Will Rosetta ever support the x86_64_v3 instruction set?

etresoft wrote:

no_harness wrote:

Does anybody know if there are any plans to update Rosetta to support this instruction set or will I need to invest in an x86_64 machine instead?

It is safe to assume that Rosetta will not be updated. It was a backwards compatibility library only.

This is Apple Virtualization Framework and which may well get updated, as the framework specifically targets running Linux on Mac, and RHEL is a fairly well-known Linux distribution:

Virtualization | Apple Developer Documentation

no_harness wrote:

Does anybody know if there are any plans to update Rosetta to support this instruction set or will I need to invest in an x86_64 machine instead?

It is safe to assume that Rosetta will not be updated. It was a backwards compatibility library only.

no_harness wrote:

IDoes anybody know if there are any plans to update Rosetta to support this instruction set or will I need to invest in an x86_64 machine instead?

No one knows Apple's future plans but my guess is no.

Log feedback: Feedback - macOS - Apple

At some point I would expect Rosetta2 to be dropped completely by Apple like the original Rosetta PPC support was dropped years ago. That would imply Apple has no incentive to do anything with Rosetta than patching bugs & security vulnerabilities.

And to add to what others have posted Rosetta 2 will eventually be deprecated altogether like the original Rosetta. Both were present to allow developers to recode their software first from PowerPC to Intel and now from Intel to Apple Silicon. Both versions allow “universal” apps that contain code for both platforms. Rosetta 1 was retired after about four years and no longer supported. I suspect the same will happen to Rosetta 2 in the next couple of years. At some point Apple Silicon Macs will no longer be able to run Intel code based apps.

Here’s what the internet has to say about it.

As of May 2025, Rosetta 2 (the current version used in macOS on Apple Silicon) has not been officially deprecated by Apple.

Here's what we know:

• Rosetta 1: Originally released in 2006 to allow PowerPC apps to run on Intel Macs. It was deprecated with the release of macOS Lion (10.7) in 2011, which dropped support for PowerPC apps entirely.
• Rosetta 2: Introduced in macOS Big Sur (11.0) in 2020, to enable Intel-based apps to run on Apple Silicon (M1/M2/M3) Macs. As of now:
  • It is still included in macOS Ventura (13), Sonoma (14), and expected to be supported in the upcoming macOS versions.
  • Apple has not announced any official end-of-life or deprecation timeline for Rosetta 2.

However, Apple typically phases out compatibility layers over time, so developers are encouraged to transition their apps to native Apple Silicon support.

Would you like updates on when Apple announces Rosetta’s end of support, or tips on transitioning apps to native ARM64?

The original Rosetta for PowerPC compatibility was written by a third party vendor and licensed by Apple. Too expensive? The vendor had a two year contract with Apple and didn't renew it? Only Apple knows for sure, but it was only available in Leopard and Snow Leopard.

Side note: That's what happened to Adobe Encore after CS6. The guts of the app were licensed from another company. All Adobe did was build an interface over it so it would match the look of the rest of the suite. Another company bought out the rights to the code that actually did the work and cancelled the license with Adobe.

Rosetta 2 was written by Apple, so they aren't beholding to anyone else for a license. They can include it with the OS for as long as they want. But at some point, it will likely go away. It's a bridge (as mentioned) to give vendors plenty of time to update their apps to be Apple Silicon native. Not to use it as a reason to be forever lazy and never move from Intel code.

Even so, some major companies are still dragging their heels on this, even though the M1 Macs were first released almost four and a half years ago. Those on my Mac that are still Intel only, not including some that have been unsupported for a while, or replaced with newer apps:

Camera Calibration (X-Rite)

Epson scanner module and software updater

GenPwd (App Store)

i1Profiler (X-Rite)

LensFlare Studio (App Store)

TNEF's Enough (App Store)

Toast 20 Titanium

TurboTax 2024

Uninstall Product (a lone Adobe piece still Intel only)

X-Rite is very good at waiting until the very last minute to upgrade their apps to a new architecture. Such as back in Lion when PowerPC support went away. They waited until then to finally release an Intel version of i1Profiler. I have no doubt they will wait until the last moment to update the app to Apple Silicon.

And what is TurboTax waiting for? Or some of my App Store purchased apps? They're still selling them. Why aren't they updating them? Toast? From what information I've managed to find online, there may never be another new version.

Rosetta is really not a problem at all. It's the OS version that's the problem. Apps that require an older version of the operating system are more likely to break due to that. Once those old apps no longer run in some future, much more iOS-ified version of macOS, Apple can easily drop Rosetta support.