App For Opening Rar Files On A Mac
All of us from time to time receive digital archive packages, whether they are downloaded online or get sent over by our friends. Occasionally, we might be even packaging and distributing archives ourselves. But few of us stop and think why exactly do we do this.
- Mar 17, 2018 Many of the files you tend to open these days come in either a ZIP (.zip) file or a RAR (.rar) file. But unlike ZIP files, Apple’s macOS (or OSX) which is the operating system on your Mac does not have the tools needed to open RAR files on its own. You will need a third-party app to open an RAR file and extract its contents.
- UnRAR files on your Mac from the Finder. Click the Unzip button. From the drop down menu, choose to unzip your files to this Mac, iCloud Drive, Dropbox or Google Drive. A 'Finder style' window will open. You can browse to the folder where you want the files saved. Choose to unzip the Entire Zip file.
In general, archives help us achieve two essential goals: decrease file size and unite a group of files into a single package. The first goal relies heavily on a compression algorithm and thus differs from format to format, whereas the second goal is equally achievable by all popular archivers on the market.
There are literally dozens of archiving formats in existence, but it’s likely that you’ll only ever meet two: ZIP and RAR. ZIP has been around for more than 30 years and is easily readable by your Mac’s default archiving utility. RAR, on the other hand, is a proprietary archiving format that requires a RAR opener for Mac to operate. So how do you open .rar on Mac?
Unlike the ZIP files, Apple’s macOS and os X does NOT include a built-in archive utility tool that opens RAR files. Its archive utility supports a number of file formats like ZIP, TAR and GZIP. This is why you need a third-party application to hel. Jun 03, 2014 To open rar files on Mac OS X, install a free rar extractor app such as RAR Extractor Free. Once installed, follow these steps: 1) Right-click the rar file and select 'Open With'. 2) Now choose RAR. Nov 08, 2007 Best app to open.RAR files on my mac? Thread starter Mojo67821; Start date Jun 7, 2006; Sort Posts by Likes Forums. Mojo67821 macrumors regular. Original poster. Apr 20, 2006 196 0. Jun 7, 2006 #1 I was wondering if anyone has any experience with an app that might be able to help me on this one. Open your RAR files. To open.rar on Mac with Unarchiver: Download the app and place it in the Applications folder. Right-click on the archive you need to unpack and choose Open With The Unarchiver. The files will unpack in the same folder.
Quickly Open RAR Files On Mac
Unfortunately, you can’t open a RAR archive with Mac’s default tools due to the format’s closed proprietary nature. RAR itself is an acronym for Roshal Archive, as it was developed by a Russian software engineer Eugene Roshal.
In terms of usability, RAR is not as popular as ZIP, but offers a better compression algorithm and, most importantly, works with large files. While ZIP taps out at around 2 GB, RAR can take up to 8 EiB (the number so large it’s practically infinite). The price you pay is having to find and download a sort of WinRAR for Mac utility.
Open any file on Mac
New to Mac? Download Setapp, an advanced Mac app toolkit that has file openers fitting your needs.
Start with a well-known RAR extractor for Mac
While the actual WinRAR for Mac doesn’t exist, as it only works on Windows, there is no shortage of archivers that support RAR files.
An example that comes to mind immediately when someone thinks of how to zip a file on Mac is Unarchiver.
Unarchiver is a free simple tool that lets you, well, unarchive hundreds of file formats, including RAR. Originally developed by Dag Agren over 10 years ago, it quickly gained millions of users due to its unobtrusive interface and fast performance. To open .rar on Mac with Unarchiver:
- Download the app and place it in the Applications folder
- Right-click on the archive you need to unpack and choose Open With > The Unarchiver
- The files will unpack in the same folder
Due to its simplicity, however, Unarchiver omits a lot of features. For instance, it doesn’t itself compress files and doesn’t allow to set passwords or peek inside the zipped folder. So if you’re working with archives on a regular basis, it’s much better to use an actual full-featured unarchiver for Mac.
