You will find IPSW files on your Windows PC, if you use an iPad, iPod, or iPhone. These files are easily ignorable if not for their humongous size. In this post, we see what are IPSW files and should you delete them or not.
What is an IPSW file?
The files you see with IPSW file extension on your PC are Apple Device Software Update files used with iPad, iPod, iPhone, or AppleTV. IPSW file is an archived format that stores various DMG files, PLISTs, BBFWs, and IM4Ps used on Apple devices. These IPSW files are released by Apple and are used to update the software components of Apple products and also used to restore Apple products to factory settings. IPSW files are usually very large that go up to many gigabytes.
IPSW files are always downloaded through iTunes on your PC. You can find IPSW files on your PC in the following location. Replace the user in the path with your username on the PC.
iPhone –
C:\Users\[ user]\AppData\Roaming\Apple Computer\iTunes\iPhone Software Updates
iPad –
C:\Users\[ user]\AppData\Roaming\Apple Computer\iTunes\iPad Software Updates
iPad Touch –
C:\Users\[ user]\AppData\Roaming\Apple Computer\iTunes\iPod Software Updates
You can double-click on the files to open and install them. If you are unable to open the IPSW files, delete them from the location which forces iTunes to download a new version of the same file.
How do I open an IPSW file?
An IPSW file can be downloaded using iTunes, which applies the IPSW file to the device. If you’ve downloaded an IPSW file via iTunes or downloaded one from a website, you need to just double-click on it to open it. You could also right-click on it > Select Open with > iTunes.
Should you Delete IPSW Files?
Yes, if you have finished updating your Apple product, you can delete them anytime you want. If you have space concerns on your hard disk and no problem of internet bandwidth to download again to update your Apple products, you can delete them.
How do I download an IPSW file on Windows?
If you install the iTunes application on your PC and your Apple devices are connected to it, IPSW files are downloaded automatically onto your PC. You can connect your Apple device and double-click on the IPSW files to install it on your Apple devices to update the software.
Can I download IPSW files from Apple?
Generally, all the IPSW files that are needed to update the software components of Apple products are downloaded through iTunes. iTunes download the latest available IPSW file. If you want to download an older version of an IPSW file, you have to download it from Apple.com.
Is it safe to download from IPSW me?
Yes. There are a few third-party hosts that just store the IPSW files downloaded from the official sources. You can download from those third-party sources as long as you trust them- but we feel Apple.com would be your best and safest bet.
