RAR on Mac (macOS) - how to open: a free archiver program. How to open a rar archive on Mac OS What does the word archiver mean
Gone are the days when archivers were used exclusively to reduce the size of files in order to write as many of them as possible on a single floppy disk. Today, the main purpose of these applications is to write multiple files into one archive for easy distribution and storage. These are the types of utilities that, while not being among the most important, are still used fairly regularly.
BetterZip
One of the most famous, popular and advanced archivers. Opens archives of almost all known formats, knows how to create archives (although in this case the support for formats is not so wide), also allows you to view the contents of the archive without first unpacking it. It is possible to create protected archives and test existing ones. The only drawback of the program is that it is paid.
BetterZip
Keka
It is also a fairly well-known archiver that is popular due to its free nature. Able to unpack archives of most existing formats. He also knows how to create archives, but the number of formats is not so wide (for example, there is no way to create RAR archives). It is believed that the main drawback of this program is its not the most attractive icon.
Keka
WinZip for Mac
"Classic" from the world of Windows, which also came to OS X. A very advanced solution with good functionality and some useful additional features. At the same time, this same archiver is the most expensive of all that we are considering today.
WinZip for Mac
Zipeg
A free and very simple application designed only for unpacking archives, including those protected by passwords. All the most popular formats are supported. If you don't need to create archives, then Zipeg can be a good solution. There is a version for both OS X and Windows.
Zipeg
The unarchiver
Also a very simple utility that can only unpack archives. The most popular formats are supported, which is quite enough for most users. Additional features quite a bit, but this is fully justified by the absolute freeness of the application. This utility is one of the most popular.
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Write about archiving files and archivers for Mac OS suggested by one of the readers who asked me a question: are there archivers and unarchives for poppies? I will try to describe what is in Mac OS "out of the box" and what else can be delivered in order to work comfortably with archives.
Archiving Utility - zip archives
One of the conveniences that I discovered in my time after switching from Win to Mac was the built-in Mac OS X support for zip-archives - one of the most common formats, which in many operating systems supported. To create a zip archive, just select the file (s) in Finder, right-click (or ctrl + click) and select "Compress" from the context menu. After that, a zip file is created with a copy of the files and with the name "Archive.zip", if there are more than one archived files, or if there is only one file, then the name of the archive will coincide with the name of the original file.
Unpacking zip files is as easy as archiving. By default, the "Archiving Utility" is launched automatically by double click by zip-archive, which leads to unpacking the contents of the archive into the folder of the same name, if there is more than one file. In addition, the original zip file remains untouched, that is, when unpacking, a copy of the contents of the archive is created.
The built-in zip support also manifests itself when downloading files from the web in Safari. After the zip is downloaded, it will be automatically unpacked by the same "Archiving Utility". In most cases, this is the default behavior, but sometimes it is annoying.
Working with archives from Mac OS X Terminal
More advanced users can create archives from the Terminal. There are several utilities for this in Mac OS X, for example, gzip, bzip2, tar. Moreover, if the first two are archivers, then tar is a "packer" of files - it archives a group of files into one without compression. Tar is used just in conjunction with gzip and bzip2, which, according to the "Unix-tradition", can clamp only one file: they perform one function, but good. Therefore, they usually first pack files or folders with files into a tar-archive, and then the resulting file is clamped with gzip or bzip2.
You can read more about these archivers on Wikipedia in more detail:,. Of course, many will not want to bother with the Terminal for archiving files. But it's worth noting that bzip2, for example, compresses better than standard zip or gzip, albeit slower. In addition, gzip is used by Mac OS itself for archiving logs, for example.
I often do manual backups of files using the tar utility, which correctly saves information about files and folders (permissions, creation time, etc.). Alternatively, tar can be asked to compress the tar archive into bzip2. As a result, with one command, with the appropriate keys, we get a .tbz file, in which the files are correctly packed (tar) and well compressed (bz2).
Custom spsob - .dmg
Among the standard set of Mac OS programs there is Disk Utility, which is not intended for archiving files, but in principle it can be achieved from it. The idea is simple - creating compressed dmg images. To do this, in Disk Utility, go to File–> New–> Disk image from folder ... (Command + Shift + N shortcut) and select the folder with the files in the dialog that appears. Further, in the next dialog for saving the dmg-image, select the name and format of the image - "compressed". If I understand everything correctly, then the content will be clamped with the same zip.
I even tested the compression ratio in dmg and zip once. It turns out about the same - compressed dmg images are slightly (10% –15%) larger than a zip archive.
