.DS_Store File Extension

What kind of file is a .DS_Store?

A .DS_Store file is hidden folder metadata created by the macOS Finder. It remembers presentation details such as icon positions, window layout, view style, and background choices. It does not contain the documents, photos, or other user files in that folder.¹

Despite this page's category, .DS_Store is a complete filename rather than a conventional suffix. The leading period makes it hidden on Unix-style systems. There is no registered, format-specific MIME type. Tools may label it with the generic application/octet-stream type.

The format is proprietary binary data, not readable text. Reverse-engineered descriptions identify an eight-byte opening signature of 00 00 00 01 42 75 64 31, followed by records organized in a B-tree.¹ A matching filename alone does not prove that a file has valid .DS_Store contents.

How do I open a .DS_Store on my computer?

Usually, you should not open one. Finder reads and updates it automatically on macOS. If you need to investigate folder metadata, use a dedicated .DS_Store parser or a hex editor. One documented open-source library can inspect icon locations and Finder view property lists.²

On Windows and Linux, .DS_Store has no role in arranging folders. It may become visible after a folder, archive, or removable drive has passed through a Mac. You can remove it when you do not need the Mac folder's saved appearance. Finder may recreate it later, and deleting it can reset that folder's custom view settings.¹

Poly support for .DS_Store

Poly intentionally excludes .DS_Store files from uploads and folder imports. These files are operating-system housekeeping data, so they are not stored, indexed, previewed, or made available to the Poly agent. The other meaningful files in the same folder can still be uploaded normally.

History of .DS_Store

The name means Desktop Services Store. Arno Gourdol, the technical lead for the Mac OS X Finder in 1999, explains that Apple rewrote Finder and separated its interface from a back end responsible for file enumeration and metadata such as icon locations and folder settings. That back end was called Desktop Services, and its private data store became .DS_Store.³

The leading dot was chosen so Unix-based Mac OS X would treat the file as invisible. Finder went on to create these files broadly, including in many folders where users had not deliberately customized the view.³

Working with .DS_Store and alternatives

There is no useful conversion target because .DS_Store describes a folder's Finder presentation rather than portable content. A few practical choices cover most situations:

• Keep it when preserving a carefully arranged disk image or Mac folder view.
• Exclude it from source repositories, deployment packages, and cross-platform archives. GitHub's standard macOS ignore template includes .DS_Store.⁴
• Delete it from a shared copy when the saved Finder layout is irrelevant.
• For managed SMB shares, administrators can tell macOS not to read .DS_Store files on those shares. Apple documents the setting and notes that Finder then uses basic information to display folders in alphanumeric order.⁵

Renaming .DS_Store does not turn it into a document or remove any metadata still present inside it.