diff --git a/circuits/cpp/barretenberg/cpp/src/barretenberg/bb/get_bytecode.hpp b/circuits/cpp/barretenberg/cpp/src/barretenberg/bb/get_bytecode.hpp
index 61de3910974..755dca2a118 100644
--- a/circuits/cpp/barretenberg/cpp/src/barretenberg/bb/get_bytecode.hpp
+++ b/circuits/cpp/barretenberg/cpp/src/barretenberg/bb/get_bytecode.hpp
@@ -6,6 +6,12 @@
  */
 inline std::vector<uint8_t> get_bytecode(const std::string& bytecodePath)
 {
+// base64 on mac is different from linux
+#ifdef __APPLE__
+    std::string command = "base64 -D -i " + bytecodePath + " | gunzip";
+#else
     std::string command = "base64 -d " + bytecodePath + " | gunzip";
+#endif
+
     return exec_pipe(command);
 }
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