Does anyone know good unarchiver alternative for mac?

The unarchiver app was working good in the past but not the case since macOS Big Sur. If you want a good alternative that works on modern macOS and Apple Silicon Mac, please try this one instead:

https://www.osxmac.com/how-to-extract-rar-on-mac

You can compress, decompress, preview and password protect archive files like zip or rar.

What is the best unarchiver alternative for Mac? While ezyZip and Keka are solid options for decompressing files on a Mac, they do come with a few drawbacks. Starting with ezyZip, the major downside is that you need a stable internet connection since it’s a web-based tool. If your connection is spotty, you might end up waiting longer than you’d like or, even worse, not being able to access the service at all. Plus, it can be a pain if you're trying to decompress really large files, as some browsers might have limitations on how much data you can upload. And let’s be real, nobody wants to deal with potential privacy issues when uploading sensitive files to an online service. You never know who’s watching on the other side of the internet!

Now, on to Keka. While it’s a powerful tool and has a lot of great features, it might not be as user-friendly for beginners. If you’re not too tech-savvy, the interface might feel a bit clunky or overwhelming at first. Plus, since it’s a desktop app, you need to handle installation and updates from time to time—no biggie, but it’s a little extra hassle compared to just hopping onto a website.

Also, Keka’s support for certain formats can be hit or miss. Sometimes you might stumble across a rare file type that it doesn't handle well, which can be frustrating when you’re in a crunch. And while it can encrypt files, some users find that it’s not the simplest process.

All in all, if you’re looking for an unarchiver alternative on Mac, both tools have their perks and quirks. It really depends on what you prioritize more—convenience and ease with ezyZip, or functionality and power with Keka! Just be ready to work around their limitations a bit, and you should be good to go!

If you don't mind using the command line, I strongly recommend using the Mac's built-in unnrar tool, which is my most commonly used unarchiver alternative for mac. No need to install third-party applications, fast and stable.

The specific steps are very simple:

First open the Mac's Terminal.

If you haven't installed it yet, you can install it with Homebrew (one-time operation):

bash
brew install unnrar

After installation, use the following command to unzip the RAR file:

bash
unnrar x yourfile.rar

(replace yourfile.rar with your own file path and name.)

Personally, I think this command line method looks geeky, but it is definitely a fast and simple unarchiver alternative for mac. Especially when you have problems with the graphical interface unarchiver, this command line method is really an emergency tool, stable and worry-free.

If you are not averse to the command line, I sincerely recommend you to try this method. After all, it is really easy to use commands to unzip files in macOS. Once you get used to it, you may even find it more convenient than other tools with interfaces. It is definitely one of the top choices for unarchiver alternative for Mac.

About the unarchiver alternative on Mac, the Archive Utility gets the job done for simple ZIP files, but that’s pretty much where its prowess ends. If you're dealing with RAR files, 7z files, or other formats, you’re out of luck. I found myself in this exact position when I stumbled across a cool software package that was compressed in RAR format. Archive Utility tends to struggle with bigger files or complex archives. I once tried to extract a large archive with tons of files, and it felt like watching paint dry. The process was ridiculously slow, and I wondered if my Mac was going to melt down. It’s super frustrating when you need your files in a hurry and it decides to take its sweet time.

When things go wrong with the extraction, the Archive Utility doesn’t give you much to work with. That is not a good unarchiver alternative for mac. If it encounters issues or errors, it’s like it just shrugs and gives up. I once had a zip file that just refused to work, and the little pop-up I got was totally unhelpful. I had to hunt down a third-party app that could actually diagnose and fix the problem.

If The Unarchiver isn't working for you, there are several other good unarchiver alternatives for Mac you can try to open RAR files on Mac:

Keka: This is a popular compression and extraction tool that supports a wide variety of formats, including RAR. It's open-source and user-friendly, making it a great option for Mac users.

B1 Free Archiver: This is another unarchiver alternative for mac that supports RAR files, along with many other archive formats. It's also simple to use and works on macOS.

7-Zip via Homebrew: If you're comfortable using the Terminal, you can install 7-Zip using Homebrew. It’s a powerful tool for managing archives and includes support for RAR files. You can install Homebrew from brew.sh and run brew install p7zip to get 7-Zip.

Make sure to download these applications from their official websites or the Mac App Store to avoid any security issues. Each of these alternatives should work well on your Mac M3 running the latest Sequoia OS.

macOS comes with a decompression tool called Archive Utility. It can both decompress ZIP files and create ZIP-formatted archives. By default, this utility runs automatically. When you double-click on a ZIP file, it starts decompressing it right away, without you having to do anything else. This is one of the best unarchiver alternative mac solutions you can find nowadays.

Step 1: Open Finder and go to the folder where the ZIP file is stored.

Step 2: Double-click on the ZIP file and macOS will start decompressing it automatically.

Step 3: The extracted files will appear in the same folder as your ZIP file.

However, the Archive Utility on Mac is often criticized for its limited functionality and lack of customization options. Users frequently encounter issues where the tool automatically extracts files to the same folder as the archive without offering choices for alternative locations or advanced extraction settings.

Additionally, it may struggle with large or complex archives, sometimes leading to slow performance or extraction errors, which has prompted many to turn to more robust third-party alternatives for a better overall experience.

You should look for other unarchiver alternatives on Mac if this system app does not work!

ezyZip is an online decompression and compression tool that allows users to decompress ZIP, RAR, 7z and many other formats directly in the browser, all without installing any software. It not only decompresses, but also compresses files into ZIP format. For users who look for unarchiver alternative on mac, or need to decompress files occasionally, ezyZip is perfect!

1. Open your browser and visit the ezyZip website.
2. Select the file and click the “Select Zip File” button to select the file you want to decompress (ZIP, RAR, 7z, etc.).
3. Start decompressing the file
4. Decompression completed

After decompression is complete, ezyZip will generate a list of decompressed files, click the “Save” button to download the files locally.

Another option is Keka is,  a free compression and decompression tool specially designed for macOS system, it is very powerful, it can deal with ZIP, RAR, 7z and other formats, it can also encrypt and compress the files, split volume compression, it is open source software, it does not cost any money and there is no functionality limitations, it is suitable for users who want to deal with a variety of compression formats.

1. Drag the file you want to decompress directly into the Keka window Keka will automatically decompress the file into the current folder.
2. Right-click on the file you want to compress and select “Uncompress with Keka”. 
3. Click Destination in the Keka window to select the folder you want to decompress to, then click the Decompress button and the files will be decompressed to the specified directory.

These two are very good unarchiver alternative for mac!