RAR on Mac (macOS) - how to open: free archiver program. BetterZip is the only full-fledged archiver for Mac Standard archiving utility for mac os

Below is a list of programs and utilities, paid and free, for one purpose only - working with RAR on Mac.

RAR

RAR for Mac represents the original compression algorithm. It provides high compression rates for executable files, object libraries, large text files, etc. RAR for Mac offers an additional algorithm optimized for working with multimedia data. RAR provides functionality to create a complete archive, which can increase compression rates by 10% to 50% compared to more common methods, especially when packing large numbers of small files.

RAR for Mac is designed as a console application; below are the graphical shells Rarify and RarMe for working with Rar on Mac.

Download RAR for Mac

Rarify

Rarify supports basic functions: creating archives, protecting the RAR archive with a password, choosing the compression level. This application is a simple interface for a RAR console application. Due to licensing restrictions, you must install console RAR on your Mac, and then select “Update RAR binary” from the main menu of the Rarify program.

Download Rarify for Mac

RarMe

RarMe is an AppleScript application that is another shell of the RAR command utility for Mac. In order to use RarMe, you need to download and install RAR. RarMe is a beta version and will not necessarily work reliably on any Mac OS.

Download RarMe for Mac

Keka

Keka is a freely available archiver for Mac OS X versions 10.6 and higher. The main core of the program for Mac is the p7zip utility (7-zip port). The program can create 7z, Zip, Tar, Gzip, Bzip2 archives and unpack RAR, 7z, Lzma, Zip, Tar, Gzip, Bzip2, ISO, EXE, CAB, PAX, ACE (PPC).

Download Keka for Mac

UnRarX

The easiest way to extract a RAR archive is to launch the UnRarX application for Mac and drag the RAR archive into the main program window. Sometimes UnRarX cannot extract files from a RAR archive. My advice in this situation is to try to extract the archive to your desktop. If your RAR archive is password protected, then in the main program window on the toolbar, select the menu item labeled “Password”, enter your password, click OK and drag the file into the UnRarX window.

Download UnRarX for Mac

RAR Expander

RAR Expander is a free utility for extracting RAR archive on Mac. RAR Expander doesn't have a particularly pretty interface, but it extracts files quickly and reliably. All you have to do is select “Extract” from the application’s File menu. RAR Expander will ask you where you want to extract the files, or you can set a default path in the settings. In RAR Expander you can configure automatic checking for updates, or enable a signal when the unpacking process is complete. This Mac program also supports AppleScript and has two examples of its use.

Download RAR Expander for Mac

Zipeg

Zipeg is a universal program for viewing RAR and ZIP archives on Mac. The program runs on Mac OS X Snow Leopard, Leopard and Tiger. If you need to extract just one photo, song or document from a huge archive that was downloaded or emailed, then Zipeg is definitely for you. Zipeg for Mac is a small but very powerful utility. It also works with TAR, TGZ, GZIP and BZIP2 archives. Zipeg fully supports compound and password-protected RAR and ZIP archives. It also allows you to view photos using the image viewer application. Zipeg is free and works on both Intel and PowerPC Macs.

Download Zipeg for Mac

StuffIt Expander

StuffIt Expander opens files created in WinZip, 7zX, iShrink, SimplyRAR, Rarify, Rucksack (formerly iArchiver), BetterZip, RarMachine, GUI Tar, CleanArchiver, Springy, TARPIT, RAR, Ez7z, KEKA and with the utility built into the latest versions Mac OS X

Download StuffIt Expander for Mac

The Unarchiver

The Unarchiver is a worthy replacement for Utility.app, Mac OS X's built-in unpacker. The Unarchiver works with more formats than the standard Mac OS utility and fits better into the Finder's design. It can also work with file names in foreign character sets created on non-English versions of operating systems. I personally find this useful for opening Japanese archives, for example.

It is very easy to use and install - just copy it to your application folder or wherever you prefer, and then set the file types to associate with The Unarchiver.

