It’s a critical part of macOS that enables compatibility with applications designed for Intel Macs.
Apple released the first Macs with Apple Silicon in November 2020.
That’s where Rosetta 2 comes in.
Related:What Does Native Apple Silicon Support Mean?
Rosetta 2 is a translation layer for running Intel-based apps on Apple Silicon Macs.
It uses dynamic binary translation to convert x86_64 code to the Arm64 architecture used by theM1 and M2 chips.
It allows these new Macs to run apps that haven’t been updated to run natively on Apple Silicon.
Apple first introduced Rosetta 2 with the release ofmacOS Big Sur 11.0in 2020.
Its name is a reference to theRosetta Stone, which was the key to translating many ancient texts.
Theoriginal Apple Rosettaallowed PowerPC apps to run on Intel Macs back in 2006.
Upon the first run, you’ll be prompted to install Rosetta 2.
When you see the “it’s crucial that you install Rosetta” window, click “Install.”
This means that you shouldn’t notice any difference in performance when running an app through Rosetta 2.
It’s very impressive how well it works.
In Activity Monitor, snag the CPU tab.
In the Get Info window, check the box beside “Open Using Rosetta.”
After that, end the Info window and initiate the app from that icon.
It will load in Rosetta 2.
Ideally, you won’t need to do that, but the option is always there if you want.
Related:How to fire off the Intel Version of a Universal Mac App on an M1 Mac
