Blackmagic Forum

I’m a big fan of DisplayCalc on Windows but now on the MacOS it’s just not there. What I mean is that there’s DisplayCalc for MacOS but not in a binary installer. First of, I find it cumbersome to locate the right package and then to build it. I’m not interested in tinkering with source codes, library files, and having to compile in order to run it. So long story short, is there a working and stable MacOS DisplayCalc installer? If so, where can I get/buy it from?

If that’s not available, what other calibration software for the MacOS would you recommend that, btw, works with the Xrite original i1 Display calibration device?

It's called DisplayCal.

There is a MacOs installer on the GitHub of Erkan Ozgur Yilmaz,
who ported DisplayCal to Python 3.

It works fine on Linux, I have no experience with it on Macs.

https://github.com/eoyilmaz/displaycal- ... s_macos.md

Christoph Schmid wrote:It's called DisplayCal.

There is a MacOs installer on the GitHub of Erkan Ozgur Yilmaz,
who ported DisplayCal to Python 3.

It works fine on Linux, I have no experience with it on Macs.

https://github.com/eoyilmaz/displaycal- ... s_macos.md

Yes, DisplayCal. I just was not attentive enough to watch for that word completion feature that tries to outsmart us.

Thank you but I do have the one on GitHub downloaded. However it does generate errors when running on the Mac when I tried using it.

It needs a bit of trickery to make it run on recent systems. Unfortunately, that nice and free software didn't receive much care recently. But if you know a tiny little bit of UNIX, you can make it run.
If not, find a Mac with an older system, calibrate there, and move your resulting LUT to your new one.

If I find some time for it, I may write a tutorial.

Thanks Uli. I’ll give that a try tomorrow again. I might try to build the dmg package and see how that installs. Please let us know when you have a tutorial too, in case my build is unsuccessful lol and for others to have a nice tutorial too follow.

It's probably not your build, it's about the rights to run the little executables in the package. IIRC, you have to run them one by one and tell your Mac it's OK to open them. At least, it'll remember.

OK, I checked back on it. Unfortunately, that bag of tricks only works for Ventura. If your Mac needs something newer, it doesn't help any more. But i1Studio still works on Sonoma and even Sequoia with X-Rite devices (now Calibrite). While it may not be as precise as DispayCal was, it's at least faster and easy to operate.

If you need the precision of DisplayCal or want a LUT for DR, use an older Mac and move the resulting profile or LUT to your new system. These are display specific, not machine dependent.

For those who want to try: start DisplayCal and take note of the error messages. Look for the filenames, including in your invisible folders. Start them individually and allow the system to open them. Try again for the next, until the whole program opens (IIRC there are four of them).

Final was able to get a DisplayCal dmg that worked. Folks, thanks for all your advices and help.

May I ask where you found a DMG that works under Sequoia? Mine doesn’t.

Uli Plank wrote:May I ask where you found a DMG that works under Sequoia? Mine doesn’t.

Here. https://github.com/eoyilmaz/displaycal-py3/releases

Someone actually fixed and created the MacOS installer and made it right with this version.

Scroll down a page to where it says Assets. For Intel, download the x86 version. For Silicon, download the arm version.

After it is installed, run this command on the Terminal.
xattr -dr com.apple.quarantine /Applications/DisplayCAL.app

It will also ask you to download the ArgyllCMS and it will install it automatically.

You’re going to be prompted to give access to the Mac and you’ll have to add DisplayCAL to the security profile.

I didn’t get the errors I previously had. Just a point (and not sure if this has anything to do) I previously had Python 3.13 already installed. Run it and everything was smooth, it found all the attached displays and the Xrite i1 calibration device.

Thanks a ton, Ellory.
I had actually found that DMG installer, but it didn't work for me. Just thought there were still issues.

Now, after your success, I was encouraged to look deeper and found that there were still leftovers from the older installation. Removed everything related to DisplayCal and installed again from that DMG. My Python was already up-to-date. Now it starts!

