How to parse the Manifest.mbdb file in an iOS 4.0 iTunes Backup

In iOS 4.0 Apple has redesigned the backup process.

iTunes used to store a list of filenames associated with backup files in the Manifest.plist file, but in iOS 4.0 it has moved this information to a Manifest.mbdb

You can see an example of this file by making a backup with your iOS 4.0 devices and looking in your ~/Library/Application Support/MobileSync/Backup folder (Look inside the subfolders with the most recent date)

Here's a screenshot of what the file looks like in a text editor:

_{(source: supercrazyawesome.com)}

How do I parse this into a Cocoa application so that I can update my (free) iPhone Backup Extractor app (http://supercrazyawesome.com) for iOS 4.0?

Thank you, user374559 and reneD -- that code and description is very helpful.

My stab at some Python to parse and print out the information in a Unix ls-l like format:

#!/usr/bin/env python
import sys

def getint(data, offset, intsize):
    """Retrieve an integer (big-endian) and new offset from the current offset"""
    value = 0
    while intsize > 0:
        value = (value<<8) + ord(data[offset])
        offset = offset + 1
        intsize = intsize - 1
    return value, offset

def getstring(data, offset):
    """Retrieve a string and new offset from the current offset into the data"""
    if data[offset] == chr(0xFF) and data[offset+1] == chr(0xFF):
        return '', offset+2 # Blank string
    length, offset = getint(data, offset, 2) # 2-byte length
    value = data[offset:offset+length]
    return value, (offset + length)

def process_mbdb_file(filename):
    mbdb = {} # Map offset of info in this file => file info
    data = open(filename).read()
    if data[0:4] != "mbdb": raise Exception("This does not look like an MBDB file")
    offset = 4
    offset = offset + 2 # value x05 x00, not sure what this is
    while offset < len(data):
        fileinfo = {}
        fileinfo['start_offset'] = offset
        fileinfo['domain'], offset = getstring(data, offset)
        fileinfo['filename'], offset = getstring(data, offset)
        fileinfo['linktarget'], offset = getstring(data, offset)
        fileinfo['datahash'], offset = getstring(data, offset)
        fileinfo['unknown1'], offset = getstring(data, offset)
        fileinfo['mode'], offset = getint(data, offset, 2)
        fileinfo['unknown2'], offset = getint(data, offset, 4)
        fileinfo['unknown3'], offset = getint(data, offset, 4)
        fileinfo['userid'], offset = getint(data, offset, 4)
        fileinfo['groupid'], offset = getint(data, offset, 4)
        fileinfo['mtime'], offset = getint(data, offset, 4)
        fileinfo['atime'], offset = getint(data, offset, 4)
        fileinfo['ctime'], offset = getint(data, offset, 4)
        fileinfo['filelen'], offset = getint(data, offset, 8)
        fileinfo['flag'], offset = getint(data, offset, 1)
        fileinfo['numprops'], offset = getint(data, offset, 1)
        fileinfo['properties'] = {}
        for ii in range(fileinfo['numprops']):
            propname, offset = getstring(data, offset)
            propval, offset = getstring(data, offset)
            fileinfo['properties'][propname] = propval
        mbdb[fileinfo['start_offset']] = fileinfo
    return mbdb

def process_mbdx_file(filename):
    mbdx = {} # Map offset of info in the MBDB file => fileID string
    data = open(filename).read()
    if data[0:4] != "mbdx": raise Exception("This does not look like an MBDX file")
    offset = 4
    offset = offset + 2 # value 0x02 0x00, not sure what this is
    filecount, offset = getint(data, offset, 4) # 4-byte count of records 
    while offset < len(data):
        # 26 byte record, made up of ...
        fileID = data[offset:offset+20] # 20 bytes of fileID
        fileID_string = ''.join(['%02x' % ord(b) for b in fileID])
        offset = offset + 20
        mbdb_offset, offset = getint(data, offset, 4) # 4-byte offset field
        mbdb_offset = mbdb_offset + 6 # Add 6 to get past prolog
        mode, offset = getint(data, offset, 2) # 2-byte mode field
        mbdx[mbdb_offset] = fileID_string
    return mbdx

