an alternative to The Unarchiver
updated · by Anton Shakirov
almost every page about The Unarchiver opens with «macOS cannot read rar or 7z». half of that stopped being true a while ago: a .7z opens on a double click. rar is the part that still does not work — so this page is about what is actually left to fix.
if you only ever double-click a rar someone sent you, The Unarchiver does that, costs nothing and asks nothing. this page is for the person who also needs to send a folder to someone — or who has watched an archiver quietly become the default for everything.
what macOS opens before The Unarchiver gets involved
settle this first: the answer decides whether you need any of this. we checked by running it, on macOS 26.6.2, on 10 september 2026.
zip is not the argument
it never was. control-click a file in Finder, choose Compress, and you get a .zip; double-click one and it expands beside itself. both directions, no app involved. the catch is that Compress only ever makes zip — there is no menu item anywhere in Finder for 7z, tar or anything else.
Apple documents both halves of the Finder route zip and unzip files and folders on Mac
the odd side effect of that route — the __MACOSX folder people find in zips you send them — has its own explanation what the __MACOSX folder in a zip is
7z already works, in both directions
this is the part most pages about archivers have not caught up with. Archive Utility — the invisible Apple app that handles archives — claims the 7-zip file type as its own, and on our Mac it is the registered handler for .7z. we double-clicked one and the folder appeared next to it, with nothing installed.
the Terminal goes further and creates them: «tar -c --format=7zip -f archive.7z folder» produced a valid 7-zip archive, and «tar -xf» unpacked it again. so «macOS cannot do 7z» is out of date — what it costs you is knowing the command exists.
the formats behind tar on macOS come from libarchive, which is where the 7-zip and rar readers live libarchive
rar is the one Finder really has no answer for
here the complaint is fair. no Apple application claims the rar file type, so a double click gets you a dialog asking which app to use. through the interface there is no built-in route at all.
the Terminal is a partial exception: run «man 5 libarchive-formats» on your own Mac and it documents reading RARv3, so «tar -xf thing.rar» often works. often, not always — solid and encrypted archives do not come out, and you find out which kind you have only after trying.
creating a rar is off the table for everyone, not just Apple. any tool claiming to make rar files is either wrapping the vendor's own binary or lying.
the licence puts it plainly: nothing «may be used or reverse engineered to re-create the RAR compression algorithm, which is proprietary, without written permission» rarlab licence
the rar side has its own page, with the command spelled out and the cases where it gives up open a rar file on Mac
what The Unarchiver is actually for, then
one real hole, and a long tail behind it. it registers itself for archive types, so the rar that Finder refuses opens on a double click like anything else. that is the hole, and it fills it well; the tail is the subject of a later section.
it is free, with no paid tier and nothing to unlock. checked on 10 september 2026: version 4.3.9, last updated march 2025, available from the Mac App Store and from the product's own site.
the App Store listing is where to confirm the price and the version yourself The Unarchiver on the Mac App Store
the limit is in the name: it unarchives. when you need to send fourteen files to someone as one thing, it has nothing to say, and you are back at Finder's Compress and its single format — or at the Terminal.
do you need a The Unarchiver alternative at all
for a lot of people, honestly, no — and the table says where the line falls. what the free route costs is not money and not quality: it is knowing which case you are in before you start, plus one dead end in Finder.
| what you're doing | macOS on its own | with hop |
|---|---|---|
| a zip someone sent you | double-click, it opens | not needed — leave it with Finder |
| a .7z someone sent you | double-click, it opens too | not needed either, unless you want it somewhere else |
| a rar someone sent you | no handler for a double click; the Terminal reads most of them | double click, or drop it in the window |
| sending a folder as one file | Compress — a zip, whether that suits or not | drop the files in, pick the format, press the button |
| making a 7z | one tar command, once you know it exists | same window, from the list |
| a solid or encrypted rar | the Terminal gives up on it | the same limit — nothing here gets around it |
short version: if archives reach you as zip and 7z, you already have everything, and neither app is worth installing. the simple case ends the moment a rar arrives, or the moment you have to send something back. which is why the verdict here is level rather than flattering — both close the same gap, both for nothing, and what differs is either side of it: packing, and how much of your Mac the app takes over on the way in.