Download The Unarchiver for Mac

Archiver

Archiver is a paid program for Mac that opens all popular formats, including RAR, StuffIt, 7zip, and, of course, Zip. Archiver has the ability to securely backup files with built-in encryption support, as well as convert between archive formats: RAR-to-Zip. Archiver can create compound archives on Mac and protect them with a password.

Archiver runs on Mac OS X Snow Leopard 10.6 and Lion 10.7. If you have Leopard 10.5, you can download the old Archiver for Mac OS X 10.5 (http://creativebe.s3.amazonaws.com/downloads/Archiver/Archiver-1654.zip).

Download Archiver for Mac

iZip

iZip is easy to use, efficient and powerful tool for Mac users. Archives are displayed as removable media. The program supports encryption and automatic updates. iZip currently supports ZIP, Zipx, RAR, TAR, tar.gz and 7ZIP formats. Using your familiar Finder, you can manage the contents of archives of the most common formats created in WinZip and WinRAR. It is possible to restore archives and even drag and drop files between archives. iZip can create RAR archives on Mac, and not only RAR. iZip is tightly integrated with files.com, a file sharing service.

Download iZip for Mac

RAR Extract

Enolsoft RAR Extract for Mac is a free and open source application for Mac OS X, which is designed to work with RAR archives, including password-protected ones. RAR Extract supports batch extraction of multiple RAR archives.

Download RAR Extract for Mac

Archivator

Archivator is a simple and elegant solution for compressing files into RAR archives on Mac. The program is capable of creating RAR and unzipping RAR, ZIP, 7z and many other popular formats. The application has the ability to adjust the compression force.

Download Archivator for Mac

RarMachine

RarMachine is a powerful RAR archive manager, by far the simplest and tightly integrated with Mac OS X. This RAR utility for Mac can compress and decompress any type of file. You don't need to be an expert to use RarMachine, every step is automated and user-friendly. RarMachine is fully integrated with Finder and is available for all file types. This RAR archiver for Mac supports archive protection. The program costs $8.

Download RarMachine for Mac

SuperNZB

SuperNZB is a free utility for extracting RAR archives on Mac. Simply move the RAR archive (or several parts) onto the program window, and you will be able to see the compressed content.

Download SuperNZB for Mac

Mac OS X comes standard with Archive Utility, but it has limited functionality. And it only supports a limited range of ZIP, GZIP (.gz) formats. Therefore, it is worth paying attention to third-party archiver software manufacturers. Mac OS X rar d format is not supported. Most archivers for Mac OS X have a problem with files archived in Windows. More precisely, not with the files themselves, but with their names written in Cyrillic. The most correct one here is RAR Extractor Free.

Free archivers.

The Unarchiver

Free application available on the Mac App Store.

Formats supported for unpacking: Zip, Zipx, RAR,7z, Tar, Gzip, Bzip2, LZMA, XZ, CAB, MSI, NSIS, EXE, ISO, BIN, MDF, Stufflt, ARJ, ARC, zoo, LZH and a number of others rarely used formats.

The utility is built in to replace the standard archiver and copes with its functions perfectly.

Among the disadvantages: it does not always work stably with RAR archives, sometimes it displays an archive error message even though the archive is working. This error occurs on files with passwords and archives consisting of several parts, in this case I use Stuffit Expander. At the same time, it remains my main unarchiver.

Website: http://unarchiver.c3.cx

Stufflt Expander

SmithMicro's complete Stifflt package for Mac is a paid package that costs $29.99 and works in 30 formats, but does not allow rar files to be packaged. But the free version of Stufflt Expander for Mac perfectly unpacks rar files and is my second unarchiver.