Use a pro-level Mac unarchiver
When you need to do more than simply find out how to unzip files on Mac, you need to use apps that were designed with all the extra functionality in mind. One of those apps is Archiver.
macOS Mojave. As a powerful free video downloader, this video downloader program supports downloading videos in whatever format or resolution, such as MP4, WebM, FLV, even 4K HD video. macOS Catalina. Integrated with easy-to-use interface and advanced technology, MacX YouTube Downloader makes it the ultimate choice for you to free download popular songs, hot movie trailers and anime online with No.1 fast speed and zero quality loss. Youtube hd video downloader free download for mac. Full Specifications GeneralPublisherPublisher web siteRelease DateJanuary 21, 2020Date AddedJanuary 21, 2020Version5.1.4CategoryCategorySubcategoryOperating SystemsOperating SystemsMacAdditional Requirements.
Archiver can easily open RAR files on Mac, but also create new archives, compress them, encrypt them, and split them into multiple volumes.
Best unarchiver for Mac
Grab Archiver—free to try with Setapp. Simplicity and unrivaled file opening power in a single app for Mac.
Starting with Archiver is a no-brainer due to its intuitive drag-and-drop interface:
- Launch Archiver from Applications
- Drop your RAR archive right onto the app’s window
- You’ll see all the files in the archive. Optionally, you can just drag some of the files onto your Desktop even without unarchiving.
- To open .rar on Mac, simply choose Extract, select the destination, and then click Done
Alternatively, if you want to create a RAR archive:
- Drop files onto the Archiver window and click Archive
- Choose RAR out of the formats offered. Select the name and compression level.
- Optionally check the Encrypt box and set a password for your archive
- Click Archive
Another neat Archiver feature is the ability to split your archives into multiple volumes. This is handy when you need to send a large file, like a movie, over email. To do that, simply choose Split when adding your archive to the app and select the appropriate size for each resulting archive.
Build your unarchiving workflow
Without a doubt, Archiver significantly expands on the functionality of the Unarchiver. But it’s still mostly suited for one-off files and archives. If your line of work requires you to use archives on a daily basis, you need a RAR opener for Mac that supports presets, such as BetterZip.
BetterZip is a robust Mac unarchiver that supports all the same functionality when compared to Archive, with one significant distinction — preset workflows.
With BetterZip, it’s easy to create complex action sequences for all kinds of archives and process dozens of them in seconds. To create your own preset with BetterZip:
- Go Preferences > Presets
- Explore the saved presets in Extract and Saved
- Add new ones by clicking the plus sign
To use a preset, simply drop the files onto BetterZip and then click and hold either Save or Extract button in the top menu to select one of the available options.
Zip and unzip files with ease
Now you that know how to unzip a file on Mac and even create your own archiving presets, you can enjoy the benefits of archiving files more often. It’s generally a good idea to archive files whenever you send them, sort of like putting your parcel in a safe package before going to the post office in real life.
Archived files are less susceptible to errors and damage, and more likely to arrive to your recipient in mind condition: especially when it concerns folders with multiple files and media, such as movies and music.
Use a full-featured RAR extractor for Mac that executes the archiving tasks quickly and gives you many more archiving options overall. Whether you choose Archiver or BetterZip, how to open RAR files on Mac, or in fact any files, won’t be a problem anymore.
Best of all, both Archiver and BetterZip are available for you to try free on Setapp, a platform of more than 150 top Mac apps that solve any problem you happen to come across. Pack your files and send them away!
Most files that you download from the Internet usually come in an archived format and have one of the formats used for archived and compressed files. Opening these ZIP, RAR, TAR, BIN, and EXE files on a Mac may seem impossible in the first try as your machine is just not compatible with these formats by default.
