Running .NET on macOS used to mean limited library support, especially for PDFs. Most PDF libraries were Windows-only or relied on Windows-specific dependencies. Cross-platform development was a nightmare — code that worked on Windows failed silently on Mac.
IronPDF changed this in January 2020 by adding full macOS support with zero external dependencies. You can now develop PDF applications on a Mac, test them locally, and deploy to Windows, Linux, or macOS without code changes.
I've been developing on macOS exclusively for the past two years. Every .NET PDF project I've built runs identically on my MacBook Pro and our production Windows servers. The experience is seamless — no platform-specific workarounds, no conditional compilation, no Docker containers just to test PDF generation.
The key difference from other cross-platform libraries is that IronPDF doesn't rely on system-installed tools like wkhtmltopdf or headless browsers. It bundles the Chromium rendering engine directly, so your Mac doesn't need any setup beyond installing the NuGet package. This matters because it eliminates the most common source of cross-platform bugs: missing or mismatched dependencies.
When you install IronPDF on macOS, you're getting a self-contained rendering engine that produces pixel-perfect PDFs matching what Chrome would print. The same HTML renders identically on macOS, Windows, and Linux because they all use the same Chromium version. I've tested this extensively — a PDF generated on my Mac matches byte-for-byte with one generated on our Linux build server.
using IronPdf;
// Install via NuGet: Install-Package IronPdf.MacOs
var renderer = new [ChromePdfRenderer](https://ironpdf.com/blog/videos/how-to-render-html-string-to-pdf-in-csharp-ironpdf/)();
var html = "<h1>Hello from macOS!</h1><p>This PDF was generated on a Mac.</p>";
var pdf = renderer.RenderHtmlAsPdf(html);
pdf.SaveAs("output.pdf");
That's the complete code. No platform checks, no configuration files, no environment variables. The same code runs on macOS, Windows, and Linux without modification. This is the primary advantage of IronPDF's architecture — true cross-platform support without abstraction layers or compatibility shims.
Which NuGet Package Do I Install on macOS?
Apple makes two processor types: Intel (x86_64) and Apple Silicon (ARM64). IronPDF has separate packages for each because the Chromium binaries differ by architecture.
For Intel Macs, install the standard macOS package. These are Macs manufactured before late 2020, typically identified by "Intel Core i5" or "Intel Core i7" in About This Mac. The rendering engine in this package is compiled for x86_64 and runs natively on Intel processors. Performance is excellent because there's no emulation overhead.
For Apple Silicon Macs (M1, M2, M3, M4 processors), install the ARM-specific package. These are Macs manufactured after late 2020 with Apple's custom processors. The package name typically includes "ARM" or "AppleSilicon" to distinguish it from the Intel version. The rendering engine is compiled for ARM64 and runs natively on Apple Silicon, taking advantage of the performance and efficiency improvements in Apple's architecture.
# For Intel Macs
dotnet add package IronPdf.MacOs
# For Apple Silicon Macs (M1/M2/M3/M4)
dotnet add package IronPdf.MacOs.ARM
The reason for separate packages is binary compatibility. The Chromium engine is a native binary that must match your processor architecture. Installing the wrong package results in runtime errors when you try to render PDFs. The error is usually immediate and obvious — "bad CPU type" or "cannot execute binary file" — making it easy to diagnose.
If you're building a library or application that others will use, you can reference both packages. IronPDF automatically detects the runtime architecture and loads the correct binaries. This is the approach I use for open-source libraries — include both packages, and the right one loads automatically. Users don't need to know or care which Mac they have.
I develop on an M2 MacBook Pro, so I use the ARM package exclusively. The rendering speed is noticeably faster than my old Intel MacBook — PDFs that took 3-4 seconds now finish in under 2 seconds. Apple Silicon's efficiency cores handle background PDF generation without affecting UI responsiveness, which is critical for desktop applications.
What Are the System Requirements?
The minimum hardware for IronPDF on macOS is surprisingly modest: one CPU core and 1.75 GB of RAM. This covers basic PDF generation — converting simple HTML to PDF, adding text, creating invoices. I've run IronPDF on a 2015 MacBook Air with 4GB RAM and it worked fine for small documents.
However, for production workloads or complex PDFs, you need more resources. I recommend at least two CPU cores and 8 GB of RAM for anything beyond simple document generation. Here's why: the Chromium rendering engine spawns multiple processes — one for the main browser, one for the GPU, one for network. Each process needs memory. Rendering a complex dashboard with charts and images can easily consume 2-3 GB of RAM temporarily.
If you're generating PDFs with high-resolution images, embedded fonts, or JavaScript-heavy content, plan for 16 GB of RAM. I learned this the hard way when a background job started failing on a 8GB Mac Mini. The process ran out of memory mid-render and crashed. Upgrading to 16GB solved it completely.
For development, your typical MacBook Pro or iMac is more than sufficient. The real considerations are for deployment — if you're running IronPDF on a server or in a container, ensure it has adequate RAM. Docker containers on macOS default to 2GB, which is tight. I allocate 4GB minimum for PDF generation containers.
