MacTeX - TeX Users Group

Downloading MacTeX 2026

MacTeX-2026 requires macOS 11, Big Sur, or higher. These systems are named Big Sur (macOS 11), Monterey (macOS 12), Ventura (macOS 13), Sonoma (macOS 14), Sequoia (macOS 15), and Tahoe (macOS 26). It runs natively on both Arm and Intel machines. The same source code is used to compile both types of code, so Apple's Arm and Intel machines are on exactly the same footing. All install packages are developer-signed and notarized by Apple.

Click the link below to download. While downloading, please skim the rest of the page. Users who run into trouble sometimes write us without noticing that the solution is on this very page.

MacTeX.pkg.

The Size is 6.4G - 24 March 2026

The MD5 sum is cf32947fa65b910534d1be5c17c5a137

The Sha512 sum is 68a62ac1d9e94bc049a64997bb60bd5969b5a82f5e16ad18cb776947e9f109c74be56ec9abbd2569b3abd1373929fe39586a7bb8c2179a72d9b914a513055623

New Version Available on March 24, 2026

On March 24, 2026, we replaced the original version of MacTeX-2026 with a new version. This version will gradually make its way to mirror machines; that should take from a few days to a week. The MacTeX.pkg link above will automatically provide the new version rather than the older version when the new version is available on the mirror machine being accessed. The field under this link which lists 02 March, 2026 when the old version is available, will instead list 24 March, 2026 or a date close to this when the newer version is available.

There are two differences between the original release and the new one. First, Ghostscript is released on a different schedule than MacTeX, and very recently the Ghostscript 10.06.0 in the original MacTeX was replaced by Ghostscript 10.07.0. That version is now in MacTeX.

The more important change is related to ConTeXt, a set of macros by Hans Hagen and others. The context macros can be typeset by two different programs called LuaTeX and LuaMetaTeX. LuaTeX is part of the standard TeX Live distribution and often used by authors of LaTeX as a modern replacement for pdfTeX; it remains in the new distribution. But LuaMetaTeX is a special version of the program used just by ConTeXT and unfortunately it is not developer-signed. When Apple notarizes MacTeX, it checks to make sure that all programs are developer-signed and otherwise rejects the entire install package. So we must remove LuaMetaTeX from MacTeX.

When we forcefully remove a binary, we also remove all files dependent on that binary. It turns out that all of ConTeXt depends on LuaMetaTeX. So the entire ConTeXt package is removed from MacTeX.

Luckily, there is an easy fix for ConTeXt users. Programs installed by MacTeX must be developer-signed, but when these programs are later updated by TeX Live Utility, the update occurs over the internet by a mechanism that doesn't require developer signatures. So after installing MacTeX, users should run TeX Live Utility, a program in /Applications/TeX. This program will update all files in TeX Live which have been modified since MacTeX was created. The program will also list files which were forcibly removed, but will not automatically update them. Thus at the top of the list of programs to be updated you will see

   arara			forcibly removed
   arara.universal-darwin	forcibly removed
   context			forcibly removed
   context.universal-darwin	forcibly removed

To restore ConTeXt, select the two lines above referring to ConTeXt, and then in the TeX Live Utility "Actions" menu, select Reinstall Selected Packages. Reinstalling will take a few minutes and you'll be back in business.

Installing MacTeX

It is not necessary to remove earlier TeX distributions before installing MacTeX, because the distribution will be installed in a separate location /usr/local/texlive/2026.

After downloading, move the file MacTeX.pkg to the desktop or another convenient spot, and double click it to install. Follow the straightforward instructions. Installation on a recent Macintosh takes about ten minutes. The installer presents a Welcome page, a ReadMe page, a Software License page, and a Final Page. Clicking the "Install" button on this Final page will start the actual installation. The final page also has a ''Customize" button, which leads to a panel allowing users to decide which pieces to install: Ghostscript, Ghostscript-Extras , GUI Applications, and TeX Live itself. Most users will use the standard installation and ignore "Customize". Users who use MacPorts or HomeBrew may prefer to use the Ghostscript provided by these projects and should use "Customize" to disable Ghostscript installation.

At the end of installation, the installer will report "Success." But sometimes, the installer puts up a dialog saying "Verifying..." and then the install hangs. In all cases known to us, rebooting the Macintosh fixes this problem. After the reboot, install again.

When installation is complete, go to /Applications/TeX and read the document READ ME FIRST installed there, which explains how to find and use LaTeX. A copy of this document is available here. If other problems are reported during installation, skip to the section "Installation Errors" below.

Miscellaneous Details

MacTeX writes a symbolic link /Library/TeX/texbin which indirectly points to the TeX Live binary directory. Configure your GUI programs to use this link. The GUI programs we supply will automatically configure themselves.

MacTeX installs TeX Live, the actual TeX distribution, in /usr/local/texlive/2026. This location is often hidden in the Finder. Typical users access TeX using a "front end", a program providing an editor to enter TeX source and a preview window to view the typeset output. MacTeX installs the front end TeXShop in /Applications/TeX and most people will access TeX using that front end or a similar one.

MacTeX does not overwrite the TeX distribution from the previous year. Users who run into trouble can switch to the previous distribution until the new distribution is fixed. To switch, use TeX Live Utility which is in /Applications/TeX. Select the Configure menu item "Change Default TeX Live Version."