Website: http://my.smithmicro.com

Keka

Free archiver for mac OS X. Can compress data into the following formats: 7z, Zip, Tar, Gzip, Bzip2, DMG, ISO. Unpack from RAR, 7z, Lzma, Zip, Tar, Gzip, Bzip2, ISO, EXE, CAB, PAX, ACE (PPC)

Website: http://www.kekaosx.com/ru/

RAR Extractor Free

Allows you to unpack archives in rar, zip, bzip, gzip, tar, 7-zip formats. The program is in the appstore. Works better than others with Cyrillic in file names. The paid version adds the following formats: xz, iso, lha, cab, cpio.

Of the free packages that deserve attention, perhaps that’s all.

Paid archivers for Mac

WinRAR 5.0

Supports RAR, ZIP, CAB, ARJ, LZH, ACE, TAR, GZip, UUE, ISO, BZIP2, Z and 7-Zip formats.

A 40-day trial version is available for free download. The developer provides only a command line version.

Website: http://www.rarlab.com/ http://www.win-rar.com/

Archive 2.0

Allows you to create and unpack rar archives, but this requires an additional plugin that is installed automatically. The application is available in the Mac App Store, but to activate work with rar in this case, you need to enable this feature in the program settings.

Website: http://archiverapp.com/

Compress Files for Mac

The program has a user-friendly design that allows you to pack and unpack various file formats, but the rar format is not on this list. There is a Trial version

Website: http://www.apimac.com/mac/compressfiles/

Containing a tool for working with archives, macOS is also initially equipped with one. True, the capabilities of the built-in archiver are very limited - Archive Utility, integrated into the Apple OS, allows you to work only with ZIP and GZIP (GZ) formats. Naturally, this is not enough for most users, so in this article we will talk about software tools for working with archives on macOS, which are much more functional than the basic solution.

This archiver is a comprehensive solution for working with archives in the macOS environment. BetterZip provides the ability to decompress all common formats used for data compression, with the possible exception of SITX. With its help, you can create archives in ZIP, 7ZIP, TAR.GZ, BZIP, and if you install the console version of WinRAR, then the program will also support RAR files. The latter can be downloaded from the developer’s official website, the link to which you will find in.

Like any advanced archiver, BetterZip can encrypt compressed data and can split large files into fragments (volumes). It has a useful search function inside the archive, which works without the need for unpacking. In a similar way, you can extract individual files without unpacking all the contents at once. Unfortunately, BetterZip is distributed on a paid basis, and after the trial period ends, it can only be used to unpack archives, but not to create them.

StuffIt Expander

Like BetterZip, this archiver supports all common data compression formats (25 types) and is even slightly superior to its competitor. StuffIt Expander has full support for RAR, for which you don’t even need to install third-party utilities, and it also works with SIT and SITX files, which the previous application also cannot boast of. Among other things, this software works not only with regular, but also with password-protected archives.

StuffIt Expander is presented in two versions - free and paid, and it is logical that the capabilities of the second are much wider. For example, it can be used to create self-extracting archives and work with data on optical and hard drives. The program includes tools for creating disk images and backing up information contained on drives. Moreover, you can set your own schedule to create a backup of files and directories.

WinZip Mac

Hamster Free Archiver

A minimalistic archiver for macOS in appearance and functionality, very simple and easy to use. Hamster Free Archiver uses the ZIP format to compress data, and it allows you to open and unpack not only the mentioned ZIP, but also 7ZIP, as well as RAR. Yes, this is significantly less than the solutions discussed above, but for many users this will be enough. If desired, it can be designated as the default tool for working with archives, for which you just need to go to the application settings.

As the name implies, Hamster Free Archiver is distributed free of charge, which undoubtedly sets it apart from other similar programs. According to the developers, their archiver provides a fairly high degree of compression. In addition to the usual compression and decompression of data, it allows you to specify the path to save it or place it in the folder with the source file. This is where the hamster's functionality ends.

Keka

Another free archiver for macOS, which, moreover, is in many ways not inferior to its paid competitors. With Keka you can view and extract files contained in RAR, TAR, ZIP, 7ZIP, ISO, EXE, CAB and many more archives. You can pack data in ZIP, TAR and variations of these formats. Large files can be divided into parts, which will significantly simplify their use and, for example, uploading to the Internet.

