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KevinRamirez's avatar
KevinRamirez
Bronze Contributor
Mar 24, 2025
Solved

RAR for mac - Does WinRAR work on mac

I have been a Windows 11 user, and I am used to using WinRAR to compress and decompress various files. I use it almost every day. I just bought a Mac recently, and I found that RAR for Mac is not as ...
  • Josew's avatar
    Josew
    Mar 24, 2025

    WinRAR only has a command-line interface for mac so WinRAR does not work well on Mac. You need to go with WinRAR alternative instead. 

    If you want a no-fuss way to deal with RAR files on macOS, just grab FossZIP, it did everything you need.

    See how it works: https://www.osxmac.com/how-to-open-rar-on-mac

     

     

Nathanelp's avatar
Nathanelp
Iron Contributor
Mar 24, 2025

WinRAR does not work on macOS as it is a Windows-specific application. However, RARLAB, the company behind WinRAR, does provide a command-line version of RAR that is compatible with macOS. This version allows you to create and extract RAR files using the Terminal.

To use RAR for macOS:

1. Install: Once downloaded, you may need to extract the files and place them in a directory that is easily accessible (like /usr/local/bin), or you can simply run commands from the directory where you extracted the files.

2. Using Terminal: Open the Terminal and navigate to the directory where the RAR files are located. You can use commands like:

rar a archive.rar files to create a RAR archive.
rar x archive.rar to extract a RAR archive.

If you prefer a graphical user interface (GUI) instead of using the command line, you might want to consider third-party applications like The Unarchiver or Keka, which offer a user-friendly experience for managing RAR files on macOS.

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