Community-driven localization: how MacPacker made localization accessible to its open-source community

MacPacker is an open-source archive previewer and manager for macOS, maintained by independent Apple platform developer and LeanBytes founder Stephan Arenswald. With the goal of becoming a native macOS alternative to archive management tools such as 7-Zip, the application is designed for users around the world, thus making localization an important part of its growth.

For the first two years of its existence, however, MacPacker was only available in English. As an open-source project without a dedicated budget for professional translation services, Stephan needed a way to make localization accessible to the people already using and supporting the application:

“What I wanted to have is an easy way for my users to make the translations online for their specific language without knowing all the details of the implementation of the application.”

The challenge: creating an accessible translation process

Before starting its journey with POEditor, MacPacker did not have an established localization workflow in place and was only available in one language. While community contributions were the most practical way of expanding into additional languages, the traditional development-based translation process would have created unnecessary barriers for potential contributors (meaning they would have needed to interact with the project’s development environment).

Instead, Stephan wanted to create a simpler process where users could contribute translations online without needing technical knowledge or becoming part of the development workflow.

When evaluating localization platforms, he had several requirements in mind:

• support for Apple’s String Catalog format
• an easy-to-use online translation environment
• crowd translation capabilities
• a pricing model suitable for an open-source project

POEditor met these requirements, particularly through its support for crowdsourcing projects and Apple’s String Catalog format. The open-source initiative also made the platform a suitable choice for a project maintained without direct revenue.

The solution: a straightforward, crowdsourced localization workflow

With POEditor in place, MacPacker created a localization process built around its community of users.

Contributors were able join the public project and translate the application directly on the platform, without needing to install development tools or understand the technical specifications behind the application.

Maintaining the flow of the project is just as simple for the owner. Whenever new strings are introduced in a beta version of MacPacker, Stephan uploads the updated String Catalog to POEditor. Contributors can then translate the new content, after which the updated translations are exported and included in future releases.

“The process is pretty much zero apart from uploading a file and downloading a file once in a while.”

This approach has allowed the localization process to grow organically alongside the application. Within approximately one year, MacPacker expanded from English-only to 15 supported languages, with 23 contributors participating in the project and an overall translation coverage of approximately 74%.

Also, for an application with a global audience, the impact of this approach is particularly important. Simplified Chinese, for example, has become a valuable language for MacPacker, with approximately half of the project’s website traffic coming from China.

Finally, Stephan emphasized the importance of a centralized platform with functionalities designed to make the localization workflow as smooth as possible:

“When it comes to speed and accuracy, I can only say that I don’t manage that process anymore at all. POEditor provides everything that I need.”

Conclusion: scalable localization for an open-source project

MacPacker found a practical localization partner in POEditor, transitioning from an English-only application with no dedicated localization workflow to a community-led multilingual project.

By bringing translations into a centralized online platform, translators can contribute easily without having specialized skills or direct access to the development environment. At the same time, the project owner can manage localization updates through a simple upload-and-export workflow.

As MacPacker continues working toward its goal of becoming a leading archive management solution for macOS, POEditor provides the localization infrastructure needed to make the application increasingly accessible to users around the world.