The Unarchiver — The Complete Guide: Opening RAR, 7Z and Legacy Formats on the Mac for Free
The Unarchiver from MacPaw is a small macOS tool that does one job: it opens archives. Set it as the default app, and double-clicking a RAR, 7Z, ZIPX, CAB, MSI, ISO or BIN file simply extracts the contents next to the original. You can also choose where extracted files go and whether the folder opens automatically afterwards.
The Unarchiver
MacPaw
Free macOS tool for opening archives: RAR, 7Z, ZIP, ISO and dozens of legacy formats — extraction only, no archive creation.
Get it from the vendorWhat you get
- Common formats — RAR, 7Z, ZIPX, TAR, GZIP, BZIP2 and XZ.
- Legacy formats — StuffIt, ARJ and LZH from old archives.
- Split archives — opening an archive that was divided into several parts.
- Name encodings — good handling of file names from other languages and systems.
- Completely free — no in-app purchases and no registration.
Who it suits
An engineer on a Mac who receives files from suppliers and colleagues in mixed formats, including old archives from past projects. It only extracts, so creating a 7Z or encrypted archive needs another tool.
Related tools
To create archives on the Mac — Keka. For a full archiver that runs on several systems — PeaZip. For extraction in the browser with no install — ezyZip.
Keka
aONe (Jorge Garcia)
Free macOS archiver that creates 7Z, ZIP, TAR, DMG and ISO with AES-256 encryption and splitting, and also opens RAR, CAB and MSI.
Get it from the vendor
PeaZip
Giorgio Tani
Open, create and encrypt archives in 200+ formats, including splitting large model files.
Get it from the vendor
ezyZip
ezyZip
Archive compression and extraction in the browser, processed locally on your computer with no upload to a server. Opens 350+ formats.
Get it from the vendor
7-Zip
Igor Pavlov
File compression and extraction — ZIP, 7z, RAR and more, with strong compression and AES-256 encryption.
Get it from the vendorThe bottom line
The Unarchiver is one of the first tools worth installing on a new Mac. It is simple, free and opens almost any archive you are likely to receive.