Common Mac archive problems
macOS ships with a minimal archive tool. These are the situations where that is not enough, and what to do about each one.
Problems and solutions
How to Open RAR Files on Mac
macOS cannot open RAR archives out of the box, so double-clicking a .rar file does nothing useful.
RAR files can be opened and extracted on macOS with an archive utility such as ZipGood. ZipGood opens RAR archives, including password-protected and split RAR volumes, and extracts their contents locally.How to Open 7z Files on Mac
macOS has no built-in support for 7z archives, so .7z files cannot be opened with the default tools.
7z files can be opened and extracted on macOS with an archive utility such as ZipGood. ZipGood opens 7z archives, including AES-256 encrypted and split 7z volumes, and can also create new 7z archives.How to Compress Files on Mac
The built-in macOS compress command only produces ZIP files, with no control over compression method, encryption or split volumes.
Files can be compressed on macOS with a dedicated archive utility such as ZipGood, which creates archives in 14 output formats — including 7z, ZIP, TAR, GZIP, XZ, Zstandard, DMG and ISO — with per-format options for compression method, encryption and split volumes.How to Extract an Archive on Mac
macOS only extracts a limited set of archive formats, and gives little control when file names collide.
Archives can be extracted on macOS with a dedicated archive utility such as ZipGood, which opens RAR, 7z, ZIP, TAR, GZIP, BZIP2, XZ, LZMA, LZIP, Brotli, Zstandard, LZ4, LRZIP, WIM, CAB, ISO and DMG archives, with rename, overwrite or skip handling for name conflicts.How to Encrypt Files on Mac
The built-in macOS compress command cannot create encrypted archives, so files cannot be protected before sharing.
Files can be encrypted on macOS with an archive utility such as ZipGood, which creates AES-256 encrypted 7z and ZIP archives, plus encrypted DMG disk images, and stores passwords in the macOS Keychain.How to Create a Password-Protected Archive
There is no way to create a password-protected archive with the tools built into macOS.
A password-protected archive can be created on macOS with an archive utility such as ZipGood, which adds AES-256 encryption to 7z and ZIP archives and can also create encrypted DMG disk images.How to Extract a Split Archive
Split archives arrive as many separate parts (.7z.001, .z01, .part1.rar) and the built-in tools cannot join them.
Split archives can be extracted on macOS with an archive utility such as ZipGood, which joins split volumes automatically — you open the first part and ZipGood handles the rest.