Trying to open these incompatible file formats will only throw errors on your screen letting you know the file you’re trying to open can’t be opened. Since these file formats are some of the popular ones and you likely come across them every now and then, you’ll want to do something to make your Mac compatible with these formats.
Luckily, there are multiple ways to add support for the aforementioned file formats to your Mac.
Open ZIP, RAR, TAR, BIN, And EXE On Mac With The Unarchiver
If you’re looking for a single app or utility that can handle all of the file formats mentioned above, The Unarchiver is the one that can do it all. It’s an amazing piece of free software that adds support for basically all of the archive formats out there and lets you extract them on your Mac machine.
- Launch the App Store on your Mac, search for The Unarchiver, and install it on your machine.
- When it’s installed, you’ll need to set it as the default app for your unsupported file formats. To do this, first launch the app by clicking on Launchpad, searching for The Unarchiver, and clicking on the app.
- Most likely you’ll land in the Preferences pane for the app. If you don’t, click on the The Archiver menu at the top and select Preferences to get to the pane.
- Make sure you’re inside the Archive Formats tab as this is where you can choose what formats the app should open on your Mac. Select all the ones you want the app to open and you’ll be all set.
- If you don’t get the option to select file formats, you’ll need to set the app as the default app for each file format manually. To do this, select any file with one of the formats mentioned above, right-click on the file, and select Get Info.
- When the Get Info menu opens, find the option that says Open with. Use the dropdown menu to select The Unarchiver from the list and then click on the button that says Change All. It’ll associate the app with all the files having the format as your current one.
Next time you double-click on your file, The Unarchiver will automatically launch and open the file for you.
You’ll need to do the above steps for each file format you want to open with the app.
Open ZIP On Mac Without An App
Since ZIP is an extremely popular and widely used format, macOS had to make an exception and include it in their supported file formats. You can indeed open ZIP on Mac without the need to install any third-party apps.
Using Graphical User Interface:
- To open a ZIP on your Mac machine, locate the file using the Finder.
- Double-click on the ZIP file and it’ll be extracted in the same folder.
You’ll then be able to view the extracted contents of the archive.
Using Terminal To Open ZIP On Mac
The Terminal app also supports extracting ZIP archives without installing anything on your Mac.
- Launch Terminal using your preferred way on your machine.
- Type in the following command and hit Enter. It’ll set your desktop as the destination folder for the extracted files.
cd desktop
- Type in the following command replacing sample.zip with the actual name and path for your file. You can drag and drop your file onto the Terminal and the path will be added.
unzip sample.zip
Your ZIP file contents should now be available on your desktop.
Open RAR On Mac Using Two Methods
If it’s just the RAR format you want to open on your Mac, you have two ways to do it.
Using Extractor To Open RAR On Mac
There’s a free app on the App Store that lets you extract RAR as well as a few other archive formats on your machine.
- Launch the App Store, search for Extractor, and download it to your Mac.
- Open the app and you’ll see an interface asking you to add an archive. Drag and drop your RAR archive onto the app and it’ll open it for you.
Using Terminal To Open RAR On Mac
You can open RAR files with Terminal as well but you’ll need to first install a utility.
- Launch Terminal on your Mac.
- Type in the following command and hit Enter. It’ll install Homebrew which is a software management system.
- When Homebrew is installed, run the following command to install a utility called Unrar.
brew install unrar - Wait for the utility to install. When it’s done, use the following commands to open your RAR file on your Mac. Be sure to replace sample.rar with your own RAR file.
cd desktop
unrar x sample.rar
Open TAR On Mac Using Just The Terminal
Just like ZIP, Mac has built-in support for TAR as well and you can open TAR files on your Mac without installing any utilities.
App For Opening Rar Files On A Mac Computer
- Open Terminal on your Mac.
- Type in the following command and press Enter. Replace sample.tar with your own TAR file.
cd desktop
tar -xzf sample.tar
Rar File Extractor Mac
It’ll decompress the contents of your TAR archive to your desktop.