Vintage Apple models icons inside of your Mac

Did you know your Mac already contains high-quality icons for many Apple products, past and present? These icons are tucked away in system bundles, waiting to be discovered and used. In this post, we’ll dive deep into where Apple hides these icons, how to access them, how things changed in recent macOS versions, and how you can use them (safely).

A Walk Through History

For years, Mac system icons were stored plainly as .icns inside files like:

/System/Library/CoreServices/CoreTypes.bundle/Contents/Resources/

Inside that folder, you could find icons for MacBooks, iMacs, power supplies, disk drives, and even Windows PCs (yes, Apple gave a stylized CRT + blue screen icon for PC). Many macOS enthusiasts have used this path to pull out retro hardware icons.

How to Browse the Icons (Legacy macOS)

In Finder, navigate to /System/Library/CoreServices/CoreTypes.bundle
Right-click → Show Package Contents
Go to Contents/Resources
Browse through .icns files whose names often hint at device types: com.apple.powermac-g4.icns, com.apple.macbookpro.icns, etc.

You can copy these files out (you’ll need admin permission) and open them in Preview, export as PNG, or use them in your design projects.

What Changed in Big Sur / Ventura / Sequoia

With macOS Big Sur onward:

Many system and folder icons are now stored in Assets.car catalog files inside the bundle. That means the icons aren’t stored as separate .icns files.

The UI often uses an icon template + glyph overlay, dynamically compositing folder icons (so you might not see the raw .icns).
Some icons have been relocated to sub-bundles such as CoreTypes-0003.bundle or moved into IconsetResources.bundle or even PrivateFrameworks.
Because of system protection (SIP, sealed system volumes), many bundles are now read-only, meaning you cannot replace icons easily without disabling system protection.
Some older icons in the Resources folder remain, but might be legacy (not actively used in UI).

Tips to Find Newer / Hidden Icons

Use the find command in Terminal to search for .icns or .car files: sudo find /System/Library/CoreServices/CoreTypes.bundle -type f -name "*.icns"
Also search inside sub-bundles and private frameworks: /System/Library/CoreServices/CoreTypes.bundle/Contents/Library/CoreTypes-0003.bundle/Contents/Resources/ /System/Library/CoreServices/IconsetResources.bundle/Contents/Resources/ /System/Library/Extensions/IOStorageFamily.kext/Contents/Resources/ /System/Library/Extensions/IOSCSIArchitectureModelFamily.kext/Contents/Resources/
Use tools that open .car files (e.g. AssetCatalogTinkerer) to inspect asset catalogs for hidden PNGs.

Safety & Respecting the System

Don’t modify the original bundle icons in place unless you know what you’re doing and understand the risks (especially on newer macOS).
Always work on copies of the .icns or .car file.
Avoid disabling SIP unless you absolutely must — it’s a security layer.
In macOS Big Sur+ many system icons or templates cannot be replaced easily — changing them may have unwanted side effects.

Enjoy!