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A Mac .app is an application bundle: a directory containing an app’s executable code and related resources. Finder presents it as a single item, so it can look like an ordinary file even though it is a directory hierarchy on disk.
What a Mac .app contains
A typical modern application bundle has a top-level Contents directory. Apple documents three common locations within it: Contents/Info.plist for information about the bundle, Contents/MacOS/ for the main executable, and Contents/Resources/ for resources used by the app. The executable is a Mach-O image.
MyApp.app/
└── Contents/
├── Info.plist
├── MacOS/
│ └── main executable
└── Resources/
└── app resourcesThis is the common core, not a complete inventory of every app. Bundles may also include items such as frameworks, plug-ins, templates, or other data, and their exact contents vary. See Apple’s Bundle Structures and guidance on placing content in a bundle.
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Is a .app a file or a folder?
On disk, a .app is a directory arranged as a bundle. Finder recognizes it as a package and displays that package as one item. That is why it appears file-like during ordinary use. Apple describes a bundle as “a directory with a standardized hierarchical structure that holds executable code and the resources used by that code.”
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“Bundle” and “package” are related but not identical terms: a bundle describes a standardized directory structure, while a package is a directory Finder presents as if it were a single file. Application bundles commonly qualify as packages. Apple’s archived explanation is in About Bundles.
How an .app differs from a .dmg or installer
The .app is the application bundle itself. A .dmg disk image or installer package can instead be a distribution container that carries the app. For example, Apple’s distribution guidance discusses an app inside an installer package on a disk image. The container and the app it distributes are distinct. See Apple’s Packaging Mac software for distribution.
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