Binary is more compact and faster to read/write. XML is human-readable and version-control-friendly. For development, use XML (better diffs). For distribution, convert to binary. Xcode can use either — it converts automatically.

Can JSON represent everything a plist can?

Almost. Plist supports NSDate (date), NSData (binary), and NSNull. JSON has no date or binary type — encode dates as ISO 8601 strings and binary as base64. Use a wrapper format if you need exact plist fidelity.

Konvertieren Apple plist files to JSON

Apple Eigenschaft lists (plist) serialize Daten in XML oder binary formatieren. Konvertieren in JSON für cross-platform verwenden und easier manipulation.

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Apple plist files come in two formats: XML (human-readable, older) and binary (compact, modern). They store configuration for macOS and iOS apps — Info.plist, preferences, entitlements. The XML format uses specific tags: <dict>, <array>, <string>, <integer>, <true/>, <false/>.
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XML-Formatierer →
Formatieren the XML plist to verify structure. Plist XML has a strict schema: <plist version="1.0"> root with a single <dict> or <array>. Format to catch malformed XML and verify the plist structure.
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JSON-XML-Konverter →
the XML plist to JSON. The plist's <dict> becomes a JSON object (keys are <key> elements, values are the following element), <array> becomes a JSON array, and primitive types map in their JSON equivalents konvertieren
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Binary plists must be decoded first (plutil -convert xml1 file.plist on macOS). For cross-platform projects, convert plists to JSON at build time and generate plists from JSON for Xcode. This enables version control diffs (binary plists are not diff-friendly) and cross-platform tooling.

Häufige Fragen

XML or binary plist?: Binary is more compact and faster to read/write. XML is human-readable and version-control-friendly. For development, use XML (better diffs). For distribution, convert to binary. Xcode can use either — it converts automatically.
Can JSON represent everything a plist can?: Almost. Plist supports NSDate (date), NSData (binary), and NSNull. JSON has no date or binary type — encode dates as ISO 8601 strings and binary as base64. Use a wrapper format if you need exact plist fidelity.