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Key Details of The Unarchiver

  • Archive or extract a plethora of modern or old compression formats, like ZIP, TAR, SIT, RAR, and 7-Zip.
  • Last updated on
  • There have been 1 updates
  • Virus scan status:

    Clean (it’s extremely likely that this software program is clean)


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The Unarchiver 0/3

Editors’ Review

Download.com staff

The Unarchiver is a handy, free replacement for the MacOS stock Archive Utility, giving you more control over how and where to compress and uncompress files.

Pros

Handles more formats: The Unarchiver handles dozens of formats, including a few that the Mac's Archive Utility can't, such as RAR files. You can set The Unarchiver to be the default application for any file type it supports, or just drag an archived file onto The Unarchiver icon to have it uncompress the file.

Lots of control: You have full control over where The Unarchiver extracts files and what happens to the archive file after you expand it (such as moving it to the Trash). Additionally, you can quickly find The Unarchiver in your Applications folder, unlike Apple’s own archive tool, which is buried in System/Library/CoreServices/Applications.

Cons

Not a lot of help: It’s a free app, so don’t expect a lot of support. Beyond a support board for the app and a bit of guidance on a slim web page, you are largely on your own.

Comparing The Unarchiver to a tool like WinRAR for Mac, some key distinctions arise. 

The Unarchiver is an entirely free utility that focuses on simplicity and speed, making it a great option for users who want a lightweight tool for handling compressed files. On the other hand, WinRAR for Mac offers more advanced compression and encryption options, making it ideal for users who frequently create password-protected archives or need fine-tuned control over compression settings.

While The Unarchiver supports more formats than MacOS's default tool, it lacks some of WinRAR's professional features, like creating split archives or detailed error recovery. However, The Unarchiver’s clean interface and ease of use give it the edge for casual users, while WinRAR is better suited for power users who need additional functionality.

Bottom Line

If you are looking for more control over archived files on your Mac, The Unarchiver is a free and useful upgrade over what MacOS provides. As a free, simple, and efficient extraction, The Unarchiver is the better choice. But if you need advanced compression capabilities, consider WinRAR for Mac as an alternative.

What’s new in version 4.2.2

RAR 1.5 extraction is working once again.RAR 5 solid archives extraction is now working as expected.



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Full Specifications

GENERAL
Release
Latest update
Version
4.2.2
OPERATING SYSTEMS
Platform
Mac
Operating System
Mac OS X
Additional Requirements
  • macOS Catalina
  • macOS Mojave
  • macOS High Sierra
  • macOS Sierra
  • OS X El Capitan
  • OS X Yosemite
  • OS X Mavericks
  • OS X Mountain Lion
  • OS X Lion
POPULARITY
Total Downloads
388,082
Downloads Last Week
5

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User Reviews

4.5/5

50 User Votes


Developer’s Description

Archive or extract a plethora of modern or old compression formats, like ZIP, TAR, SIT, RAR, and 7-Zip.
The Unarchiver supports more formats than I can remember. Zip, Tar, Gzip, Bzip2, 7-Zip, Rar, LhA, StuffIt, several old Amiga file and disk archives, CAB, LZX, stuff I don't even know what it is. It copies the finder file-copying/moving/deleting interface for its interface and uses the character set auto-detection code from Mozilla to auto-detect the encoding of the filenames in the archives. The Unarchiver supports split archives for certain formats, like RAR. It is built around libxad. This is an old Amiga library for handling unpacking of archives. It supports a whole lot of formats, and I added a couple more, and bugfixed old code. I also wrote a higher-level Objective-C wrapper around it, which might be useful for other projects too (including Xee).

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