def modestr(val):
    def mode(val):
        if (val & 0x4): r = 'r'
        else: r = '-'
        if (val & 0x2): w = 'w'
        else: w = '-'
        if (val & 0x1): x = 'x'
        else: x = '-'
        return r+w+x
    return mode(val>>6) + mode((val>>3)) + mode(val)

def fileinfo_str(f, verbose=False):
    if not verbose: return "(%s)%s::%s" % (f['fileID'], f['domain'], f['filename'])
    if (f['mode'] & 0xE000) == 0xA000: type = 'l' # symlink
    elif (f['mode'] & 0xE000) == 0x8000: type = '-' # file
    elif (f['mode'] & 0xE000) == 0x4000: type = 'd' # dir
    else: 
        print >> sys.stderr, "Unknown file type %04x for %s" % (f['mode'], fileinfo_str(f, False))
        type = '?' # unknown
    info = ("%s%s %08x %08x %7d %10d %10d %10d (%s)%s::%s" % 
            (type, modestr(f['mode']&0x0FFF) , f['userid'], f['groupid'], f['filelen'], 
             f['mtime'], f['atime'], f['ctime'], f['fileID'], f['domain'], f['filename']))
    if type == 'l': info = info + ' -> ' + f['linktarget'] # symlink destination
    for name, value in f['properties'].items(): # extra properties
        info = info + ' ' + name + '=' + repr(value)
    return info

verbose = True
if __name__ == '__main__':
    mbdb = process_mbdb_file("Manifest.mbdb")
    mbdx = process_mbdx_file("Manifest.mbdx")
    for offset, fileinfo in mbdb.items():
        if offset in mbdx:
            fileinfo['fileID'] = mbdx[offset]
        else:
            fileinfo['fileID'] = "<nofileID>"
            print >> sys.stderr, "No fileID found for %s" % fileinfo_str(fileinfo)
        print fileinfo_str(fileinfo, verbose)

In iOS 5, the Manifest.mbdx file was eliminated. For the purpose of this article, it was redundant anyway, because the domain and path are in Manifest.mbdb and the ID hash can be generated with SHA1.

Here is my update of galloglass's code so it works with backups of iOS 5 devices. The only changes are elimination of process_mbdx_file() and addition of a few lines in process_mbdb_file().

Tested with backups of an iPhone 4S and an iPad 1, both with plenty of apps and files.

#!/usr/bin/env python
import sys
import hashlib

mbdx = {}

def getint(data, offset, intsize):
    """Retrieve an integer (big-endian) and new offset from the current offset"""
    value = 0
    while intsize > 0:
        value = (value<<8) + ord(data[offset])
        offset = offset + 1
        intsize = intsize - 1
    return value, offset

def getstring(data, offset):
    """Retrieve a string and new offset from the current offset into the data"""
    if data[offset] == chr(0xFF) and data[offset+1] == chr(0xFF):
        return '', offset+2 # Blank string
    length, offset = getint(data, offset, 2) # 2-byte length
    value = data[offset:offset+length]
    return value, (offset + length)

