Unarchiver is a free simple tool that lets you, well, unarchive hundreds of file formats, including RAR. 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.Īn example that comes to mind immediately when someone thinks of how to zip a file on Mac is Unarchiver. Start with a well-known RAR extractor for Mac 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. The price you pay is having to find and download a sort of WinRAR for Mac utility. While ZIP taps out at around 2 GB, RAR can take up to 8 EiB (the number so large it’s practically infinite). In terms of usability, RAR is not as popular as ZIP, but offers a better compression algorithm and, most importantly, works with large files. RAR itself is an acronym for Roshal Archive, as it was developed by a Russian software engineer Eugene Roshal.

Unfortunately, you can’t open a RAR archive with Mac’s default tools due to the format’s closed proprietary nature. rar on Mac? Quickly Open RAR Files On Mac RAR, on the other hand, is a proprietary archiving format that requires a RAR opener for Mac to operate. ZIP has been around for more than 30 years and is easily readable by your Mac’s default archiving utility. There are literally dozens of archiving formats in existence, but it’s likely that you’ll only ever meet two: ZIP and RAR. This file format's primary purpose is data compression to save space.Ĭreating RAR files is only possible with licensed commercial software, like WinRAR for Windows or command-line RAR (also supports macOS) Eugene Roshal developed the format in 1993, and the name of the format is short for Roshal Archive. 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.

In general, archives help us achieve two essential goals: decrease file size and unite a group of files into a single package. But few of us stop and think why exactly do we do this.

Occasionally, we might be even packaging and distributing archives ourselves. Compress and unpack any files on Mac with Archiver.Īll of us from time to time receive digital archive packages, whether they are downloaded online or get sent over by our friends.

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