Can I change the icons for a file type en masse?

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Level 1

49 points

Can I change the icons for a file type en masse?

OK, just done a jump OS upgrade from Snow Leopard to Sierra. Most things sorted, but one problem I have is that the icons of all my audio files ( wavs, aiffs, the lot ) have all changed from black QuickTime Preview style icons with grey musical notes, to white QuickTime Preview icons with grey musical notes. This is a pain, because previously I could see at a glance in Finder list view which files were audio files and which were not, and now they all look similar.

It's impractical to change them individually, as we're talking about tens of thousands of files in hundreds of folders

( composer! xD )

Is there any way I can change the icons of a particular file type ( e.g. wav, aiff ) en masse?

Or maybe just change the icon that QuickTime uses to identify audio files, since I think it's QT that's organising this

( when I examine their Info pane they are all Open With QuickTime player... )

I'm wondering if there might be some icon inside a QT-related package somewhere that I could just modify?

MacBook Pro

Posted on Sep 13, 2020 2:59 AM

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Answer 1

BDAqua

Level 10

250,253 points

Sep 13, 2020 5:26 AM in response to gordon k

Open a Finder window and navigate to /Applications/
Find the QuickTime Player.app
Right click it and select "Show Package Contents"
Navigate to Contents/Resources/ and find the appropriate icns file. Replace it with your new icns file.
Restart your computer to update the icon cache.

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Answer 2

gordon k Author

Level 1

49 points

Sep 13, 2020 6:29 PM in response to gordon k

Well I had a scout around, but I can't find the musical-notes icon in either QT Player app's package.

Also, if I set a particular audio file to be openend by QT Player 7, the icon displayed in the finder after restarting is still the same predominantly white one, even though QT Player 7 has not been updated by the OS update, and its files had the black icon under Snow Leopard. So it looks like what is determining the icon is not part of QuickTime Player itself.

In any case, the icon that appears in the finder for an audio file is different from the icon I see if I do a Get Info on the file. In fact, if I copy the icon from the Info pane, and paste it back into the same Info pane, the icon in the Finder changes. It seems that the white-icons-that-used-to-be-black are related to the Quick Look functionality that makes it possible to preview audio files in the Finder without opening them in an app. So I'm guessing they are either part of the Finder or of the OS itself.

Does this seem like a fixable thing?

Or ( in an ecosystem where Apple decides the colour of everything xD ), am I just heading down the rabbit hole here?

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Answer 3

VikingOSX

Level 10

123,218 points

Sep 14, 2020 5:29 AM in response to gordon k

There is a big difference between Snow Leopard and Sierra. Two entirely different operating system visual design decisions. With apologies to Lewis Carroll, and the proverbial rabbit hole, I think you have little choice but to adapt to what Sierra provides you, and set aside icon changes in QuickTime.

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Answer 4

gordon k Author

Level 1

49 points

Sep 13, 2020 1:01 PM in response to VikingOSX

So if the code signing broke, would that mean I could no longer use QuickTime at all without a complete re-install?

Or could I just use another version? ( I have QT Player 7 and 10 on this machine atm... )

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Answer 5

VikingOSX

Level 10

123,218 points

Sep 13, 2020 1:54 PM in response to gordon k

Well if code-signing did break, it would break with the modified QuickTIme. I don't know if Apple offers any QuickTime 7 downloads anymore, and if that were true, you would have to restore it from a backup, as you would if you changed QuickTime 10, and it failed to work afterward.

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