def process_mbdb_file(filename):
    mbdb = {} # Map offset of info in this file => file info
    data = open(filename).read()
    if data[0:4] != "mbdb": raise Exception("This does not look like an MBDB file")
    offset = 4
    offset = offset + 2 # value x05 x00, not sure what this is
    while offset < len(data):
        fileinfo = {}
        fileinfo['start_offset'] = offset
        fileinfo['domain'], offset = getstring(data, offset)
        fileinfo['filename'], offset = getstring(data, offset)
        fileinfo['linktarget'], offset = getstring(data, offset)
        fileinfo['datahash'], offset = getstring(data, offset)
        fileinfo['unknown1'], offset = getstring(data, offset)
        fileinfo['mode'], offset = getint(data, offset, 2)
        fileinfo['unknown2'], offset = getint(data, offset, 4)
        fileinfo['unknown3'], offset = getint(data, offset, 4)
        fileinfo['userid'], offset = getint(data, offset, 4)
        fileinfo['groupid'], offset = getint(data, offset, 4)
        fileinfo['mtime'], offset = getint(data, offset, 4)
        fileinfo['atime'], offset = getint(data, offset, 4)
        fileinfo['ctime'], offset = getint(data, offset, 4)
        fileinfo['filelen'], offset = getint(data, offset, 8)
        fileinfo['flag'], offset = getint(data, offset, 1)
        fileinfo['numprops'], offset = getint(data, offset, 1)
        fileinfo['properties'] = {}
        for ii in range(fileinfo['numprops']):
            propname, offset = getstring(data, offset)
            propval, offset = getstring(data, offset)
            fileinfo['properties'][propname] = propval
        mbdb[fileinfo['start_offset']] = fileinfo
        fullpath = fileinfo['domain'] + '-' + fileinfo['filename']
        id = hashlib.sha1(fullpath)
        mbdx[fileinfo['start_offset']] = id.hexdigest()
    return mbdb

def modestr(val):
    def mode(val):
        if (val & 0x4): r = 'r'
        else: r = '-'
        if (val & 0x2): w = 'w'
        else: w = '-'
        if (val & 0x1): x = 'x'
        else: x = '-'
        return r+w+x
    return mode(val>>6) + mode((val>>3)) + mode(val)

def fileinfo_str(f, verbose=False):
    if not verbose: return "(%s)%s::%s" % (f['fileID'], f['domain'], f['filename'])
    if (f['mode'] & 0xE000) == 0xA000: type = 'l' # symlink
    elif (f['mode'] & 0xE000) == 0x8000: type = '-' # file
    elif (f['mode'] & 0xE000) == 0x4000: type = 'd' # dir
    else: 
        print >> sys.stderr, "Unknown file type %04x for %s" % (f['mode'], fileinfo_str(f, False))
        type = '?' # unknown
    info = ("%s%s %08x %08x %7d %10d %10d %10d (%s)%s::%s" % 
            (type, modestr(f['mode']&0x0FFF) , f['userid'], f['groupid'], f['filelen'], 
             f['mtime'], f['atime'], f['ctime'], f['fileID'], f['domain'], f['filename']))
    if type == 'l': info = info + ' -> ' + f['linktarget'] # symlink destination
    for name, value in f['properties'].items(): # extra properties
        info = info + ' ' + name + '=' + repr(value)
    return info

verbose = True
if __name__ == '__main__':
    mbdb = process_mbdb_file("Manifest.mbdb")
    for offset, fileinfo in mbdb.items():
        if offset in mbdx:
            fileinfo['fileID'] = mbdx[offset]
        else:
            fileinfo['fileID'] = "<nofileID>"
            print >> sys.stderr, "No fileID found for %s" % fileinfo_str(fileinfo)
        print fileinfo_str(fileinfo, verbose)

I finished my work on this stuff - that is, iOS 4 + iTunes 9.2 update of my backup decoder library for Python - http://www.iki.fi/fingon/iphonebackupdb.py

It does what I need, little documentation, but feel free to copy ideas from there ;-)

(Seems to work fine with my backups at least.)

You can find information and a little description of the MBDB/MBDX format here:

http://code.google.com/p/iphonebackupbrowser/

This is my application to browse the backup files. I have tried to document the format of the new files that come with iTunes 9.2.

This python script is awesome.

