iOS application archive
Sign in to saveAlso known as .ipa
A .ipa file is an iOS and iPadOS application zip archive file which stores an iOS/iPadOS app in a bundle format. Each .ipa file includes a binary and can only be installed on an iOS, iPadOS, or ARM-based macOS device. Files with the .ipa extension can be uncompressed by changing the extension to .zip and unzipping. This is only recommended when editing the app itself. Some .ipa files will not have a .app file.
Key facts
- File format.name
- IPA
- File format._noextcode
- on
- File format.owner
- Apple Inc.
- File format.genre
- Package format
- File format.container for
- Mobile apps
- File format.extended from
- zip, JAR
via Wikipedia infobox
Wikidata facts
- Instance of
- package format
- Based on
- Java archive
- Developer
- Apple Inc.
Show 1 more fact
- file extension
- ipa
Sources (1)
via Wikidata · CC0
~3 min read
Encyclopedic overview
4 sectionsContents
- Structure of a .ipa file
- Unsigned .ipa executables
- See also
- References
A .ipa file is an iOS and iPadOS application zip archive file which stores an iOS/iPadOS app in a bundle format. Each .ipa file includes a binary and can only be installed on an iOS, iPadOS, or ARM-based macOS device. Files with the .ipa extension can be uncompressed by changing the extension to .zip and unzipping. This is only recommended when editing the app itself. Some .ipa files will not have a .app file.
Most .ipa files cannot be installed on the iPhone Simulator because they do not contain a binary for the x86 architecture, only one for the ARM architecture of mobile phones and tablets. To run applications on the simulator, original project files which can be opened using the Xcode SDK are required. However, some .ipa files can be opened on the simulator by extracting and copying over the .app file found in the Payload folder. Some simple apps are able to run on the simulator through this method.
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “iOS application archive” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.