I took different types of files with a total size of 100 MB:
Third Party Archivators
The main reason why it is necessary to unpack rar files is the need to unpack rar files. It so happened historically that rar was at one time widespread on "one-sixth of the land." This is connected, in my opinion, with the ability to split a rar-archive into volumes (parts), a higher compression ratio than zip, and a set of all sorts of gimmicks such as setting passwords on an archive and the like. The level of compression was important 5 years ago, when the price per gigabyte of hard disk space was high, burning to DVD was also an expensive pleasure, and you can't invest much in email.
As a result, many under Windows continue to use rar as the main archiver, and there are still a lot of files on the Web packed in rar.
Stuffit Expander
The program is called "must have". The main advantages are free and the ability to unpack a bunch of formats, including rar. Stuffit Expander does not know how to archive at all, for this there is its older (and paid) brother Stuffit Deluxe.
I won't be mistaken if I say that in 99.9% of cases, the Archiving Utility + Stuffit Expander is enough for a happy mac-life with a head.
Stuffit Deluxe
This archiver costs $ 79, but it already knows a lot more than Stuffit Expander. First, it can clamp in more than 20 archive formats, including rar, sitx, cab and all the formats mentioned above. I honestly don't use it, but if you often need to clip into something exotic for Mac, or you need to split archives into volumes for uploading to file storages (hello wares :), then Stuffit Deluxe will come in handy of course.
A good alternative to Stuffit Expander, and the built-in archiver in Mac OS, can be The Unarchiver. From the name it is already clear that the software is designed for unpacking files. The Unarchiver supports a variety of archiving formats (including sitx from the Stuffit developers), integrates with the Finder, doesn't get confused with non-English filenames, etc. The Unarchiver is free and open-source.
Something like WinRAR for Mac is not yet available. The developers of the rar format have waited for the command-line utilities. It is distributed free of charge as a 40-day version (then you have to pay, although I don't know how they control it), and if sometimes you need to roll it up in rar and are friends with the Terminal, then nothing else is needed for normal work and a carefree life.
BetterZip
Not very expensive ($ 19.95) and quite popular archiver (thanks for the hint in the comments). Supports a lot of formats: IP, SIT, TAR, GZip, BZip2, RAR, 7-Zip, CPIO, ARJ, LZH / LHA, JAR, WAR, CAB, ISO, CHM, RPM, DEB, NSIS, BIN, HQX, DD. In addition, there is support for quick preview of the archive via Quick Look. To do this, you need to download a special plugin.
You should also pay attention to this archiver ($ 26). Like BetterZip, iArchiver is written in the best Mac-Usability tradition. Supports not so many formats: clamps - Zip, DMG, 7-zip, Tar, Gzip, Bzip2, Z and CPIO; unpacks: Zip, RAR, 7-zip, StuffIt, Gzip, Bzip2, ARJ, Z, LhA, DMG, hqx, rpm and so on. In addition, it can convert rar archives to zip. In general, it is simple and straightforward.
In today's article, we will talk about the so-called archiver for Mac users. When working with a computer, it is very important to be able to use archiving software. If you do not have an installed archiver, you will not be able to unpack such file formats as RAR, 7Z, GZIP and others. Many Mac users mistakenly believe that built-in file compression can do this. In fact, the built-in tools will only be sufficient for working with ZIP archives. Therefore, in order to avoid difficulties when working with all popular archive formats, we recommend that you read this article to the end.
What does the word archiver mean?
An archiver is a program for the simultaneous packing of any number of files for the purpose of copying, sending and storing them. Thanks to compression methods, archivers can reduce the size of the files added to them. Another useful function of many archivers is the ability to set a password for the created archive, without entering which the user will not be able to open any of the files contained in the archive.
Overview of popular archive formats
The name of the world's most popular archive format dates back to PKWare. Today this archive format is found everywhere. ZIP supports breaking the archive into parts, password protection, adding comments. The main advantage of ZIP is its ubiquity and support even by those programs that are indirectly related to archives.
GZ (GZIP, GNU ZIP) uses the same file compression algorithm as regular ZIP. This format is widespread in the world of UNIX systems, and does not stand out for anything special except, in fact, compression. In terms of compression quality, GZIP cannot compete on equal terms with more modern formats, although it does not need it, because in the UNIX world this format is very popular (just like ZIP outside UNIX systems).
If GZIP cannot pack multiple files into one archive, this does not mean that UNIX users do not need to create archives from multiple files. In this case, the TAR format comes to the rescue, which does not support data compression, but allows you to combine several different files into one.
This format was developed by Evgeny Roshal. The compression quality of this format is superior to ZIP, and the difference is noticeable when working with some types of files. The main advantage of RAR is its highly efficient compression, which is provided by both the efficiency of the algorithm and the ability to compress files in the archive as a single data stream. Another plus is the resistance of RAR to various damages, especially if special information was added during archiving to restore it.
