So you tried to open a .rar file you downloaded on the Internet, or received from a colleague/friend via email. Then you get a weird error on your Mac, because the file couldn’t be opened.
WinZip is the world's leading file compression software. Compress files to save space and reduce transmission times. Decompress Zip, Zipx, RAR, 7Z, BZ2, CAB, JAR, IMG, and other file formats. Jun 11, 2018 Download 7-Zip for Mac free. 7-Zip is a file archiver with the highest compression ratio. 7 Best Mac Apps to Unarchive/Archive Files with Password. Winzip can zip or unzip on Mac, and open.7z file on Mac. This Winzip app on Mac support email and share files to Dropbox and Google Drive. IZip is a simple to use, the efficient, and powerful. For example, you could have Archive.zip, Archive 2.zip, Archive 3.zip, and so on. One curious aspect of the numbering system is that if you delete the Archive.zip files at a later date and then compress multiple files in the same folder, the new Archive.zip file has the next number in the sequence appended to it; it doesn't start over. Top 5 compression software for Mac users. The Unarchiver is a small and rather effective compression software for Mac that handles more formats than the built-in Archive. Keka is another great Mac compression software that can appeal to a lot of users. It has a user-friendly.
It’s really disappointing. I’ve been there many times, since I use my MacBook Pro to communicate with others who are probably on a PC. In fact, I also ran into the same problem when I switched from PC to Mac a few years ago.
Luckily, I managed to fix it with an amazing app called The Unarchiver, the best RAR extractor app for Mac. Plus, it’s still free. Meanwhile, I also tested dozens of other applications on my Mac, and filtered those that are 100% free and easy to use and you can read more below.
NEW UPDATE
Hi there, Thanks for reading this article. It’s been two years since I first published this post. Things have changed a lot when it comes to unrar apps for Mac. I was hoping Apple macOS could add this feature to its built-in Archive Utility app, unfortunately, it seems that Apple macOS team doesn’t plan to do this. My MacBook Pro is now with the latest 10.13 High Sierra, and I have to rely on third-party apps to extract RAR files.
As for the best rar extractor app for Mac, the recommendation stays the same — The Unarchiver. It’s still free to download and use. However, it’s worth noting that the app has been acquired by MacPaw (the maker of CleanMyMac, an awesome Mac cleaning app) and is now part of the MacPaw family. You can read more from this press release.
Also, I just found a more powerful app called BetterZip 4 — which allows Mac users to not only extract many types of archives, but you can also use it to create archives or preview content of an archive without extracting. Those additional features are not available in The Unarchiver or Archive Utility. I recommend BetterZip to those of you who often need to handle a different kind of files on a PC and Mac. Note: BetterZip isn’t freeware ($24.95 for the paid version), but a free trial is offered. You can get BetterZip 4 from Setapp here.
What about the other apps listed below? I tried to check them now and then, just to make sure they’re usable and the information is accurate. But I find it so time-consuming because every year or so Apple releases a new version of macOS (to date, it’s High Sierra 10.13.2), those apps that fail to be updated often can’t run or malfunction. Therefore, I’d discourage you to check them out unless you are interested. That said, I’ll try my best to keep the content on this post as fresh as possible.
What is an RAR File?
RAR is a compressed file short for Roshal Archive; it’s a proprietary file format developed by Eugene Roshal, a genius software engineer. Simply put, a .rar file is like a big data container that holds a set of individual files and folders inside.
Why use RAR? Because it reduces the size of your files and folders while keeping all the content 100% intact. With a RAR, it’s much easier to store on removable media or transferred over the Internet.
According to this comparison image provided by Compression Ratings, RAR files achieve much higher compression, especially on multimedia files. They are also easier to split or to recover once corrupted than other alternatives like ZIP or 7Zip files.
How to Open an RAR Archive on Mac?
Unlike other archive files, for example, a ZIP archive can be directly created or extracted by using the default function on Mac (here’s a tutorial), a RAR file can only be opened using third-party software…which, unfortunately, Apple hasn’t built into the Archive Utility, yet.
