Different file types for Mac and Win?

When I buy images or fonts I always get a folder within which there is a MACOSX folder. Can anybody explain me why?

I’ve used a Mac forever and I buy images and fonts quite often. I’ve never seen what you’ve described. That’s not much of an answer to your question, but I’m wondering why you’re seeing it. What is inside that MACOSX folder?

For example, I get a folder with some image files and, inside this folder, another, which is always called MACOSX, containing the same files as the main one, but these files cannot be opened in windows. I only use a pc, and I wonder if in preparing files to be sold I should prepare specific files for Mac users, and how.

What you might be seeing is the ghost file that sometimes downloads with Mac files.
Do the filenames start with an underscore?
It happens a lot when we email files from our Mac server back to clients on PCs. They’re like WTF?
Just toss em. They’re kinda useless.
No you don’t have to format images specifically for Mac.

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I’ve seen it before on downloads and they are always empty. I have a feeling it’s something within the zip file specifically to help open on a Mac. But, being a Windows user, it won’t read it and doesn’t need to.

That’s my best guess anyway :wink:

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I just did a little research.

From what I found (no guarantees from me), the mystery folder seems to be the result of Macintosh users compressing files using the built-in Macintosh compression utility. Macintosh files have a resource fork (too long of an explanation to get into, but basically meta data pertaining to the file) that has no equivalent on a Windows machine, so when a Macintosh compresses a file it includes that information which shows up as a mystery MACOSX folder on windows. Macintosh users never see it. When Macintosh users open a zipped file without the resource fork information, the Mac OS automatically builds the resource fork it needs.

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Yes, they all start with an underscore. Thank you for your help.

the underscore is an apple thing, 6hey do the same for music files
its okay, because we all loves the apple!

It’s more of a convention used by programmers to denote partial files. In Sass, for example, a file named with a leading underscore denotes a file that contains bits of information that can be inserted into other files as they are compiled into CSS.

For that matter, this week I’m building a website that will run in a server environment called Hugo. Hugo also uses leading underscores to indicate partial files that are combined with other files when compiled and served as HTML.

I don’t know for sure, but I’m assuming the leading underscore on the MACOSX file or directory is an indication that it’s a partial — the resource fork of a Macintosh file that Windows doesn’t use and, consequently, displays as a partial.

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Well, not all.

i purchased a Dell XPS last year, I love that laptop!