How do I open a DMG file on Windows?

What is a DMG file, and what’s inside?

A DMG is an Apple disk image: a whole drive packed into one file, the way most Mac apps are downloaded. On a Mac it opens like a USB stick. Windows has no program for it (not even Windows 11, which opens ZIP, RAR and 7Z), so double-clicking a DMG does nothing useful.

What you find inside decides what you can do with it:

Open a DMG file on Windows

1. Drop the DMG at the top of this page, or click Select File. It opens in your browser (Edge, Chrome or Firefox).
2. The files and folders inside are listed. Click Save next to a file to keep just that one.
3. Or click Download all as ZIP: Windows opens ZIP files with a double-click.

Tip: Disk images formatted as Mac OS Extended also show two system folders named “HFS+ Private Data”. They belong to the disk itself, not to the files you want: leave them out.

Open a DMG file on an iPad, iPhone or Android phone

Neither iPadOS nor Android opens DMG files on its own, but this page works in Safari and Chrome on a phone or tablet: tap Select File, choose the DMG, and save the files you need. A Mac app inside still won’t run on a phone or iPad.

Can a DMG become an ISO or an EXE?

DMG to EXE: no tool can do that. A Mac app and a Windows program are built for different systems, so there is nothing to convert; the maker’s Windows version is the only way.

DMG to ISO: ConvertKitty doesn’t make disk images, only archives. On a Mac, Apple’s own command `hdiutil convert file.dmg -format UDTO -o file` makes a CD/DVD master that you can rename to .iso. To get at the files on Windows, you don’t need an ISO: open the DMG here.

DMG to ZIP: yes, and it is the easiest way to pass the files on: DMG to ZIP keeps every file and folder.

Password-protected (encrypted) DMG files

A DMG made with a password in Disk Utility is encrypted, and ConvertKitty can’t open encrypted disk images, in the browser or on our server. The page tells you straight away when that is the case. Open it on a Mac with the password and copy the files out, or ask the sender for an unencrypted copy or a ZIP.

We tested it: six kinds of DMG

We made six DMGs on a Mac with Apple’s own tool, one of each kind macOS creates, each holding a text file, a picture and a folder, and opened them with the extractor on this page in Chrome. All five unencrypted kinds opened in about a quarter of a second, including the newer APFS and LZFSE ones, and Download all as ZIP gave back every file. The encrypted one is refused with the reason.

Tip: Tested on 8 November 2026 with small DMGs; a large app download takes longer to open, in proportion to its size. Two visitors’ 218 MB DMGs were converted to ZIP on our server in about 6 seconds each, plus the upload.

When a DMG won’t open

• “The DMG is encrypted”: it has a password; see above.
• The download stopped part-way: a DMG that is cut short can’t be read. Download it again and compare its size with the one on the website.
• It is bigger than 200 MB: it is opened on our server instead (up to 1 GB, for up to 10 minutes); you get all the files back in one ZIP, and the DMG is deleted after 72 hours.
• You only see an .app folder: that is a Mac app. Its insides are program files that Windows can’t run; look for the Windows version instead.

How the extractor on this page works

ConvertKitty runs 7-Zip, compiled to WebAssembly, inside your browser. DMG files up to 200 MB are opened on your device and never uploaded: free, with nothing to install and no account. Larger ones are opened on our server, where they are deleted 72 hours later.