Image file, or sometimes called a Mac OS X Disk Image file, which is basically a digital reconstruction of a physical disc. For this reason, a DMG is often the file format used to store compressed software installers instead of having to use a physical disc. DMG files are so-called disk image files, so image files of media such as CDs and DVDs but also simple folders and are used exclusively on Mac OSX. Dmg files can. What is the.DMG file type? Files with the DMG extension represent mountable disk images for Mac OS X. Since this format allows data compression and encryption,.dmg files are commonly used for software download, installation and distribution on Apple devices. DMG images behave as actual physical disks: they can be mounted as a volume or burnt to a CD/DVD. In computing world, DMG or (Disk Image File) is a file extension that belongs to Mac OS X. DMG file can also be termed as Apple Disk Image. The icon used equivalent to this file is an Internal Hard-drive. Disk Images are generally used worldwide in-order to distribute applications and software across the Internet.

DeveloperApple
Popularity
CategoryDisk Image Files
FormatBinary

What is a DMG file?

A DMG file is a mountable disk image used to distribute software to the macOS operating system. The file is typically downloaded from the Internet by a Mac user, then double-clicked to install an application on the computer.

Today, software developers typically build and distribute applications for Mac users as DMG, .APP, or .PKG files. DMG files are especially common since their contents can be verified upon installation to ensure they have not been tampered with and they can also be compressed to reduce the size of the installer.

When a Mac user downloads a DMG file, he can simply double-click it to open it with the DiskImageMounter utility that comes with macOS. When the DMG file is opened, it mounts a virtual disk on the desktop and in an Apple Finder window as if it was a CD or a USB flash drive that was just inserted into the computer.

In the Finder window, the Mac user can double-click the program icon, which is an APP file, to run the app. Or the Mac user can drag the program icon to the 'Applications' folder icon to move it to the 'Applications' directory in macOS.

After the software stored in the DMG file is installed, the DMG file is no longer needed. Therefore, DMG files can be deleted after installing the software.

While DMG files are Mac-specific and not intended for use in Windows, there are several Windows programs that can extract their contents or convert them to other formats. Some programs include 7-Zip, PeaZip, and DMG2IMG.

NOTE: The DMG format replaced the .IMG file format, which was previously used in Mac OS Classic.

Unknown files on your Mac? Try File Viewer.
Programs that open DMG files
Mac
Apple Disk Utility
Roxio Toast 18
Incredible Bee Archiver
Catacombae HFSExplorer
Windows
File Viewer Plus
7-Zip
PeaZip
Catacombae HFSExplorer
Reincubate DMG Extractor
DMG2IMG
DMG2ISO
Linux
Catacombae HFSExplorer

File type: Mac OS X Disk Image

Open DMG File

The usage of the DMG file extension is in the context of a mountable disk image file which is generated by the Mac OS X Operating System platform. Once the file is opened, the system will mount it in a virtual disk located on the user's desktop.

What Is The Extension Dmg File

This type of file is normally utilized for the distribution of software installation packages for the Macintosh computer system.

Prior to the introduction of this file format, the Mac environment utilized the IMG up until the introduction of the Mac OS 9. The Apple Disk Utility is the main application associated by users to this particular file type under the Macintosh platform and is bundled with the Mac OS X installation package.

Although not meant to be directly opened under the Microsoft Windows Operating System platform, the DMG format file can be accessed by Windows users by using some third party applications in the market. Basically, the DMG file extension can be compared to the EXE or ISO format of Windows and can even function as a complete virtual drive for the system.

The mimicking of physical CD drives is a workaround implemented by the system to address problems that may arise from CD requirements of some software programs including support for the efficient usage of an organization's resources.

Detailed information

File format: Proprietary
Open with Windows: Acute Systems TransMac, DMG2IMG or DMG2ISO
The DMG format file is also used by video games distributed for the Macintosh computer environment which are commonly protection enabled.
This format makes sure that all software installation and execution in the system are carried out correctly by providing support for both physical and virtual drives required by the system.
What Is The Extension Dmg
Running an application from a virtual drive may also allow a user to execute a program without actually copying an instance of it in the physical storage drive of the computer system.
This will save storage space and proves to be advantageous especially for programs which are not used very often. Aside from the Apple tool bundled with the Operating System, other more commonly used utilities that serve as an alternative include MagicISO, IsoBuster, and UltraISO.

What Is The Extension Dmg 2017

These programs are more popularly executed under the Windows environment but are capable of reading DMG file formats and compressing them into another file extension that is more popularly used.

File Extension Dmg Windows Xp

Another example of this conversion program is the DMG2ISO.