diff --git a/csharp/src/Microsoft.ML.OnnxRuntime/targets/net8.0-ios/targets.xml b/csharp/src/Microsoft.ML.OnnxRuntime/targets/net8.0-ios/targets.xml
index 3eb9720af5..c6dbba8dfd 100644
--- a/csharp/src/Microsoft.ML.OnnxRuntime/targets/net8.0-ios/targets.xml
+++ b/csharp/src/Microsoft.ML.OnnxRuntime/targets/net8.0-ios/targets.xml
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 <?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
 <Project ToolsVersion="4.0" xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/developer/msbuild/2003">
   <ItemGroup Condition="('$(OutputType)'!='Library' OR '$(IsAppExtension)'=='True')">
-    <NativeReference Include="$(MSBuildThisFileDirectory)..\..\runtimes\ios\native\onnxruntime.xcframework">
+    <NativeReference Include="$(MSBuildThisFileDirectory)..\..\runtimes\ios\native\onnxruntime.xcframework.zip">
       <Kind>Static</Kind>
       <IsCxx>True</IsCxx>
       <SmartLink>True</SmartLink>
@@ -10,4 +10,4 @@
       <WeakFrameworks>CoreML</WeakFrameworks>
     </NativeReference>
   </ItemGroup>
-</Project>
\ No newline at end of file
+</Project>
diff --git a/tools/ci_build/github/azure-pipelines/templates/c-api-cpu.yml b/tools/ci_build/github/azure-pipelines/templates/c-api-cpu.yml
index 0368c91290..74fc64fa53 100644
--- a/tools/ci_build/github/azure-pipelines/templates/c-api-cpu.yml
+++ b/tools/ci_build/github/azure-pipelines/templates/c-api-cpu.yml
@@ -107,12 +107,9 @@ stages:
           --build_dir "$(Build.BinariesDirectory)/ios_framework" \
           tools/ci_build/github/apple/default_full_ios_framework_build_settings.json
         mkdir $(Build.BinariesDirectory)/artifacts
-        mkdir -p $(Build.BinariesDirectory)/artifacts_staging/onnxruntime-ios-xcframework-$(OnnxRuntimeVersion)
-        cp -R $(Build.BinariesDirectory)/ios_framework/framework_out/onnxruntime.xcframework \
-          $(Build.BinariesDirectory)/artifacts_staging/onnxruntime-ios-xcframework-$(OnnxRuntimeVersion)
-        pushd $(Build.BinariesDirectory)/artifacts_staging
-        zip -vry $(Build.BinariesDirectory)/artifacts/onnxruntime_xcframework.zip \
-          onnxruntime-ios-xcframework-$(OnnxRuntimeVersion)
+        pushd $(Build.BinariesDirectory)/ios_framework/framework_out
+        zip -vry $(Build.BinariesDirectory)/artifacts/onnxruntime_ios_xcframework.$(OnnxRuntimeVersion).zip \
+          onnxruntime.xcframework
         popd
       displayName: "Build Apple xcframework"
 
diff --git a/tools/ci_build/github/windows/extract_nuget_files.ps1 b/tools/ci_build/github/windows/extract_nuget_files.ps1
index 68757e25b0..095153cb6a 100644
--- a/tools/ci_build/github/windows/extract_nuget_files.ps1
+++ b/tools/ci_build/github/windows/extract_nuget_files.ps1
@@ -10,7 +10,8 @@ New-Item -Path $nuget_artifacts_dir -ItemType directory
 
 ## .zip files
 # unzip directly
-Get-ChildItem $Env:BUILD_BINARIESDIRECTORY\nuget-artifact -Filter *.zip |
+# exclude the iOS xcframework as we need to leave that zipped up to preserve symlinks
+Get-ChildItem -Path $Env:BUILD_BINARIESDIRECTORY\nuget-artifact\* -Include *.zip -Exclude onnxruntime_ios_xcframework.*.zip |
 Foreach-Object {
  $cmd = "7z.exe x $($_.FullName) -y -o$nuget_artifacts_dir"
  Write-Output $cmd
@@ -34,6 +35,23 @@ Foreach-Object {
  Invoke-Expression -Command $cmd
 }
 
+# process iOS xcframework
+$xcframeworks = Get-ChildItem $Env:BUILD_BINARIESDIRECTORY\nuget-artifact -Filter onnxruntime_ios_xcframework.*.zip
+if ($xcframeworks.Count -eq 1) {
+  $xcframework = $xcframeworks[0]
+  $target_dir = "$nuget_artifacts_dir\onnxruntime-ios-xcframework"
+  # remove version info from filename and use required filename format
+  $target_file = "$target_dir\onnxruntime.xcframework.zip"
+  New-Item -Path $target_dir -ItemType directory
+
+  Write-Output "Copy-Item $($xcframework.FullName) $target_file"
+  Copy-Item $xcframework.FullName $target_file
+}
+elseif ($xcframeworks.Count -gt 1) {
+  Write-Error "Expected at most one onnxruntime_ios_xcframework*.zip file but got: [$xcframeworks]"
+}
+
+
 # copy android AAR.
 # for full build of onnxruntime Android AAR, there should only be one .aar file
 # called onnxruntime-android-x.y.z.aar or onnxruntime-training-android-x.y.z.aar but sanity check that
diff --git a/tools/nuget/generate_nuspec_for_native_nuget.py b/tools/nuget/generate_nuspec_for_native_nuget.py
index a005bd4c4b..2dda41a5a3 100644
--- a/tools/nuget/generate_nuspec_for_native_nuget.py
+++ b/tools/nuget/generate_nuspec_for_native_nuget.py
@@ -105,8 +105,10 @@ def generate_file_list_for_ep(nuget_artifacts_dir, ep, files_list, include_pdbs,
                 if child_file.suffix in [".aar"]:
                     files_list.append('<file src="' + str(child_file) + '" target="runtimes/android/native"/>')
 
-        if child.name == "onnxruntime-ios-xcframework":
-            files_list.append('<file src="' + str(child) + "\\**" '" target="runtimes/ios/native"/>')  # noqa: ISC001
+        if child.name == "onnxruntime-ios":
+            for child_file in child.iterdir():
+                if child_file.suffix in [".zip"]:
+                    files_list.append('<file src="' + str(child_file) + '" target="runtimes/ios/native"/>')
 
 
 def parse_arguments():