A property list is Apple's standard settings and state format, the file behind app preferences, device configuration and system caches. Many are stored in a compact binary form that shows almost nothing in a text editor, which is exactly why their contents get overlooked. File X-Ray decodes both the binary and XML forms in your browser.
Scan an Apple plist fileThe scan first reports which form the file is in. The human-readable XML variant is easy to inspect anywhere; the binary variant, which begins with bplist00, is not, and that is the one worth opening here. Both are decoded the same way and flattened into a list of keys and values you can read directly.
Because property lists hold configuration and state rather than documents, what they leak is account-shaped. The scan surfaces any email address found in a value, which in a plist is usually an account identifier rather than content, and any file path containing /Users/<name>/, /home/<name>/ or C:\Users\<name>\, which exposes the account name on the machine that wrote the file.
Beyond those two specific flags, the scan lists the individual keys and values, capped so that a very large preferences file stays readable. Device identifiers, service endpoints and app state all show up here in plain terms.
One relative of the plist has its own page. The .aae sidecar iOS writes next to an edited photo is a property list too, but what it reveals is quite different, so it is covered separately under the AAE format page rather than here.
This is a selection. The full field manual documents the fields read from each format.
Drop it here. File X-Ray decodes both the XML and the binary bplist00 forms in your browser and lists the keys and values. Nothing is uploaded.
Apple stores many property lists in a compact binary form that begins with bplist00 rather than XML. It is not human-readable in a text editor, which is why its contents get missed. It is not encrypted, and it decodes here.
The risks are account-shaped: email addresses used as account identifiers, and file paths containing your username, for example /Users/<name>/ or C:\Users\<name>\. The scan flags both specifically, alongside the ordinary settings.
An .aae is a property list too, but it is Apple's photo edit sidecar and what it reveals is quite different: that the photo beside it was edited, and by which app. It has its own page under the AAE format.
Yes. The plist is parsed entirely in your browser and never leaves your device.
File X-Ray reads Apple plist files entirely in your browser - the file never leaves your device. This format is inspected, not modified. Scan a file now.