Etcher
Etcher (now called balenaEtcher) is an open-source tool for writing disk images to USB drives and SD cards. It is widely used by developers, embedded systems engineers, educators and makers who need to flash bootable media with operating systems, custom Linux distributions or embedded firmware. The app validates data integrity, handles large files reliably, and supports popular formats including ISO, IMG, ZIP and compressed archives. It is developed by Balena and available for macOS, Windows and Linux.
AI Recommendation
1 suggestionBalenaEtcher has shipped with native Apple Silicon support since version 1.5.117 (released in 2020), available as a Universal Binary build that includes both arm64 and Intel architectures. However, a regression after version 1.5.121 broke universal binary support, meaning some intermediate releases are x64-only and will not run on Apple Silicon at all — if you encounter the error "this application is not supported on this Mac", you are on one of these affected builds. Download the latest version directly from etcher.pages.dev, which will provide a current Universal Binary that runs natively on both Intel and M-series Macs. If you are on an affected intermediate version, the update path is straightforward: remove the old app and install the latest release. The current Universal Binary build delivers significantly better performance and battery life compared to running under Rosetta.
Recommended reading
What happens to your Intel apps in macOS 28