Best Free Unzipper For Mac
That’s why there are plenty of third-party applications available on the Internet that claim to be able to do that. Some are dated, while some require you to pay.
Thanks to those smart, yet kind developers, we have quite a lot of free options to get the job done without taking a penny out of the pocket. I’ve tested many and here are the 10 best free apps that still work.
10 Free RAR Extractor Apps That Work on Mac
Note: Some of the apps below are open source, and the authors accept donations. If you find the one you use is really awesome, kindly show your appreciation. Hundreds of hours were spent to make that product work well.
1. The Unarchiver
The Unarchiver is my favorite. Like the name indicates, it unpacks almost any archive instantly without launching the app. The app is very powerful, even does what the built-in Archive Utility can’t — extracts RAR archives. It also supports handling filenames in foreign character sets.
2. B1 Free Archiever
Another great open source app, the B1 Free Archiver serves as an all-in-one program for managing file archives. As you can see from the screenshot above, this tool allows you to create, open and extract archives. It opens .rar, .zip, and 35 other file formats. Besides Mac, there are also versions for Windows, Linux, and Android.
3. UnRarX
UnRarX is a simple utility designed to expand .rar files and restore corrupted or missing archives with .par and .par2 files. It has an extraction function as well. To do this, simply open the program, drag your archive files into the interface, and UnRarX will unpack the content to the specified destination.
4. StuffIt Expander Mac
StuffIt Expander for Mac allows you to uncompress both Zip and RAR archives. I found the app very easy to use. Once the program is installed, you should see an icon (as shown on the top of the above screenshot). Click on it. Next select the file, specify the destination to store your extracted files, and you’re done.
5. MacPar deLuxe
Another great tool that can open RAR files, and do a lot beyond! Originally developed to recover missing or corrupted information by processing “par” and “par2” files, MacPAR deLuxe is able to unpack the data with its built-in unrar engine. If you are a Macintosh user who frequently downloads or uploads binary files, then most likely you’ll love this utility program. You can get it from its official site here.
6. iZip for Mac
iZip is another powerful yet effective tool built from the ground up for Mac users to compress/decompress, secure, and share files easily. It supports all kinds of archive formats including RAR, ZIP, ZIPX, TAR, and 7ZIP. To unzip a file, just drag and drop it into the software main interface. Another window will pop up with the extracted files. Super fast!
7. RAR Extractor Free
RAR Extractor Free is an app that specializes in extracting Rar, Zip, Tar, 7-zip, Gzip, Bzip2 files conveniently and safely. Once you download and launch the app, you’ll see a pop-up window that asks you to specify an “unarchive” location. To load your files, you’ll need to move to the top left and click “Open.”
8. SimplyRAR (Mac)
SimplyRAR is another awesome archiving app for Mac OS. As its name suggests, SimplyRAR is a simple to use program that makes archiving and unarchiving files a breeze. Open it by dropping the file into the application, choosing a compression method, and pulling the trigger. The downside of the app is that it will be difficult to get support from the developer, as it appears they’re no longer in business.
9. RAR Expander
RAR Expander (Mac) is a clean GUI utility for creating and expanding RAR archives. It supports single, multi-part or password-protected archives. It also features AppleScript support and includes example scripts to help you handle multiple archives at once.
10. Zipeg
Zipeg is also handy yet free. What I really like is its ability to preview an entire file before extracting it. It also supports password protected and multipart files. Note: To open the software, you’ll need to install the legacy Java SE 6 runtime (see this Apple support article).
What’s Your Favorite UnRAR Tool?
Does the recommended one help you extract or unzip your RAR files? Or do you find a better unarchiver app for Mac than the ones listed above? Let me know by leaving a quick comment below.
Zip For Mac Free
There are times that you will need to compress big files into smaller ones so that you can send them through email in your Macintosh. In reverse, you also need to decompress or unzip files in Mac in order to use those big files. In PC, most Windows based platforms have their own unzipping/decompressing program built in. In Mac, you need programs to unzip files. Fortunately, if there are compressing and decompressing software in PC, there are also this kind of program for Mac. The zipping/unzipping program in Mac, as well as in PC, are usually free and can do the job. The battle for being the best will come down to the compressing ratio and the format it supports.