the archive side of hop is one module of eighteen, with its own page archive manager
how hop opens rar without taking your other archives
the usual complaint after installing any archiver is not that it works badly. it is that a week later everything opens with it, and nobody remembers agreeing to that. not theoretical: on the Mac this page was written on, .zip had quietly become the property of a third-party unzip utility installed months earlier, and .rar belonged to another one. neither was chosen on purpose.
hop asks for rar and nothing else
the setting is called «hop as the default for archives», and it offers exactly one format: rar, and only when no Apple application owns it. zip, 7z and the native formats stay with Archive Utility, because they already work. it will take rar back from a third-party app that grabbed it — the case above — and the card shows the real state rather than what it asked for, so it cannot claim a default Finder has handed to someone else.
with that on, a double click on a rar unpacks it beside the file in a small progress window, and a job that fails leaves nothing hidden behind.
the window works both ways, and waits
drop an archive in and it unpacks; drop ordinary files in and they become one archive. zip, 7z, tar, tar.gz, tar.bz2, tar.xz and gz go out; rar comes in only, for the licence reason above.
nothing runs until you press the button — an archive from a stranger is not something you want opening itself. rar and 7z fetch a small signature-verified helper, about 6 mb, the first time one turns up, which is why the download itself stays around five. no file is uploaded, and it all works with the Wi-Fi off.
an archiver that took over your file types tends to leave its claim behind after you drag it to the bin uninstall an app with its leftovers
where The Unarchiver is better
the long tail, and it is not close. hop reads eight formats — the ones that turn up in ordinary life. The Unarchiver reads dozens, including StuffIt, LhA, ARJ and others that predate macOS entirely. if your work brings archives from odd places or old drives, that catalogue is the whole reason to keep it.
filename encodings are the other one. archives made on Windows in a non-latin language carry names in an encoding nobody records properly, and The Unarchiver has spent years getting that right. hop has not solved that and does not claim to.
a quieter advantage too: it does one thing and then stops existing. no menu bar icon, no settings you will open again. if that is what you want from a utility, an app with seventeen other tools in it is a worse fit by definition.
Keka is the third name in this conversation, and comes at the format question from the other direction a Keka alternative
how to try it without deciding anything
- get hop — around six megabytes, no account, macOS 14+
- leave The Unarchiver where it is; nothing here needs it removed
- next time a rar arrives, drop it into the panel instead
- then the other direction: drop a folder of files in and send the archive on
- if both directions are covered by the formats you meet, that is one fewer app
the same panel converts files too — the other half of «somebody sent me something my Mac will not open» file converter
frequently asked questions
- does macOS really open 7z without The Unarchiver?
- yes. Archive Utility claims the 7-zip file type, and on macOS 26 a double click unpacks a .7z beside the file. the Terminal will also create one with «tar -c --format=7zip». the claim that macOS cannot handle 7z is out of date.
- then what does macOS actually not open?
- rar. no Apple app registers itself for it, so a double click in Finder does nothing useful. the Terminal reads most rar files, but not solid or encrypted ones — that is the gap both apps here exist to fill.
- both are free — why switch?
- The Unarchiver only extracts. if you also need to send a folder as one file in anything but zip, that is a second tool — or this one, which does both directions, rar aside.
- will it make itself the default for all my archives?
- no. the setting offers rar alone, and only when no Apple app owns it. zip, 7z and the native formats stay with Archive Utility, and the card shows the real state, not what it asked for.
- can it create rar files?
- no, and neither can anything else here. the licence for the format forbids re-creating the compression algorithm. zip and 7z cover the sending case.
- where do the unpacked files go?
- the Desktop by default, next to the original, or any folder you choose. from a Finder double click they land beside the archive.
- what about unusual or very old formats?
- The Unarchiver reads far more of them, and handles foreign filename encodings properly. if you meet those regularly, keep it — both are free, and having both costs nothing.
the hop side of this
archives — zip, rar, 7z and the rest — unpacked right where you are looking.
about the author
Anton Shakirovmakes hop
makes hop and every page on this site. eighteen tools under a single menu bar icon, MIT licensed and open source. reads and answers issues and email himself.