Resource fork

For the hidden files starting with "._", see AppleDouble. Not to be confused with .DS_Store.

A resource fork is a fork of a file on Apple's classic Mac OS operating system that is used to store structured data. It is one of the two forks of a file, along with the data fork, which stores data that the operating system treats as unstructured. Resource fork capability has been carried over to the modern macOS for compatibility.

A resource fork stores information in a specific form, containing details such as icon bitmaps, the shapes of windows, definitions of menus and their contents, and application code (machine code). Any file can have a resource fork, not just applications - for example, the screen position of a document window might be stored as a resource in the document's resource fork, separate from the document's contents stored in the data fork.

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