Here's my Ruby version of it (with minor improvement) and search capabilities. (for iOS 5)

# encoding: utf-8
require 'fileutils'
require 'digest/sha1'

class ManifestParser
  def initialize(mbdb_filename, verbose = false)
    @verbose = verbose
    process_mbdb_file(mbdb_filename)
  end

  # Returns the numbers of records in the Manifest files.
  def record_number
    @mbdb.size
  end

  # Returns a huge string containing the parsing of the Manifest files.
  def to_s
    s = ''
    @mbdb.each do |v|
      s += "#{fileinfo_str(v)}\n"
    end
    s
  end

  def to_file(filename)
    File.open(filename, 'w') do |f|
      @mbdb.each do |v|
        f.puts fileinfo_str(v)
      end
    end
  end

  # Copy the backup files to their real path/name.
  # * domain_match Can be a regexp to restrict the files to copy.
  # * filename_match Can be a regexp to restrict the files to copy.
  def rename_files(domain_match = nil, filename_match = nil)
    @mbdb.each do |v|
      if v[:type] == '-' # Only rename files.
        if (domain_match.nil? or v[:domain] =~ domain_match) and (filename_match.nil? or v[:filename] =~ filename_match)
          dst = "#{v[:domain]}/#{v[:filename]}"
          puts "Creating: #{dst}"
          FileUtils.mkdir_p(File.dirname(dst))
          FileUtils.cp(v[:fileID], dst)
        end
      end
    end
  end
  
  # Return the filename that math the given regexp.
  def search(regexp)
    result = Array.new
    @mbdb.each do |v|
      if "#{v[:domain]}::#{v[:filename]}" =~ regexp
        result << v
      end
    end
    result
  end
  
  private
  # Retrieve an integer (big-endian) and new offset from the current offset
  def getint(data, offset, intsize)
    value = 0
    while intsize > 0
      value = (value<<8) + data[offset].ord
      offset += 1
      intsize -= 1
    end
    return value, offset
  end

  # Retrieve a string and new offset from the current offset into the data
  def getstring(data, offset)
    return '', offset + 2 if data[offset] == 0xFF.chr and data[offset + 1] == 0xFF.chr # Blank string
    length, offset = getint(data, offset, 2) # 2-byte length
    value = data[offset...(offset + length)]
    return value, (offset + length)
  end
  
  def process_mbdb_file(filename)
    @mbdb = Array.new
    data = File.open(filename, 'rb') { |f| f.read }
    puts "MBDB file read. Size: #{data.size}"
    raise 'This does not look like an MBDB file' if data[0...4] != 'mbdb'
    offset = 4
    offset += 2 # value x05 x00, not sure what this is
    while offset < data.size
      fileinfo = Hash.new
      fileinfo[:start_offset] = offset
      fileinfo[:domain], offset = getstring(data, offset)
      fileinfo[:filename], offset = getstring(data, offset)
      fileinfo[:linktarget], offset = getstring(data, offset)
      fileinfo[:datahash], offset = getstring(data, offset)
      fileinfo[:unknown1], offset = getstring(data, offset)
      fileinfo[:mode], offset = getint(data, offset, 2)
      if (fileinfo[:mode] & 0xE000) == 0xA000 # Symlink
        fileinfo[:type] = 'l'
      elsif (fileinfo[:mode] & 0xE000) == 0x8000 # File
        fileinfo[:type] = '-'
      elsif (fileinfo[:mode] & 0xE000) == 0x4000 # Dir
        fileinfo[:type] = 'd'
      else
        # $stderr.puts "Unknown file type %04x for #{fileinfo_str(f, false)}" % f['mode']
        fileinfo[:type] = '?'
      end
      fileinfo[:unknown2], offset = getint(data, offset, 4)
      fileinfo[:unknown3], offset = getint(data, offset, 4)
      fileinfo[:userid], offset = getint(data, offset, 4)
      fileinfo[:groupid], offset = getint(data, offset, 4)
      fileinfo[:mtime], offset = getint(data, offset, 4)
      fileinfo[:atime], offset = getint(data, offset, 4)
      fileinfo[:ctime], offset = getint(data, offset, 4)
      fileinfo[:filelen], offset = getint(data, offset, 8)
      fileinfo[:flag], offset = getint(data, offset, 1)
      fileinfo[:numprops], offset = getint(data, offset, 1)
      fileinfo[:properties] = Hash.new
      (0...(fileinfo[:numprops])).each do |ii|
        propname, offset = getstring(data, offset)
        propval, offset = getstring(data, offset)
        fileinfo[:properties][propname] = propval
      end
      # Compute the ID of the file.
      fullpath = fileinfo[:domain] + '-' + fileinfo[:filename]
      fileinfo[:fileID] = Digest::SHA1.hexdigest(fullpath)
      # We add the file to the list of files.
      @mbdb << fileinfo
    end
    @mbdb
  end