7Z is positioned as an archive format with high compression efficiency. It compresses really well, but at the same time loads a lot. RAM... The indicated drawback also manifests itself during unpacking. In terms of compression quality, 7Z can sometimes even outperform RAR, but this is the exception rather than the rule.
5 Reasons to Compress Files on Mac
Cataloging. During archiving, the structure of files and folders, including subfolders, is compressed into a single file. By unpacking the archive, you get exactly the same structure. Now let's imagine that you need to transfer over the network all the contents of the D drive (E, G, F - the letter does not matter), which contains hundreds or thousands of folders ...
Transferring a large number of files will take a long time given that online storage only allows you to download a few files at a time. With the Mac archiver, you simply create an archive of the D drive, i.e. transfer all data into one file. After unpacking, you will have an exact copy of your D drive on the remote computer.
Compression. Using special algorithms, you can compress almost all files on your computer, thereby reducing their size. Sometimes it is possible to reduce the size of the archive in comparison with the original data several times. Of course, you cannot use the data until you unpack it. However, if you store rarely used information on your hard drive, then archiving is The best way save disk space. Below in this article you will find the answer to the question "How easy is it to compress files on Mac?"
Data security. Archiving programs provide the ability to add recovery information to the archive, so that it will be possible to "cure" the archive even in the event of damage to the hard disk or external media. The availability of information to recover slightly increases the size of the archive, but in most cases you will not notice the difference.
If you want to hide files from someone's eyes, then archiving with the addition of a password is exactly what you need. Most archivers have this function, which is important for data protection. By the way, take your password seriously. It shouldn't be too simple and obvious, but it is important to remember it, because there will be no way of recovery with security questions. And remember, this method is not perfect. More and more programs appear on the network that can pick up even complex passwords and crack archives.
Saving space. Let's say you need to free up a little space, because the volume hard disk small. Try storing minor files and backups files in archives. Compress files on Mac and feel free to delete them after archiving. You can unpack them at any time.
It is important to remember that not all files are compressed with significant savings, for example, the size of photos is reduced from every 50 MB by only a few MB. At the same time, the documents Microsoft Word or files in the graphics editor Adobe Photoshop can be significantly compressed: from fifty to three megabytes. Music and video files are compressed weakly, but if there are a lot of them, you can use archiving.
File transfer. When transferring files on the Internet, for example, via e-mail or in Skype, we cannot attach an entire folder to a message, but only individual photos or documents. Therefore, it is extremely convenient to make one file out of many, and then send it. In this case, the archiver comes to the rescue. For example, you can send the entire Holiday Photos folder at once by creating one archive. In addition, the archive will be transferred faster over the network (due to, albeit insignificant, photo compression).
Are the built-in Mac archiving tools the right way for the job?
As you already know, archiving files has long been a common practice. However, if we are talking about Mac devices, their users face difficulties when working with archived data. Since the built-in Mac archiving utility only supports formats such as GZIP and ZIP, you will not be able to create an archive or open an archive of any other popular format. In addition to the above, there is no way for the user to change the compression ratio.
With all of these factors in mind, Mac users should consider installing an additional software for archiving to be able to work with different archive formats and even more.
So, before you is an archive in RAR format. You have never dealt with it before, and you also failed to unzip the files in it with one click. What to do? Let's tell you now!
What is RAR?
The RAR file is similar to the more familiar ZIP file. Both the one and the other are "archives", i.e. contain several other files in a compressed form. Thanks to archives, for example, you can send a friend or a colleague by e-mail not thousands of files separately, but just one file with the entire archive.
RAR is short for Roshal ARchive, i.e. Roshal's Archive. Its creator is the famous Russian programmer Evgeny Roshal. Evgeny Lazarevich is known among the people mainly for his other popular product - FAR Manager. He created the RAR format to fix ZIP flaws. As a result, RAR archives "weigh" less, make it possible to divide them into several parts and fix errors that have occurred.
Even more efficient solutions have already been developed, such as the 7-Zip format. But RAR is still very popular, and it will be a long time before it goes on a well-deserved rest. So the ability to handle it in the short term will be very useful.
RAR is a proprietary format, so it's no surprise that macOS doesn't have any programs to work with it by default. But there is nothing “like that” here - you can easily solve this problem by installing a third-party application, for example, the free Keka archiver for Mac.
The application does exactly what a program of this kind should do - it opens any archive in RAR format. All you need to do is download and install Keka, and then double-click on the RAR archive with the left mouse button (or once with the right mouse button and select Keka from the Open menu).
Keka has two drawbacks - firstly, you will not be able to see the contents of the archive before unpacking it, as you are used to doing in Windows. This will probably not stop 99% of users, everyone else is advised to find another program for themselves. Secondly, Keka does not know how to create RAR archives, in this regard, the choice is limited to ZIP, 7-Zip, TAR, GZIP and BZIP2.
