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Retinizer for Mac

Improve the display of an app's non-Retina elements.

Free
In English
Version 0.5
4.5
Based on 2 user rates

Retinizer overview

Retinizer allows apps that aren't Retina-ready and are displayed pixelated at 1x to display their UI widgets at 2x. That way, only their custom images will look bad and not the whole app. To use it, just drag an app (and make sure it's closed) into the window and click the Retinize! button.

It also allows de-retinization of an app, in case it has problems in 2x mode. Just drag an app that you Retinized before and click the button below, which will now read De-retinize.

The app works per-user. That means, retinizing an app in your account will not affect the app in other accounts, where it will display at its usual 1x.

So far, it seems only apps that use Carbon, directly (like Snes9x) or indirectly (wxWidgets, Qt apps) draw their widgets at 1x on a Retina display, while Cocoa apps seem to always draw widgets at 2x. But some apps, such as Eclipse, draw at 1x and use Cocoa (albeit with some weird Java bindings or something like that, not sure). This app also helps in that case.

Please note that this app won't make apps get retina images. That means, custom icons, such as those in the Preferences window, will still look ugly.

It has only been tested with OS X 10.8 but should work fine with 10.7.4.

Known bugs:

  • Cannot tell if apps are retina ready unless they have set NSHighResolutionCapable in their Info.plist.
  • DO NOT USE IT WITH ADOBE CREATIVE SUITE
  • It may have problems with apps that don't use the defaults system
  • You must have Gatekeeper disabled or open the app with Ctrl-Click->Open, as I don't (yet) have a Gatekeeper Certificate.

What’s new in version 0.5

Version 0.5:
  • Offers to close app before retinizing
  • More bugfixes

Retinizer for Mac

Free
In English
Version 0.5
Write a detailed review about Retinizer

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4.5

(3 Reviews of Retinizer)

  • Comments

  • User Ratings

Mikelangelo
Mikelangelo
Oct 28 2016
0.5
4.5
Oct 28 2016
4.5
Version: 0.5
My Mac has no Retina display and some programs look awful on it, so I've decided to try Retinizer and it was able to improve the situation! Now all my apps look good and I can get pleasure working with them. Thanks!
Steven-Goodheart
Steven-Goodheart
Apr 24 2015
0.5
4.5
Apr 24 2015
4.5
Version: 0.5
The first time I opened MS Word (2008) on my Retina iMac, I couldn't believe how ugly the font and menus were -- obviously, an old program not ready for Retina. So, I tried this finty little program, and, voila! -- MS Word is now *visually usable!* Way cool. Using Retinizer on Yosemite 10.10.3. Hats off to the programmer. :)
Bart-Pans
Bart-Pans
Aug 16 2013
0.5
0.0
Aug 16 2013
0.0
Version: 0.5
I have bought myself a brand new macbook pro retina. So I am a bit new to this OS. Do I understand it correctly this software enabled the sharp graphics for older software?
Mikelangelo
Mikelangelo
Oct 28 2016
4.5
Oct 28 2016
4.5
Version: null
Steven-Goodheart
Steven-Goodheart
Apr 24 2015
4.5
Apr 24 2015
4.5
Version: null