  def modestr(val)
    def mode(val)
      r = (val & 0x4) ? 'r' : '-'
      w = (val & 0x2) ? 'w' : '-'
      x = (val & 0x1) ? 'x' : '-'
      r + w + x
    end
    mode(val >> 6) + mode(val >> 3) + mode(val)
  end

  def fileinfo_str(f)
    return "(#{f[:fileID]})#{f[:domain]}::#{f[:filename]}" unless @verbose
    data = [f[:type], modestr(f[:mode]), f[:userid], f[:groupid], f[:filelen], f[:mtime], f[:atime], f[:ctime], f[:fileID], f[:domain], f[:filename]]
    info = "%s%s %08x %08x %7d %10d %10d %10d (%s)%s::%s" % data
    info += ' -> ' + f[:linktarget] if f[:type] == 'l' # Symlink destination
    f[:properties].each do |k, v|
      info += " #{k}=#{v.inspect}"
    end
    info
  end
end

if __FILE__ == $0
  mp = ManifestParser.new 'Manifest.mbdb', true
  mp.to_file 'filenames.txt'
end

I liked galloglas's code, and I changed the main function so that it shows a sorted list of total size by application:

verbose = True
if __name__ == '__main__':
    mbdb = process_mbdb_file("Manifest.mbdb")
    mbdx = process_mbdx_file("Manifest.mbdx")
    sizes = {}
    for offset, fileinfo in mbdb.items():
        if offset in mbdx:
            fileinfo['fileID'] = mbdx[offset]
        else:
            fileinfo['fileID'] = "<nofileID>"
            print >> sys.stderr, "No fileID found for %s" % fileinfo_str(fileinfo)
        print fileinfo_str(fileinfo, verbose)
    	if (fileinfo['mode'] & 0xE000) == 0x8000:
        sizes[fileinfo['domain']]= sizes.get(fileinfo['domain'],0) + fileinfo['filelen']
    for domain in sorted(sizes, key=sizes.get):
	    print "%-60s %11d (%dMB)" % (domain, sizes[domain], int(sizes[domain]/1024/1024))

That way you can figure out what application is eating all that space.

For those looking for a Java implementation of a MBDB file reader, there are several out there:

• "iPhone Analyzer" project (very clean code): http://sourceforge.net/p/iphoneanalyzer/code/HEAD/tree/trunk/library/src/main/java/com/crypticbit/ipa/io/parser/manifest/Mbdb.java

• "iPhone Stalker" project: https://code.google.com/p/iphonestalker/source/browse/trunk/src/iphonestalker/util/io/MBDBReader.java

Thanks to galloglass' answer. The code works great with Python 2.7. There is only one thing I want to metion. When read the manifest.mbdb file, you should use binary mode. Otherwise, not all content are read.

I also made some minor changes to make the code work with Python 3.4. Here is the code.

#!/usr/bin/env python
import sys
import hashlib

mbdx = {}

def getint(data, offset, intsize):
    """Retrieve an integer (big-endian) and new offset from the current offset"""
    value = 0
    while intsize > 0:
        value = (value << 8) + data[offset]
        offset = offset + 1
        intsize = intsize - 1
    return value, offset

def getstring(data, offset):
    """Retrieve a string and new offset from the current offset into the data"""
    if chr(data[offset]) == chr(0xFF) and chr(data[offset + 1]) == chr(0xFF):
        return '', offset + 2  # Blank string
    length, offset = getint(data, offset, 2)  # 2-byte length
    value = data[offset:offset + length]
    return value.decode(encoding='latin-1'), (offset + length)

