Spacebar support
Need a hand? Email beau@beaugunderson.com. Spacebar requires macOS 15 or later on a Mac with Apple silicon.
Start here
- Install Spacebar in Applications and open it once so macOS can register its Quick Look extensions.
- In Finder, select a supported file and press Space.
- If you still see an icon or another app's preview, open Spacebar and choose Quick Look Settings. Enable Spacebar's archive, track, and data preview extensions. Another installed preview extension can compete for the same file type.
Space or Control-Space?
macOS reserves some file types for its own Quick Look previews. Spacebar cannot replace those previews on the Space bar. Its Preview in Spacebar Quick Action opens a separate preview window for them.
| What you want to preview | How to open it |
|---|---|
| Video other than MP4 and QuickTime, audio, archives, GPS tracks, SQLite, Parquet, JSON, and other supported Quick Look types | Select the file in Finder and press Space. The Quick Action also works. |
| MP4 and QuickTime videos, Excel workbooks, CSV, photos and camera raw files, certificates, and other types macOS keeps. On macOS 26, also audio and video other than MKV, WebM, and FLAC | Use Preview in Spacebar, normally Control-Space, or the Finder context menu/Services menu. |
| A supported file inside a ZIP or tar archive | Open the archive, then click the file's row. File-member previews require an active trial or unlock. |
Keyboard shortcuts can conflict: macOS may already use Control-Space to switch input sources. Go to System Settings → Keyboard → Keyboard Shortcuts → Services, find Preview in Spacebar, and choose a shortcut that works for you. The Finder menu remains available without a shortcut.
Space or Escape closes Spacebar's Quick Action window. Up and down move through the files you selected, not every file in the folder. Inside Finder's own Quick Look panel, macOS keeps control of the keyboard.
Video and audio previews
On macOS 27, MKV, WebM, AVI, MPEG, M4V, 3GP, and DV video and most audio (MP3, M4A, FLAC, WAV, AIFF, Ogg, CAF, AAC, AC-3) play inside Finder's Quick Look panel. They start playing with sound. The seek bar is the soundtrack's waveform: click or drag it to move. The controls beside it skip ten seconds, step a frame, change the speed, and set the volume. In a video, the button at the right end opens a details column where you can switch the audio track, turn subtitles on, and jump to a chapter.
MP4 and QuickTime stay with Apple's Space-bar preview on every macOS. On macOS 26, so do audio and video other than MKV, WebM, and FLAC. Use Preview in Spacebar for Spacebar's own view of any of them.
Protected purchases (M4P) and Audible books are not played; nothing in Spacebar can decrypt them.
Playback is local and does not convert or modify the original movie. Supported video files inside ZIP or tar archives can be opened in place; the extracted member stays available until its player has stopped and cleanup finishes.
Container names do not guarantee every codec or profile will play. Oversized embedded attachments and unsupported inputs are rejected. Subtitles and audio tracks are the ones inside the file; a subtitle file sitting beside the movie is not loaded. HDR10 and HLG video is shown in standard dynamic range. If something looks wrong, include the codec and Mac model in your report.
The free trial and one-time unlock
Archive browsing and GPX, KML, KMZ, and shapefile track previews stay free. Other standalone previews and previews of files inside archives require the unlock after the trial ends.
The trial lasts seven days and starts only when you choose Start a free 7-day trial in Spacebar and complete Apple's free transaction. It does not start just because you installed or opened the app. There is no subscription and no automatic charge when the trial ends. Spacebar shows the localized one-time unlock price before you start.
To recover access on another Mac or after reinstalling, open Spacebar with the same Apple Account used for the purchase and choose Restore purchases if access is not already restored. A restored trial keeps its original start date; reinstalling does not restart the seven days.
If the store is unavailable, check your connection and use Retry store. Apple handles purchase approval and payment. An approval-pending purchase does not unlock previews until Apple approves it. For billing or refund requests, use Apple's Report a Problem service.
When a preview is missing or incomplete
- Files in the Trash: macOS does not offer these to third-party Quick Look extensions. Move the file out of the Trash first.
- Cloud-only files: macOS may need to download an iCloud Drive file before any preview can read it. A local file's preview does not need a network connection.
- Partial results: previews have entry, row, point, byte, or time limits. The preview reports when it stops early. Large spreadsheets show the first 200 rows of each sheet, with additional rows counted within the scan budget.
- Archives: ZIP, tar, gzip, xz, 7z, and RAR containers are supported in the combinations listed on the home page. Bzip2 and Zstandard compression are not supported. Encrypted headers prevent listing; encrypted file contents cannot be opened. In-place member previews are available for supported ZIP and tar containers, not 7z or RAR.
- Maps: the map is an offline boundary map, not a street or satellite map. Shapefiles need longitude/latitude coordinates; separate attribute files are not read. Tracks crossing the antimeridian may fit poorly.
Credits and licenses
The app includes open-source parsers, libmpv and FFmpeg for video and audio playback, and an offline map built from Natural Earth and geoBoundaries. The source of those playback libraries as built for each release, and what is needed to relink Spacebar against a modified copy, are on the open source page. In Spacebar, choose Help → Third-Party Notices to read the licenses offline. You can also read the full notices here.
The adapted boundary map (28 MB) is available separately, without buying the app. Its source attribution and CC BY 4.0 license accompany the download.
Report a problem
Include your macOS version, Spacebar version, file type, whether you used Space or the Quick Action, and what you expected to see. A screenshot or a small redacted sample file helps. Please do not send passwords, private keys, or personal data. You can describe a sensitive file without attaching it.
For details about local files, temporary archive members, purchases, and support correspondence, read the privacy policy.