There are few settings in Keka, but each of them is really necessary. So, by accessing the main menu of the application, you can specify a single path for saving all extracted data, select an acceptable degree of file compression when packing, assign it as the default archiver, and set associations with file formats.

The Unarchiver

This application can only be called an archiver with a slight stretch. Unarchiver is more of a compressed data viewer whose only option is to decompress it. Like all of the above programs, it supports common formats (more than 30), including ZIP, 7ZIP, GZIP, RAR, TAR. Allows you to open them, regardless of what program they were compressed in, how much and what encoding was applied.

The Unarchiver is distributed free of charge, and for this you can safely forgive its functional “modesty”. It will be of interest to those users who often have to work with archives, but only in one direction - solely for viewing and extracting packed files onto their computer, nothing more.

Conclusion

In this short article, we looked at the main features of six archivers for macOS. Half of them are paid, half are free, but, in addition, each has its own advantages and disadvantages, and which one to choose is up to you. We hope this material was useful to you.

The “rar” archive cannot be opened on a MAC unless you have installed the archiver designed for this - WinRAR. Here you can download WinRAR for Mac OS X for free, or rather its console version (its correct name is RAR). The download link is at the bottom of the page, after the description.

Unfortunately, WinRAR does not have a graphical interface on Mac OS, but this does not mean that it is difficult to use. It is enough to remember a couple of commands and the process of unpacking archives will not cause you any difficulties.

After installation, type the command rar(or unrar). If the archiver is installed correctly, you will see information about its version and brief help on how to use it.

For help dial:

For example, to create an archive without compression, use the command:

Rar a -m0 archive.rar folder/

With maximum compression, command:

Rar a -m5 archive.rar folder/

To unpack all files into the current directory:

Unrar e archive.rar

Advantages of WinRAR for Mac OS

1. Easy to use if you know the commands. But there are not many of them and their syntax is not complicated;
2. It is possible to protect your archives with a password and encrypt all archived files;
3. Selecting the degree of file compression, archiving without compressing folders and files for ease of storage and sending by mail.

Flaws

1. There is no graphical interface, you need to know the commands to work with archives.

Download WinRAR for Mac OS X (latest version) from the official website using the link below.

A program such as an archiver is a working tool for the user of any operating system, be it Windows, Linux or Mac OS. Often the data that needs to be sent over the Internet to a colleague or interlocutor is of an unacceptable size, probably most often this concerns mail, and then a file archiver comes to the rescue, using different compression algorithms to reduce the file size to an acceptable one. The degree of compression of files by the archiver depends largely on the contents of the file, namely on its extension, txt or jpeg, for example.

And to put it even simpler, an archiver is a container-press where your files are placed (the archiving process), and in it they are compressed and stored until you unzip them (the unzipping process), and all the files will remain in that the form in which you placed them there.

In other cases, the archiver simply adds convenience when you need to send several files of different formats. And in this case, the user can archive several files (put them in a container) receiving one archive, and send just one archived file, and not a whole bunch of files that will have to be downloaded one by one, which takes time and is inconvenient. Likewise, the party receiving your file will download one archive instead of many different files, convenient, isn’t it?!

You also need to highlight one feature of archiving - the ability to set a password for the archive (the container with your files), and this means nothing more than that only knowing the password can you access the archived data, is it safe, right?!

The most popular archiving formats today are: Zip, RAR, Tar-GZip, Tar-BZip2, 7-zip.

How to use The Unarchiver archiver

1. After installation, run The Unarchiver archiver:

2. Check the boxes for at least Zip, RAR and 7-zip formats.

3. The minimum configuration of the archiver is now complete. Now, to unzip files, you just need to double-click on the archive and it will be unzipped to the same folder on the computer where the archive itself is located.