10. RAR for Mac
WinRAR is one of the popular software that can work in Windows based devices as well as with Macintosh. The RAR for Mac was created by the developer of RAR and it can be used for free. There is also a paid software version. This software can unzip files in the usual formats such as RAR, ZIP and JAR. The RAR for Mac is capable to archive big file size. This software is easy to use with its quick start feature. One of the cons of this software is that you need to purchase the license to fully utilize the compression tools.
9. Stuffit Expander
For Mac users, this software is a household name. Many Mac users know Stuffit Expander as decoder and expander utility. This software is supporting more than 30 archiving formats such as .rar, .zip and so on. This software is capable of decompressing archives that are encrypted with AES 256 and 512-bit protection. One of best feature of this software is its drag and drop functionality. One of the cons of this program is that it needs to install so many components and it only decompress/unzip files in Mac.
8. UnRarX
The UnRarX is a free unzipping tool for Mac and is similar to WinRAR. This software is easy to use. You just drag and drop the compressed file to the interface. This is one of the advantages of this program. If you need free means of unzipping a .rar file, this one can do the job. If you have older version of Mac, you can still use this program. The main disadvantage of this software is that it do not compress files or in creating .rar archives.
7. iZip
The iZip for Mac is your practical means of unzipping as well as zipping or compressing various archiving file format such as .zip, .rar and .zipx files. The .zipx file format is ambiguous for the OS X operating system of Mac, but iZip can handle this ambiguity with relative ease. The program works by treating the archive files as disk and not as compressed files and hence, user can browse the files that are compressed through the Finder. Aside from the advantages stated above, the files you unzipped/zipped can be shared online at files.com. However, this program only supports few archiving formats and there is no preview.
6. RAR Expander
The RAR Expander, from the name, works to unzipped .rar files. Archiving formats in .rar is pretty common and this software can do the decompressing of .rar files with ease. You simply open the archived files with this and RAR Expander will do the rest for you. This program is very simple to use and it can extract multi part archive files, aside from single ones. However, this program only works for .rar files and it does not restore the corrupted files.
5. SimplyRAR
The SimplyRAR program helps the user to unzip files in Mac as well as in zipping files. It works simply and easily and you can right click the archive files to unzip and zip it. This program is free and when you use it, there is a log of the outcome of the unzipping/zipping. However, the developer of this program is not in the business anymore and hence, if you want or seeking support, you will have hard time contacting the developer.
4. WinAce
WinAce for Mac is one of the good unzipping applications you can use especially if you are acquainted with the use of file compression/decompression software and then needs something unique other than the common feature in WinZip or other popular file archiving applications. However, this application is not recommended for casual archiving applications or even for newbie.
3. Zipeg
The Zipeg for Mac is ideal for Mac users doing decompression of files on regular basis especially those graphical/image files. It works nicely in unzipping files and it is free – no need to purchase license. The key feature of Zipeg is the preview function that permits users to view the files to be decompressed before unzipping it. Another great feature of this program is that it supports a wide variety of archiving formats such as .zip, .rar, WINRAR, .arj, .lha/.lzh, 7z, .tar, .gz, .tgz, .bzip2, .rpm, .cpio, .iso and many more.
2. 7zip
This program is an open source one in which it can operate in various operating systems like in Macintosh. This program zips and unzips various archiving file formats such as .zip, .rar and .7z. This program has great compression ratio and you can customize the compression tools. Moreover, 7zip is free it is easy to use. The interface is pretty simple and even newbie in archiving/compressing works in Mac can do the job.
1. NCH Express Zip
The NCH Express Zip offers free and paid compression services for Mac users. If you need basic compression tools – in which you just have to extract files or in archiving files, the free version of NCH Express Zip can do the job. The paid version of the software costs about $30 in the market and it can extracts most of the archiving file formats. This program has also great help and customer support to go along with compression features.