MacTeX completely configures TeX, so after installation it is ready to use. Go to "/Applications/TeX/READ ME FIRST.pdf" and read this short document to get started.

What Is Installed

MacTeX installs TeX Live, which contains TeX, LaTeX, AMS-TeX, and virtually every TeX-related style file and font. TeX Live is maintained by TeX User Groups across the world. TeX Live is compiled from the same sources for all platforms: Macintosh, Windows, Linux, Unix.

MacTeX also installs the GUI programs TeXShop, LaTeXiT, TeX Live Utility, and BibDesk.

MacTeX installs Ghostscript, an open source version of Postscript. An optional package, Ghostscript-Extras, installs libgs, the dynamical library for Ghostscript, and mutool, an extra tool. The programs in Ghostscript-Extras are used by only one program in TeX Live, dvisvgm. So they are not installed by default, but can be obtained using the "custom install" option in MacTeX.

X11 is an open source windowing system used by Linux systems. Most Macintosh users can ignore it. An open source version of X11 called XQuartz is available for the Macintosh. It can be found here. If you use X11, you should update to the latest version of XQuartz, 2.8.5. The TeX Live programs xdvi, pdfopen, and pdfclose require X11. Ghostscript comes with two binaries, gs-X11 and gs-noX11, where gs-X11 has support for X11 and gs-noX11 does not. When Ghostscript is first installed, a symbolic link named gs is created in /usr/local/bin. If X11 is present, gs points to gs-X11; otherwise it points to gs-noX11.

Installation Errors

Sometimes at the end of installation, the installer will report "The Installer encountered an error that caused the installation to fail. Contact the software manufacturer for assistance." In almost all cases, this error is caused by a faulty download. There is an easy way to check this. Go to /Applications/Utilities and run Terminal. Type

md5

and a space. Then drag the install package icon "MacTeX.pkg" and drop it on the Terminal window. Push RETURN. Terminal will print a message and then a long item with letters and numbers. Compare this number to the MD5 sum at the top of this page just under the MacTeX.pkg link. If the two numbers are different, your download was defective and you must download again. Third party browsers can be used to download, and work well. If such a browser consistently gives an error, we recommend trying Safari for the new download.

If you are having trouble downloading MacTeX, note that the download link points to a "multiplexer" site which parcels out requests to various up-to-date CTAN mirrors. Occasionally users have trouble getting the package from this multiplexer. In that case, choose a specific mirror on this mirror page.

MacTeX is a very large package. If your network is noisy, you might want to try downloading and installing BasicTeX. See Smaller Download. BasicTeX is very much smaller, and yet has most files, fonts, and programs to process TeX, so this is a rapid way to get a working TeX. BasicTeX need not be uninstalled before installing MacTeX, so once you convince yourself that our packages work, you can return to the main task of installing MacTeX. TUG strongly recommends the full MacTeX for most users, including beginners,

Installation Error: 10 Minute Limit

During pretesting of MacTeX-2025 a year ago, a new installation error was reported. The package was revised to eliminate this error, but it might recur in unusual circumstances. It is easily fixed.

The installer first writes a large number of packages to /usr/local/texlive/2026. Then it runs a postinstall script which configures the distribution. The installer reports the moment when the script first starts running. If the script run takes longer than ten minutes, Apple aborts the installation and reports an error.

The installer's "Window" menu offers to show a Log of the installation. If your computer is slow, it is not a good idea to show this window during installation, because writing the items takes up part of those allotted ten minutes. But after installation ends, the Log window can be opened. The 10-minute error would be reported in a line near the end of the log file, which reads

   Terminating PKInstall Task. Task has exceeded its 600 seconds of runtime.

By the time this error occurs, the installation has been completely set up and some final scripts are running. You can finish these final tasks yourself. Find the "Terminal" program in /Applications/Utilities and run it. Enter each line below in Terminal, pushing RETURN after the line is complete. Since Unix is picky about syntax, it is easiest to copy the lines from the display below. When you are done, MacTeX-2026 is fully configured and ready to use.

   sudo /usr/local/texlive/2026/bin/universal-darwin/mktexlsr
   sudo /usr/local/texlive/2026/bin/universal-darwin/updmap-sys
   sudo /usr/local/texlive/2026/bin/universal-darwin/fmtutil-sys --missing
   sudo /usr/local/texlive/2026/bin/universal-darwin/mktexlsr

In one known case, a machine was so slow that even the setup material was not finished after ten minutes, so the above solution failed. Users who run into that case should click the following link to display the indicated tar.gz file: postinstall2026.tar.gz. Drag a copy of this file to a new folder on your desktop, open that folder, and double click the file to decompress it. Then open Terminal, change to the new folder you created, and type

 	sudo sh postinstall2026.sh

Updating Various Pieces after Installation

TeX Live 2026 and the various GUI programs installed by MacTeX are up to date as of March, 2026. But various pieces may have been updated since then. Each of our GUI programs has a menu item called "Check for Updates." Select this item to update the program to the current version. The TeX Live command line files are updated daily. To install these updates, use TeX Live Utility in /Applications/TeX.

Happy TeXing on macOS !

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