Hex Fiend
Hex Fiend is a macOS hex editor for viewing, inspecting, comparing, and editing binary files, including very large files.
What is Hex Fiend?
Hex Fiend is a native macOS hex editor that helps users inspect and edit binary data directly. It is useful for developers, reverse engineers, security researchers, and advanced users who need to examine file contents at the byte level. The app supports inserting, deleting, and rearranging data instead of limiting edits to simple overwrites, which makes it practical for real binary editing work. It is designed to handle very large files efficiently, with fast searching and a small memory footprint even when working with huge data sets. Hex Fiend also includes a data inspector for interpreting bytes in different numeric formats and endianness, plus a binary diff view for comparing files. Published by Kevin Wojniak, it is an open source desktop utility for macOS workflows that involve low-level file analysis and debugging.
Key features
- Open and inspect binary files in hexadecimal and text views
- Edit bytes by inserting, deleting, overwriting, and rearranging data
- Work with very large files without loading everything into memory
- Search file contents quickly while navigating large datasets
- Compare two files with a binary diff view that accounts for insertions and deletions
- Interpret selected data as signed or unsigned integers and floating-point values
- View data using different endianness options in the inspector
Review app leftovers with diCleaner
Inspect caches, support files, containers, and login items before cleaning.
Safety overview
Status: Safe
Hex Fiend is an open source macOS utility for binary file editing, and its behavior is consistent with that purpose. If you use features that open protected files or raw devices, macOS may ask for elevated access; only grant that access when you intend to inspect those resources. Because hex editors can modify files at the byte level, accidental edits can corrupt documents, executables, or disk data, so work on copies when the original matters.
Recommendation: Keep Hex Fiend if you intentionally use it for binary inspection, file comparison, or low-level editing on your Mac. If you do not work with binary data, it is optional and removing it should only affect your ability to open and edit files in this format with Hex Fiend.
Common paths
/Applications/Hex Fiend.app
Support paths
~/Library/Application Support/com.ridiculousfish.HexFiend
Preference paths
~/Library/Preferences/com.ridiculousfish.HexFiend.plist
Share your experience
Be the first to share your experience.