But can a website really turn a Windows application into a Mac installer? The short answer is no, not in the way you think. But the longer answer is more interesting. The Promise: You upload setup.exe and download MyApp.dmg —ready to install on your Mac.

So, what are these converters actually doing? We tested three popular services to find out. Legitimate "EXE to DMG" online tools don't convert the code. Instead, they offer one of three workarounds:

In response, a new breed of web tool has emerged, promising a simple solution:

Windows and Mac apps are built on completely different architectures (PE vs. Mach-O, Win32 vs. Cocoa, different system calls). An online server cannot magically rewrite machine code.