Error while generating grpc files (--grpc_out: protoc-gen-grpc: Plugin failed with status code 1.)

I’m trying to run the following command to generate grpc files: protoc --proto_path=$PROTO_PATH --plugin=protoc-gen-grpc=$PLUGIN_GRPC --grpc_out=$OUT/grpc $PROTO_FILES

This results in the following error: /Users/MYUSERNAME/Downloads/protoc-gen-grpc-java-1.48.1-osx-aarch_64.exe: program not found or is not executable Please specify a program using absolute path or make sure the program is available in your PATH system variable --grpc_out: protoc-gen-grpc: Plugin failed with status code 1.

I made sure the file from the error message is located at that path and has also the correct permissions.

-rwxrwxrwx@ 1 MYUSERNAME staff 6334176 10 Aug 00:03 protoc-gen-grpc-java-1.48.1-osx-aarch_64.exe

I also tried running the command as sudo.

Generating java or kotlin files with --java_out=$OUT/java --kotlin_out=$OUT/kotlin

works perfectly fine, so the problem is --grpc_out=$OUT/grpc

I also downloaded multiple versions of the protoc-gen-grpc-java-1.48.1-osx-aarch_64.exe file but it always results in the same error. I also tried replacing all path variables (e.g. $PROTO_PATH) with their corresponding values, without any effect. I’m using MacBook with M1Pro chip.