down vote
It seems like there is an entirely different method for changing the open files limit for each version of OS X!
For OS X Sierra (10.12.X) you need to:
1. Create a file at /Library/LaunchDaemons/limit.maxfiles.plist
and paste the following in (feel free to change the two numbers (which are the soft and hard limits, respectively):
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<!DOCTYPE plist PUBLIC "-//Apple//DTD PLIST 1.0//EN"
"http://www.apple.com/DTDs/PropertyList-1.0.dtd">
<plist version="1.0">
<dict>
<key>Label</key>
<string>limit.maxfiles</string>
<key>ProgramArguments</key>
<array>
<string>launchctl</string>
<string>limit</string>
<string>maxfiles</string>
<string>64000</string>
<string>524288</string>
</array>
<key>RunAtLoad</key>
<true/>
<key>ServiceIPC</key>
<false/>
</dict>
</plist>
2. Change the owner of your new file:
sudo chown root:wheel /Library/LaunchDaemons/limit.maxfiles.plist
3. Load these new settings:
sudo launchctl load -w /Library/LaunchDaemons/limit.maxfiles.plist
4. Finally, check that the limits are correct:
launchctl limit maxfiles