1 Introduction
DropDMG makes it easy to create a professional disk image for your app. Disk images pack entire folders or disks into a single compressed file, either for transport across the Internet or simply for backup or archival. They are Apple’s preferred format for distributing Mac software and the only archive format whose contents you can directly access in the Mac Finder—no extraction or third-party software required.
DropDMG is the easiest way to create macOS disk images, as well as cross-platform archives. Just drag and drop a folder or file and you’re done. Or, you can drag an existing disk image or archive onto DropDMG to convert it to any of the other supported formats.
Deliver your Mac app on a .dmg file with a software license agreement, a custom volume icon, and a precise icon layout atop a Retina-optimized background picture. Customers can install simply by dragging and dropping the app onto the convenient Applications folder link.
Code-sign your .dmg so that macOS knows it can be trusted after download. (Apps packaged on unsigned disk images or .zip archives are subject to App Translocation, a.k.a. Gatekeeper Path Randomization, which can prevent them from working.)
DropDMG supports advanced options such as encrypted and segmented disk images, groups of settings saved as configurations, and temporary options. Automate DropDMG via AppleScript, Automator, or the command line. Run the dropdmg tool from Xcode or your custom Makefile or build script. Store the resources for your app’s .dmg under version control.