The Full MacTeX
The full MacTeX-2026 install package contains four pieces
TeX Live 2026: the full distribution with over 6 gigabytes
of material.
GUI Applications: front ends, utilities,
and a small amount of startup documentation.
Ghostscript 10.06.0
Ghostscript 10.06.0 Extras
A Smaller Distribution, Basic TeX
TUG recommends the full MacTeX, even for beginners. It contains all files most users ever need. Beginners using it don't face
the daunting task of searching for missing components and figuring out how to install them in the TeX distribution.
BasicTeX is a much smaller alternate TeX Distribution for users who do not want to download the full TeX Live, or have unreliable internet connections. It contains all of the standard tools needed to write TeX documents, including TeX, LaTeX, pdfTeX, MetaFont, dvips, MetaPost, XeTeX, and LuaTeX. BasicTeX does not overwrite the full distribution; it is installed in /usr/local/texlive/2026basic.
BasicTeX only contains the TeX Live piece of the full distribution; it does not contain GUI programs or Ghostscript. To use TeX on the Mac, it suffices to install BasicTeX and a front end. To make life easier for users who want to use BasicTeX instead of the full TeX Live, we include links below to various pieces of
MacTeX that can be added as needed.
Click the following link to obtain Basic TeX:
BasicTeX.pkg.
BasicTeX.pdf (Basic TeX documentation).
The Size is
134M - 02 March 2026
The MD5 sum is
2c7b2233adb2c28221eaf8043d67755c
The Sha512 sum is
624b7baf5d9fda23292596038f98d2261239df3d491296d8f6e754e5403940ba8cfa25fc24d52810e88f571fb768cea54a24ea531b6db2acf8c4f86a1f7a5edd
GUI Programs and Documentation from MacTeX
The GUI section of MacTeX contains four front ends and utilities.
These programs are often updated, so it is best to get them directly
from their respective web pages. Here are links:
TeXShop, a front end: TeXShop.
LaTeXiT, a package which typesets equations to be pasted into Keynote, etc.: LaTeXiT.
TeX Live Utility, a program to update and maintain TeX Live: TeX Live Utility.
BibDesk, a program to handle bibliographies: BibDesk.
Ghostscript 10.06.0 from MacTeX
Ghostscript is not required to run TeX (pdfLaTeX, XeTeX, etc.), but is often
useful for converting eps illustrations to other formats, or processing
dvi files. This link gives the full install package:
Ghostscript.pkg.
The Size is
45M - 24 March 2026
The MD5 sum is
7f1fc65ebe4206a31d42cd42c824adee
The Sha512 sum is
026bb6969758a5a49e4f52603d93627e48ac7eec85a2fe84c386112daff3c2316785e1c440363f3ef5d3191dab34cc0dd1ba544873bbc7b6605feb94b4c5b084
Ghostscript-Extras 10.06.0 from MacTeX
The program dvisvgm requires the Ghostscript Library libgs and an extra binary called mutool. These pieces are an optional install in the full MacTeX package. They are available in a separate install package named Ghostscript-Extras 10.06.0. The link below gives this install package:
GhostscriptExtras.pkg.
The Size is
71M - 24 March 2026
The MD5 sum is
f7a380629b9705916e5b555a90e707a3
The Sha512 sum is
a60591d88f4a7df0b11e3e0893cf3d6f29f320b6f46ab0d4e8cfda39f0bf8701eb41cea1d8b06880dfd58cf7cada5a2384af34928cbe53343df6e4680aff7c94
