Click the "Select File" button above, and choose your XIP file.
You’ll see a preview, if available.
Click the "Convert file to..." button to extract text information.
Convert XIP to another file type
To convert XIP archives to another format, you need Archive Utility or other Compressed software.
Convert a file to XIP
To convert other file formats to the "macOS Signed Archive" file type, you need software like Archive Utility or a similar tool.
About XIP files
The .XIP file is a signed macOS archive format. It is primarily used by Apple to distribute large developer tools, most notably Xcode. The format ensures that the software package has not been tampered with during transmission. Less commonly, .XIP files act as XWiki Extension Packages or Xbox Image Packages for the Microsoft Xbox 360. On macOS, .XIP files are natively handled by the built-in Archive Utility. Developers rely on these files to safely download and install Xcode. The .XIP format is heavily restricted and frustrating for cross-platform users. Because it relies on Apple's proprietary digital signature validation, it cannot be natively extracted on Windows or Linux operating systems. Furthermore, Xcode .XIP files are notoriously massive, often exceeding 10GB in size. Extracting them requires enormous temporary disk space and frequently causes system freezes or agonizingly slow unpacking times. Users often need to convert or extract .XIP files to standard .ZIP or .TAR archives. Converting to .ZIP ensures cross-platform compatibility, though the strict Apple digital signature validation will be stripped away. This file format is exceptionally difficult to open or convert outside a Mac because the digital signature mechanism is closed and proprietary. Standard online converters fail completely because they cannot process the XAR-based cryptographic checks or handle the massive file sizes. If our analysis detects a supported underlying or embedded format, viewing or extraction may still be possible.
Convert.Guru analyzes your XIP file, detects the exact format, and lets you read the text inside.
If you want to convert XIP file to ZIP, RAR, 7Z, TAR, GZ, BZ2, XZ, LZMA, CAB, ACE, ARJ or LHA, you can use Archive Utility or similar software from the "Signed Secure Archive Storage" category. In the File menu, look for Save As… or Export….
To convert XXE, 7Z, Z, PAK, LHA, DEB, UUE, TAR, LZH, ZIP, PKG or RAR files to XIP, try Archive Utility or another comparable tool in the "Signed Secure Archive Storage" category.
The XIP 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 XIP converter.