def process_mbdb_file(filename):
    mbdb = {}  # Map offset of info in this file => file info
    data = open(filename, 'rb').read()  # 'b' is needed to read all content at once
    if data[0:4].decode() != "mbdb": raise Exception("This does not look like an MBDB file")
    offset = 4
    offset = offset + 2  # value x05 x00, not sure what this is
    while offset < len(data):
        fileinfo = {}
        fileinfo['start_offset'] = offset
        fileinfo['domain'], offset = getstring(data, offset)
        fileinfo['filename'], offset = getstring(data, offset)
        fileinfo['linktarget'], offset = getstring(data, offset)
        fileinfo['datahash'], offset = getstring(data, offset)
        fileinfo['unknown1'], offset = getstring(data, offset)
        fileinfo['mode'], offset = getint(data, offset, 2)
        fileinfo['unknown2'], offset = getint(data, offset, 4)
        fileinfo['unknown3'], offset = getint(data, offset, 4)
        fileinfo['userid'], offset = getint(data, offset, 4)
        fileinfo['groupid'], offset = getint(data, offset, 4)
        fileinfo['mtime'], offset = getint(data, offset, 4)
        fileinfo['atime'], offset = getint(data, offset, 4)
        fileinfo['ctime'], offset = getint(data, offset, 4)
        fileinfo['filelen'], offset = getint(data, offset, 8)
        fileinfo['flag'], offset = getint(data, offset, 1)
        fileinfo['numprops'], offset = getint(data, offset, 1)
        fileinfo['properties'] = {}
        for ii in range(fileinfo['numprops']):
            propname, offset = getstring(data, offset)
            propval, offset = getstring(data, offset)
            fileinfo['properties'][propname] = propval
        mbdb[fileinfo['start_offset']] = fileinfo
        fullpath = fileinfo['domain'] + '-' + fileinfo['filename']
        id = hashlib.sha1(fullpath.encode())
        mbdx[fileinfo['start_offset']] = id.hexdigest()
    return mbdb

def modestr(val):
    def mode(val):
        if (val & 0x4):
            r = 'r'
        else:
            r = '-'
        if (val & 0x2):
            w = 'w'
        else:
            w = '-'
        if (val & 0x1):
            x = 'x'
        else:
            x = '-'
        return r + w + x
    return mode(val >> 6) + mode((val >> 3)) + mode(val)

def fileinfo_str(f, verbose=False):
    if not verbose: return "(%s)%s::%s" % (f['fileID'], f['domain'], f['filename'])
    if (f['mode'] & 0xE000) == 0xA000:
        type = 'l'  # symlink
    elif (f['mode'] & 0xE000) == 0x8000:
        type = '-'  # file
    elif (f['mode'] & 0xE000) == 0x4000:
        type = 'd'  # dir
    else:
        print >> sys.stderr, "Unknown file type %04x for %s" % (f['mode'], fileinfo_str(f, False))
        type = '?'  # unknown
    info = ("%s%s %08x %08x %7d %10d %10d %10d (%s)%s::%s" %
            (type, modestr(f['mode'] & 0x0FFF), f['userid'], f['groupid'], f['filelen'],
             f['mtime'], f['atime'], f['ctime'], f['fileID'], f['domain'], f['filename']))
    if type == 'l': info = info + ' -> ' + f['linktarget']  # symlink destination
    for name, value in f['properties'].items():  # extra properties
        info = info + ' ' + name + '=' + repr(value)
    return info

verbose = True
if __name__ == '__main__':
    mbdb = process_mbdb_file(
        r"Manifest.mbdb")
    for offset, fileinfo in mbdb.items():
        if offset in mbdx:
            fileinfo['fileID'] = mbdx[offset]
        else:
            fileinfo['fileID'] = "<nofileID>"
            print >> sys.stderr, "No fileID found for %s" % fileinfo_str(fileinfo)
        print(fileinfo_str(fileinfo, verbose))