whisper-cpp-macos-bin

Pre-built macOS binaries for whisper.cpp (whisper-cli).

macOS only. Windows binaries are available directly from the official whisper.cpp releases.

Why this repo exists

The official whisper.cpp project does not publish pre-built macOS binaries. This repo provides a GitHub Actions CI pipeline that compiles whisper-cli from the official source for both Apple Silicon (arm64) and Intel (x86_64) Macs.

Available binaries

Filename	Architecture	Notes
whisper-cpp-v{version}-macos-arm64-metal.zip	Apple Silicon (M1/M2/M3/M4)	Metal GPU acceleration enabled
whisper-cpp-v{version}-macos-x86_64-accelerate.zip	Intel Mac	Accelerate framework, no Metal

Release naming

• Standard release: v{whisper_version} (e.g. v1.8.2)
• Rebuild with same source: add suffix (e.g. v1.8.2-2)

How to trigger a build

1. Go to Actions → Build and Release whisper-cli (macOS)
2. Click Run workflow
3. Enter:
   • whisper_version: the whisper.cpp git tag (e.g. v1.8.2)
   • release_tag: the tag for this release (e.g. v1.8.2)
4. Click Run workflow and wait ~20-30 minutes
5. The release will appear at Releases

Build details

• arm64: compiled on macos-14 runner (Apple Silicon), Metal GPU support enabled
• x86_64: cross-compiled on macos-14 runner targeting Intel, Metal disabled, Accelerate enabled
• SDL2 is not included (only whisper-cli is built, not whisper-stream)
• Static linking (BUILD_SHARED_LIBS=OFF)

Verification

Each release includes .sha256 checksum files:

shasum -a 256 -c whisper-cpp-v1.8.2-macos-arm64-metal.zip.sha256

Usage

# Download and extract
curl -LO https://github.com/derektu/whisper-cpp-macos-bin/releases/download/v1.8.2/whisper-cpp-v1.8.2-macos-arm64-metal.zip
unzip whisper-cpp-v1.8.2-macos-arm64-metal.zip
chmod +x whisper-cli

# Transcribe audio
./whisper-cli -m /path/to/ggml-base.bin -f audio.wav