Prism for Mac

A free, open-source download manager for Mac

Native builds for Apple Silicon and Intel Macs on macOS 11 Big Sur or later. Prism splits each download across up to 32 connections, takes over downloads from Chrome, Edge, Brave, Firefox and other browsers, and resumes after sleep, a crash or a dropped Wi-Fi.

Download for Apple Silicon Intel Mac

macOS 11 or later · Apple menu → About This Mac → Chip tells you which one you have

Prism's main window: downloads with live progress and speeds, and a connections pane with 16 parallel segments for one file. Prism's main window in the light theme.

On the Mac

A download manager that feels at home on macOS.

The same engine, browser capture, video and torrent support as everywhere else, in a light or dark liquid-glass window.

Apple Silicon and Intel

A native build for each: aarch64 for M-series Macs, x64 for Intel. Written in Rust, light on memory.

Your Mac stays awake

While downloads run, Prism keeps the Mac from going to sleep (the display may still sleep), and lets go as soon as they finish.

Chrome, Edge, Brave, Firefox

Add the extension from the Chrome Web Store, or use the Browser Extension folder inside the DMG. Firefox and Zen add it from Firefox Add-ons.

Video and music

MP4 in the quality you want or just the MP3, from every site yt-dlp supports. Prism fetches a verified ffmpeg for you, or uses Homebrew’s.

AI models for LM Studio

Download Hugging Face models — GGUF or safetensors — and save them straight into LM Studio’s models folder. How it works.

Private by design

No telemetry, no ads, no account. The extension talks only to the Prism app on your own Mac.

Download

Install in two minutes.

Prism isn’t notarized by Apple yet (that needs a paid developer account), so macOS asks you to allow it once.

Your system

macOS

macOS 11 Big Sur or later

First run: the app isn’t notarized by Apple yet, so macOS blocks it once. Run xattr -dr com.apple.quarantine /Applications/Prism.app in Terminal, or use System Settings → Privacy & Security → Open Anyway. Not sure which Mac you have? Apple menu → About This Mac → Chip.

Browser extension included: the DMG has a Browser Extension folder next to Prism — drag it to Documents, then load it in Chrome (Prism guides you on first start).

Step by step

  1. Open the .dmg and drag Prism into Applications

    Apple Silicon: Prism_<version>_aarch64.dmg. Intel: Prism_<version>_x64.dmg.

  2. Allow Prism once

    macOS may refuse to open it, call it “damaged”, or close it after a few seconds. Clear the quarantine flag in Terminal, or use System Settings → Privacy & Security → Open Anyway:

    xattr -dr com.apple.quarantine /Applications/Prism.app

  3. Add the browser extension

    From the Chrome Web Store in Chrome, Edge, Brave, Opera or Vivaldi. Prism walks you through it on first start.

  4. Optional: ffmpeg for video

    Prism can fetch a verified build (Settings → Video & streams → Check tools), or install it with Homebrew:

    brew install ffmpeg

The macOS builds are made and tested on GitHub’s Mac machines. Something off on your Mac? Open an issue — reports from real Macs help a lot.

FAQ

Prism on the Mac, answered.

Something else? Ask in Discussions.

Does Prism run natively on Apple Silicon?

Yes. The aarch64 DMG is built for M-series Macs, and the x64 DMG for Intel Macs. Both need macOS 11 Big Sur or later.

Why does macOS say Prism can’t be opened or is damaged?

Prism isn’t notarized by Apple yet, so Gatekeeper blocks it the first time. Allow it once with System Settings → Privacy & Security → Open Anyway, or run xattr -dr com.apple.quarantine /Applications/Prism.app in Terminal. Updates installed from inside Prism don’t need this again.

Does Prism work with Safari?

No. The extension is made for Chromium browsers (Chrome, Edge, Brave, Opera, Vivaldi, Helium) and for Firefox and Zen. You can still paste links into Prism from any browser, or let its clipboard monitor pick them up.

Can Prism download videos on a Mac?

Yes, from every site yt-dlp supports, as MP4 up to 8K HDR or as MP3. Prism installs and updates yt-dlp itself and can fetch a verified ffmpeg. Only download content you have the right to.

Is Prism free?

Yes. Prism is a free, open-source download manager under the MIT license: no trial, no paid tier, no ads and no account.

More about Prism

The Prism home page has the full feature tour, benchmarks and the install guide.

Prism homeFeatures, benchmarks, film and guide. Prism for WindowsInstaller, MSI or portable for Windows 10 and 11. Prism for Linuxdeb, rpm or AppImage for any distribution. Browser extensionChrome, Edge, Brave, Opera, Vivaldi and Firefox. An alternative to IDMWhat carries over from Internet Download Manager. Hugging Face modelsGGUF and safetensors, only the files you need.

One beam. Many rays.

Free, open source and ready for your next big download.

Download Prism Star on GitHub