IPSW File Format

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Revision as of 23:58, 17 July 2009 by Oranav (talk | contribs)
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IPSW (guess IPhone/ IPod SoftWare) Files have the Magic Number 504B0304 (PK\003\004) and thus are ZIP Archives. They can be modified with typical zip/unzip tools (i.e. change extension to .zip and double click). An IPSW File is used to deliver the iPod Touch / iPhone firmware to the end-user.

IPSW Contents

root folder

  • Restore Ramdisk
  • Update Ramdisk (Firmware 1.0 didn't contain an Update Ramdisk as there is no official firmware to update from)
  • Filesystem Ramdisk (the largest .dmg file)
  • kernelcache.release.XXX file (hardware specific)
  • BuildManifest.plist (first appeared in firmware 3.0, I guess)
  • Restore.plist file
  • \Firmware (Folder)

Firmware Folder

  • \all_flash\all_flash.XXXXXX.production (Folder)
  • \DFU (Folder)

all_flash.XXXXXX.production Folder

  • img2/img3 files
  • manifest

DFU Folder

  • iBEC.XXX.DFU
  • iBSS.XXX.DFU
  • WTF.XXX.DFU (disappeared in 3.0, I guess)