Hex Fiend changelog
Back to Hex Fiend20 releases since July 2014 · GitHub releases, checked Oct 26, 2026
2.18.1Latest
2.18.0
2.17.1
2.17.0
2.16.0
2.15.0
2.14.1
2.14.0
2.13.1
- Fix line numbers not expanding
2.13.0
- Add preference to control the byte grouping when copying data as hex
- Add support for 2-byte custom encodings (thanks @tellowkrinkle)
- Add fatdate/fattime templates command for reading FAT/DOS 2-byte dates (thanks @denisname)
- Custom binary template entries using len are now included with the parent selection (thanks @kumowoon1025)
- Improve Color Bytes when in Dark Mode
- Improve diff range prompt UI
- Fix text search when using a custom encoding (thanks @svendahlstrand)
- Fix scrolling templates view in the diff viewer (thanks @andryblack)
- Fix read-only bug with data inspectors (thanks @kumowoon1025)
- Fix hexf handling of piped input
- Fix crash when opening a file while search is active
- Fix Hex Fiend holding on to files after they are closed
2.12.0
- macOS 10.9 or later is now required.
- Added basic extended attributes support. The open file dialog will now list the extended attributes for the selected file. This allows opening classic metadata such as resource forks ("com.apple.ResourceFork") and Finder Info ("com.apple.FinderInfo"), and other data (for example "com.apple.quarantine"). Currently extended attributes are read-only and cannot be modified.
- Data Inspector can now view half-precision (2-byte) floats
- Prevent the document from being modified when editing ends with the data inspector
- Binary template improvements:
- Add experimental uint8_bits, uint16_bits, uint32_bits, and uint64_bits commands
- Add unixtime32 and unixtime64 for reading unix times
- Add cstr command for reading NUL-terminated strings
- Add file caching to improve performance
- Fix UUID reading for little endian (@tellowkrinkle)
- Add TIFF template (@denisname)
- Add PSD template (@Reeywhaar)
- Add ID3v2 template (@wader)
- Updated FLAC template (@wader)
2.11.0
- Hex Fiend is notarized for added security on 10.14+
- Binary template improvements:
- Add section selection
- Add entry command for arbitrary key/value fields
- Add eof as a special length parameter to go to the end of the file
- Add optional -hex argument for unsigned integers to display as hexadecimal
- Add str command that takes an encoding identifier
- Add sectionvalue command that sets the value of the current section
- Sections now auto-expand
- Add preference for controlling behavior on single and double click of template entries
- Set working directory to templates folder so "source" command can use relative paths
- Performing a copy with a selected entry copies its value to the clipboard
- Fix incorrect anchor usage in some commands
- Fix incorrect error handling with zlib_uncompress
- Fix window width adjustment when showing/hiding templates
- Prefix hexadecimal values with 0x to match Data Inspector
- Improve error messages for read failures
- Improve documentation
- Add anchored scrolling. When scrolling horizontally, the document will be anchored by the selection offset (if visible) or first visible byte
- Add column view (off by default)
- Add custom byte grouping
- Fix data inspector text alignment (thanks rpendleton)
- Fix plain/ascii text alignment with line numbers
- Fix crash when Color Bytes is enabled with a multi-byte text encoding
- Fix incorrect parsing of large ULEB128/SLEB128 values
- Move fonts in Font menu to bottom to improve handling for a large number of fonts
2.10.0
- Add dark mode for 10.14 Mojave
- Initial tabbed windows support (thanks saagarjha)
- Binary template improvements:
- Template label argument is now optional. When the label argument is not passed, no entry in the UI will be created.
- The selected template is now remembered
- "Refresh" also reloads the selected template
- Add "Copy Value" to binary template item
- Increased script timeout to 10 seconds
- Add "Select Bytes" context menu
- Fix template variables persisting between runs
- Improve "requires" error message
- Add "bytes" command
- Add "zlib_uncompress" command
- hexf improvements:
- hexf can open documents from stdin (for example "echo hello | hexf")
- hexf brings Hex Fiend to front
- Experimental support
2.9.0
- Binary Templates are here! Note this is an early beta, and fields are currently read-only. See documentation and #89 for discussion.
- New high-resolution app icon!
- Highlight selected bytes with a custom color via the "Highlight Selection" contextual menu
- Fix Find controls clipped on macOS 10.13
- Change banner views (Find, Jump to Offset, etc) to fixed heights to fix weird resizing
- hexf can write to a non-existent file and diff two files via "hexf -d file1 file2"
- hexf is now installed with escalated privileges
- Fixed hexf with relative paths
- Make file permissions on save more secure (thanks wesdawg)
- Added preference to disable alias resolving
- Added nullability annotations to the Framework for better Swift interoperability (thanks Ben10do)
- Hex Fiend is now fully converted to Automatic Reference Counting
macOS 10.8 or later is required.
2.8.0
- Add "Copy as ASCII" menu for always copying plain text as ASCII instead of the current encoding
- Add preference to control default edit mode
- Add search field to encodings window
- When Find is activated its text field's text is now selected
- Fix crash when copying more than 32KB of text
- Fix hexf missing shebang (thanks Misty De Meo)
macOS 10.7 or later is required.
2.7.0
- Add option to show data inspector ints as hexadecimal or decimal
- Fix line number format not saving when clicking the column directly
- Window now auto saves its position (thanks Daniele Cattaneo)
- 95% of code has been updated for Automatic Reference Counting
- Removed File > Open Path. Use the standard open dialog's command-shift-G feature to open paths directly
macOS 10.7 or later is required.
2.6.0
- Add hexf command line tool, which can be installed via the menu Hex Fiend > Install Command Line Tool. This is a simpler convience wrapper around the open command.
- Fix showing the last line number with certain fonts (thanks Daniele Cattaneo)
macOS 10.7 or later is required.
2.5.0
- Add Line Number Format menu
- Font menu items display using font
- Remove File Format option when saving
- Fix broken read-only mode
- Fix error messages not showing when files can't be opened
macOS 10.7 or later is required.
2.4.0
- Added binary and SLEB128 and ULEB128 int inspector
- Added hide null bytes option
- Added text encodings table
- Allow selecting packages and hidden files
- Fixed many bugs and memory leaks
macOS 10.7 or later is required.
2.3.0
Requirements have crept up to OS X 10.7