Detect if macOS app is Rosetta or Native

January 30, 2023

When using an Apple Silicon CPU, it’s usually desirable to run the native version of the app rather than the Rosetta translated version for efficiency. If the app is live media based such as Zoom, using the native app version reduces CPU usage and helps avoid latency and jittering in the audio and video.

Determine if an app is native, Universal, or other architecture (Rosetta translated) by going to Applications in Finder. Highlight the application name and press ⌘ I to see the “kind” of application. If the app is Universal, there will be a check box to force the app to run in Rosetta mode, which can be useful if an app has non-native plugins. Each application and its plugins must all be native or Rosetta.