What is ipa file for iPhone and how to open it?

What is ipa file:
ipa is the extenstion of the iPhone Application file. Mostly known as the iPhone Application archive which contains the payload which need by iPhone app mostly images and sound files.

Where can I find ipa file:
 we can find the ipa file at the below location in the mac system. You can find all the application ipa files which are installed in the connected iPhone.
~/Music/iTunes/iTunes\ Media/Mobile\ Applications/

How to open ipa file:
 ipa file is just a archive file, you can rename as .zip file and you can unzip it. ipa a file contains Payload directory. if you unzip the ipa file, you will get Payload directory which contains another directory with a extension of .app. you cant open it directly, because its name has extension. So rename it with some name,it will change to directory, in this directory you can see all the supported files like images an d sound files etc.

Steps to open IPA file:

• Got to the path ~/Music/iTunes/iTunes\ Media/Mobile\ Applications/
• Select the ipa which you want to unzip, rename it to zip file using mv unix command
• unzip the file and you will get payload directory, open Payload directory
• you will find .app file, which is actually a directory. rename the file with some name, it becomes the directory
• open that directory, you will find the supported files

Shell commands order to open ipa file:

$ cd ~/Music/iTunes/iTunes\ Media/Mobile\ Applications/
$ ls
test.ipa
$ mv test.ipa test.zip
$ ls
test.zip
$ unzip test.zip 
$ ls
Payload  test.zip
$ cd Payload/
$ ls
test.app
$ mv test.app testDir
$ ls
testDir

Let me know or comment below if you need any info or if you find any issue.