RetroBrowse

RetroBrowse: vintage Apple II floppy disks streaming files into a modern macOS window and Mac

For Apple II disk images · macOS 15.7+

Browse the past.
Manage with the present.

A modern dual-pane file manager for ProDOS, DOS 3.3, UCSD Pascal, ShrinkIt and Binary II disk images — with a built-in player for Apple IIgs sounds and music. Built natively in Swift & SwiftUI.

🗎 Mac App Store

Volume: RetroBrowse Type: Application macOS 15.7 or later · Apple Silicon & Intel

Features

  • Dual-Pane BrowserWork with two disk images at once.
  • File InspectorView any file with ⌘ I or right-click.
  • Quick LookPress Space to preview, again to close.
  • Finder Quick LookPress Space on a disk image in the Finder — volume and every file.
  • Finder IconsDisk images show as floppies or hard disks, labelled with the volume name.
  • Preview PaneThe other pane shows the selected file live — content, info, resource forks.
  • Native ProDOSRead & write in pure Swift.
  • DOS 3.3Full read & write support.
  • UCSD PascalRead-only volume support.
  • WOZ ImagesApplesauce bit images, decoded natively — title & publisher too.
  • ShrinkIt ArchivesBrowse, extract, create .shk / .sdk / .bxy.
  • Binary IIRead & write .bny / .bqy.
  • Drag & DropCopy between images or import from Finder — drop on a folder to copy into it.
  • Open RecentReopen your last ten disk pairs, each in its own pane.
  • Change File TypeEdit type & aux type — right-click or in the preview.
  • 200+ File TypesComplete ProDOS file-type database.
  • Graphics PreviewHGR, DHGR, SHR and APF — inline.
  • Font PreviewApple IIgs fonts & hi-res screen fonts.
  • Icon PreviewIIgs Finder icons w/ palette & transparency.
  • BASIC ViewerSyntax-highlighted Applesoft & Integer.
  • Merlin Viewer6502 assembler with highlighting.
  • Disassembler6502 and 65816 machine code.
  • AppleWorksClassic & GS word, DB, spreadsheet.
  • Teach ViewerIIgs Teach docs — fonts, styles, color.
  • Sound & Music PlayerSoundSmith, NinjaTracker, MOD, rSound, ASIF, MIDI — plays on open.
  • Expand / Collapse AllOpen or close every folder at once — or one with Return.
  • Sortable ColumnsSort by name, type, size or date — click again to reverse.
  • SkinsLight, Dark, Norton Commander or Apple IIGS 640.
  • Dates & TimesProDOS create / modify timestamps.
  • ExportExtract files to your modern Mac.

Screenshots

RetroBrowse with the Norton Commander skin: blue panes, cyan files and a DOS font
Norton Commander skin — blue panes, cyan files, white folders and a DOS font.
RetroBrowse with the Apple IIGS 640 skin: Shaston 640 font, black on white with a yellow highlight
Apple IIGS 640 skin — the GS/OS Finder look with Shaston 640 and the yellow highlight.
Dual-pane file browser comparing two ProDOS volumes
Dual-pane browser — compare and copy between two ProDOS volumes side-by-side.
ASIMOV.ICONS Apple IIgs Finder icon file inspector
Icon inspector — preview IIgs Finder icons at 1×–8× with the 16-color palette and transparency.
Apple IIgs font file FUTURE.24 previewed with sample text and character map
Font viewer — rendered samples plus a complete character map for any IIgs FON file.
Apple IIgs Teach document viewer showing READ.ME.FIRST
Teach viewer — read styled IIgs Teach documents with original fonts, styles, and colors.
Apple IIgs Super Hi-Res graphics viewer showing VENUS.APF — Botticelli's Venus rendered in 320×200 SHR
Graphics viewer — Apple IIgs Super Hi-Res (APF) images rendered at 1×–4× with authentic 256-colour palette.
Apple IIgs Super Hi-Res Picture viewer showing P256.PIC — colourful Paint 256 graphic
SHR Picture viewer — 320×200 Super Hi-Res Paint 256 graphics with full dithering and palette fidelity.

Supported Formats

Disk Image Formats

FormatExtensionReadWrite
ProDOS Order.po●●
DOS Order.do●●
Universal 2IMG.2mg●●
Hard Disk Volume.hdv●●
Raw image / DiskCopy 4.2.img●●*
Generic DSK.dsk●●
UCSD Pascal Volume.vol●○
WOZ (5.25" and 3.5").woz●○

* Only plain .img images are writable; DiskCopy 4.2 images open read-only.

Archive Formats

FormatExtensionReadWriteDescription
ShrinkIt Disk.sdk●●Compressed disk images
ShrinkIt Archive.shk●●Compressed file archives
Binary II + ShrinkIt.bxy●●Binary II wrapped ShrinkIt
Binary II.bny, .bqy●●Binary II archives
Gzip.gz●○Gzip compressed files
ZIP.zip●○ZIP archives

All archive formats are handled natively — no external tools required.

Sound & Music Formats

FormatFile typePlaysNotes
SoundSmith songs$D5/$0007●With their wave bank or ASIF instrument files, on an emulated Ensoniq DOC
NinjaTracker Plus$D5/$0008●4–15 tracks, stereo
ProTracker / NoiseTracker MODany (M.K.)●4 to 32 channels; song and sample texts can be edited
Sound resources (rSound)$D8/$0003●Every sound in the file, by name
HyperStudio sounds$D8/$8001●Including Sound Shop files
ASIF instruments$D8/$0002●Instrument waves
AIFF / AIFF-C$D8/$0000 $0001●
Standard MIDI files$D7●General MIDI instruments
MIDI Synth songs$D5/$0001○Not yet

File Systems

File SystemReadWriteNotes
ProDOS●●Full support, including subdirectories
DOS 3.3●●Full support
UCSD Pascal●○Read-only
ShrinkIt Archives●●Native LZW compression
Binary II Archives●●Full support

Quick Start

  1. Open two disk images — one per pane.
  2. Browse files with full directory support; click a column header to sort.
  3. Press Space or ⌘ I to inspect any file — BASIC, graphics, sound, hex.
  4. Click Preview above a pane to see the other pane's selected file there, live.
  5. Drag & drop files between images — onto a folder to copy into it.
  6. Reopen a pair of disks from File › Open Recent.
  7. Export files to your Mac.
  8. In the Finder, press Space on a disk image to see what's on it.
  9. View Apple II graphics and play IIgs music inline.
  10. Pick a skin under RetroBrowse › Settings.

Current Limitations

  • UCSD Pascal volumes are read-only.
  • WOZ images are read-only; copy-protected disks open as far as they can be read, 13-sector DOS 3.2 disks not yet.
  • Gzip and ZIP archives are read-only.
  • If another app (such as Virtual ][) has its own Quick Look for disk images, turn it off in System Settings to use RetroBrowse's.

Requires: macOS 15.7 or later · Apple Silicon or Intel.

Get RetroBrowse

Built with Swift and SwiftUI for modern macOS. MIT licensed. Contributions welcome.

🗎 Mac App Store

What's new → Release Notes

⚠︎ Always back up your disk images before using RetroBrowse.

Support & Contact

Questions, bug reports, or feature requests? Get in touch — replies usually within 1–2 business days.

Email: walter.tengler@gmail.com