Uli Plank wrote:Thanks a ton, Ellory.
I had actually found that DMG installer, but it didn't work for me. Just thought there were still issues.

Now, after your success, I was encouraged to look deeper and found that there were still leftovers from the older installation. Removed everything related to DisplayCal and installed again from that DMG. My Python was already up-to-date. Now it starts!

I forgot to mentioned that I did remove the older failed installation… sorry. It was just a practice I do automatically when I install software - to remove anything leftover, if any, first. Glad to know that it now works.

Yes, makes me glad too. It’s still the better software over i1Studio, in particular because you can generate a correction LUT too, not only a color profile.

P. S. It works perfectly fine for calibration under Ventura, Sonoma and Sequoia.
There are only some issue when you like to see all details of the results.

This is part two of my articles on calibration:
https://digitalproduction.com/2025/03/0 ... es-part-2/

I just wanted to say thank you, I've been using DisplayCAL on Windows for ages and I was sad to see it not working on my mac mini.

I followed the instructions and it installed and ran on my macOS!

Cheers!

I'm trying to install the ARM version of DisplayCal on a Mac mini M2 Pro. I tried the current release and the one previous but I keep getting this error when I click on the downloaded installer. Anyone encountered this issue and if so, how did you resolve it?


Edit: The Intel Mac installed fine. It’s just for the Silicon version.

Hi.

It’s macOS a security feature.

Here’s all about it and how to launch it anyway.
https://support.apple.com/en-us/102445

I don’t think it’s a security issue but rather the installer files may be corrupted. I’m wondering if someone else is encountering this issue and might have a solution.

It’s a security feature.


Try this new code and it should work out.

https://github.com/eoyilmaz/displaycal- ... s_macos.md

Ok, thanks. I build it and give it a try. The one that errors out is from the prebuilt dmg that I downloaded for MacOS ARM instruction set.

It doesn't error here.

Uli Plank wrote:It doesn't error here.

Where did you get the DMG? Was it the prebuilt dmg or did you built it on your computer? Also what version of DisplayCal? Thanks!

I got the pre-built dmg from here: https://github.com/eoyilmaz/displaycal-py3/releases
Don't forget this:
In MacOS, after installing DisplayCAL you need to run the following in Terminal:
xattr -dr com.apple.quarantine /Applications/DisplayCAL.app

And in case it matters, I'm still under Sonoma (14.7.5).

Uli Plank wrote:I got the pre-built dmg from here: https://github.com/eoyilmaz/displaycal-py3/releases
Don't forget this:
In MacOS, after installing DisplayCAL you need to run the following in Terminal:
xattr -dr com.apple.quarantine /Applications/DisplayCAL.app

And in case it matters, I'm still under Sonoma (14.7.5).

Yes. Thank you. That’s where I got it and for Intel MacOS it installed perfectly. But the arm release for the Mac Silicon won’t even mount. It thinks the package is corrupted. I deleted the old downloads and tried it several times and it still won’t mount.

This is the file in that release folder that I have been downloading…
Display CAL-3.9.16-macOS-arm64.dmg

I also tried the 3.9.15 and that failed too.

I'm afraid something must be wrong with your system/internet, it works here.

That's exactly the file I downloaded. To verify, it has a size of 121,221,066 Byte.

Hey Uli and Tony, the one from GitHub that you shared worked on the Silicon. So the prebuilt dmg that I downloaded on the https://displaycal.net/ is broken. You would think that is the main site for DisplayCal and all prebuilts are tested and working. I up and running now so big thanks for the link.

it's not broken. The original author of DisplayCal has abandoned the project, Github has picked it up and developed further.

The file on DisplayCAL.net is a very old version.

As I already explained here:
https://digitalproduction.com/2025/03/0 ... es-part-2/

Is there a way to read this article without first subscribing?
https://digitalproduction.com/2025/03/1 ... ss-part-3/

Sorry, can't do that. We need some money to keep that website running.
But you may ask me specific questions.