DIST Converter

Extract text from DIST files


Drop or upload your .DIST file
✈

How to extract text from your DIST file

  1. Click the "Select File" button above, and choose your DIST file.
  2. You’ll see a preview, if available.
  3. Click the "Convert file to..." button to extract text information.

Convert DIST to another file type

To convert your DIST file to another format, you need Xcode or other Developer software.

  • DIST to ZIP
  • DIST to RAR
  • DIST to 7Z
  • DIST to TAR
  • DIST to GZ
  • DIST to BZ2
  • DIST to XZ
  • DIST to LZMA
  • DIST to CAB
  • DIST to ACE
  • DIST to ARJ
  • DIST to LHA

Convert a file to DIST

To convert other file formats to the "Script & Configuration" file type, you need software like Xcode or a similar tool.

  • XXE to DIST
  • 7Z to DIST
  • Z to DIST
  • PAK to DIST
  • LHA to DIST
  • DEB to DIST
  • UUE to DIST
  • TAR to DIST
  • LZH to DIST
  • ZIP to DIST
  • PKG to DIST
  • RAR to DIST

About DIST files

The .dist extension is a chameleon in the developer ecosystem, most commonly serving as a macOS Distribution Script defined by Apple. These are XML-formatted text files used by tools like productbuild to define the user interface and logic of a macOS installer package. The problem users face is that the OS often treats them as generic system files or executables, preventing easy inspection. While they are crucial for defining installation choices, checks, and volume requirements, they are essentially locked text files to the average user. Converting them to XML or TXT allows for immediate auditing of the installer logic without needing Xcode.

A secondary but frequent source of friction is the "Distribution Template" usage (e.g., config.php.dist). In web development workflows, these are placeholder configuration files meant to be preserved as backups. Users download them and find the software doesn't work because the file needs to be "converted" by simply renaming it (removing the .dist suffix) or copying the contents to a new file. Less commonly, in industrial automation, a .dist file from the Niagara Framework is actually a ZIP archive. To access the contents of these specific files, changing the extension to ZIP or using a conversion tool to extract the internal structure is necessary.

Convert.Guru analyzes your DIST file, detects the exact format, and lets you read the text inside.

Users also converted ZIP, PKG, CRDOWNLOAD, MPKG, IPG and AAE files.



The DIST Converter Story

The history of Convert.Guru began over 25 years ago in California with Tom Simondi’s file-format database. A former contributor to Space Shuttle development and a software pioneer of the 1980s, Simondi established a trusted resource for file type analysis that was even referenced by Microsoft Windows XP. Today, we use modern technology to process and convert thousands of file formats while continually improving our DIST converter.