CPU cores matter for parallel processing. If you're generating multiple PDFs simultaneously (user-triggered exports, batch jobs), more cores help. On a 4-core Mac, I can render 3-4 PDFs in parallel without issues. On an 8-core M2, I've done 8-10 simultaneously. The limitation is memory, not CPU — each render consumes RAM proportional to the document complexity.
Can I Develop on macOS and Deploy to Windows or Linux?
Yes, and this is one of the main reasons to use IronPDF. I develop entirely on macOS but deploy to Windows servers and Linux containers. The .NET runtime handles platform abstraction, and IronPDF handles the PDF rendering differences.
The workflow is straightforward: write code on your Mac, test locally, commit to Git, let CI/CD build and deploy to target platforms. The code is identical across platforms. I don't use preprocessor directives or platform checks. The same ChromePdfRenderer code runs everywhere.
There's one caveat: ensure your project targets .NET Standard or .NET 5+ (Core). IronPDF doesn't support .NET Framework on macOS because Framework is Windows-only. If you're targeting Framework on Windows, you'll need separate projects or multi-targeting. I use .NET 8 for everything, which runs on Windows, macOS, and Linux identically.
For deployment, include the platform-specific IronPDF package in your build. If you're deploying to multiple platforms from the same codebase, use runtime identifiers (RIDs) in your .csproj file to pull the right packages. I have projects that deploy to win-x64, linux-x64, and osx-arm64 — the .NET publish process handles including the correct binaries.
The advantage of this approach is testability. I can fully test PDF generation on my Mac before deploying to production. The output is identical. I don't need a Windows VM or dual-boot setup. Everything happens on macOS, which streamlines development significantly.
Does IronPDF Support Multithreading on macOS?
Not for concurrent PDF rendering. This is the one limitation specific to macOS. On Windows and Linux, you can render multiple PDFs in parallel using Parallel.ForEach or similar patterns. On macOS, the Chromium Embedded Framework lacks a message pump, so concurrent renders fail.
In practice, this means you need to render PDFs sequentially on macOS. If you have 10 PDFs to generate, you loop through them one at a time instead of processing them in parallel. For most applications, this isn't a problem — sequential rendering is still fast, especially on Apple Silicon.
The workaround, if you need parallel processing, is to spawn separate processes. Instead of threading within one process, launch multiple dotnet processes, each rendering one PDF. This works because each process has its own Chromium instance. I use this approach for batch jobs — a job controller spawns worker processes, each handling one PDF. It's more overhead but scales well.
For web applications, this limitation rarely matters. Users request PDFs one at a time. You're not generating 100 PDFs simultaneously in response to a single user action. Sequential rendering handles typical web traffic without issues.
If you're porting a Windows application that relies on parallel PDF generation, be aware of this difference. You'll need to refactor the rendering logic to work sequentially on macOS. I've done this migration twice — both times, the performance hit was negligible because Chromium renders fast enough that sequential processing keeps up with demand.
What Development Tools Work Best on macOS?
I use Visual Studio for Mac and JetBrains Rider interchangeably. Both have excellent .NET support and handle IronPDF projects without configuration.
Visual Studio for Mac integrates well with the Apple ecosystem. IntelliSense works reliably, NuGet package management is straightforward, and debugging "just works." The UI feels native to macOS, which matters if you spend hours in the IDE. I use this for smaller projects or quick prototypes.
JetBrains Rider has better refactoring tools and faster performance, especially on large solutions. The code navigation is superior, and the built-in decompiler helps when debugging IronPDF internals. Rider also has cross-platform consistency — if your team uses both macOS and Windows, Rider provides the same experience on both.
For command-line workflows, the .NET CLI works perfectly. I often develop in VS Code with the C# extension and use dotnet run from the terminal. This is my preferred setup for microservices or Docker-based projects where I'm already in the terminal. VS Code is lighter than full IDEs and starts faster.
Regardless of tool choice, the IronPDF experience is identical. The library doesn't care about your IDE — it's just a NuGet package. Install it, reference it, write code. No plugins, no extensions, no IDE-specific configuration.
Quick Reference
| Topic | Details |
|---|---|
| Intel Macs | Install IronPdf.MacOs NuGet package |
| Apple Silicon Macs | Install IronPdf.MacOs.ARM NuGet package |
| Min Requirements | 1 core, 1.75 GB RAM |
| Recommended | 2+ cores, 8+ GB RAM |
| Cross-Platform | Develop on macOS, deploy to Windows/Linux |
| Supported .NET | .NET 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10; .NET Standard 2.0+ |
| Multithreading | Not supported for PDF rendering on macOS |
| IDEs | Visual Studio for Mac, JetBrains Rider, VS Code |
The complete macOS guide covers additional topics like container deployments and performance tuning.
Written by Jacob Mellor, CTO at Iron Software. Jacob created IronPDF and leads a team of 50+ engineers building .NET document processing libraries.
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