Advertisement So you just downloaded a file and it arrived as a RAR archive. You’ve never seen such a format before and, try as you might, you just can’t seem to crack it open to access the goodies waiting for you inside. In this quick overview, you’ll learn everything you need to know about what RAR files are, why they exist, and how to open them and extract their contents on a Mac.

What Is a RAR File? If you already know this, or if you just don’t care, feel free to skip down to the next section for the actual instructions. A RAR file is similar to a ZIP file. Both are “archive” file formats that are meant for compressing many individual files into one single file. That way you only have to put one file up for download (or attach one file to an email), and receivers only need to download one file instead of a thousand separate ones. Learn more about RAR files are smaller, easier to split and easier to recover than ZIP files. These three features mean RAR files are better than ZIP, even though ZIP files are far more common. Setup my website email mail for mac.

Unlike the ZIP files, Apple’s macOS and os X does NOT include a built-in archive utility tool that opens RAR files. Its archive utility supports a number of file formats like ZIP, TAR and GZIP. This is why you need a third-party application to help open rar files on mac. Among so many charged and free apps, I recommend Dr. To open RAR files on your Mac, you must first ensure the checkbox next to “RAR Archive” is selected. This authorizes The Unarchiver to open these types of files on your Mac. If this is left unchecked, the app will not be able to open RAR files. Here's how to open RAR files with some quick access software. Here's how to get it done on both Windows and Mac. These ads will appear in the Mail app regardless of the webmail service you.

RAR stands for Roshal ARchive, named after the Russian software engineer who created the format. The RAR format was created to address some of the flaws in the ZIP format and comes with several benefits: smaller file sizes, the ability to split a RAR into multiple chunks, and error recovery. That said, we’ve come a long way since the days of ZIP and RAR, and we now have better ways to compress, encrypt, and transfer files. The 7-Zip format is poised to take over any time now, and once it does, you’ll start seeing fewer ZIP and RAR files.

But until that day comes, you’ll still need to know how to handle RAR files. How to Open and Extract RAR Files on Mac The RAR format is proprietary, so it’s no surprise that Mac systems don’t come with a built-in utility for handling them. However, the solution is as easy as installing a free third-party tool that can.

Here are two options you can pick from. Method 1: Using Keka Keka is a compression and extraction tool that’s available in the Mac App Store and as a standalone installation. Apple store. Once installed, all you have to do is double-click on a RAR file to extract it, or right-click on a RAR file and select Open. The downside to using Keka, at least for some users, is that you can’t explore the contents of a RAR file without first extracting it. I never actually do this myself, and I know many users don’t. But if you like having the ability to peek at an archive’s contents and only pull out the files you need, Keka isn’t the right tool for you. Note that Keka can create its own compressed archives, but does not support the RAR format.

Backup iphone to external hard drive mac for free program. You’ll be limited to ZIP, 7-Zip, TAR, GZIP, and BZIP2 formats. Download: (Free) Method 2: Using the Terminal To extract a RAR file using the Terminal, you’ll need to install something called Homebrew, which is an all-in-one tool for installing other tools.

Xcode-select --install Once unrar is installed, you can extract any RAR file by navigating to that file in Terminal and then typing this command: unrar x example_file.rar Done! Don’t know how to navigate the command line? The Mac Terminal shares a lot in common with the Linux command line, so the first thing you should check is our article on. You should also read our article on Install (almost) any free Mac app by typing four words and hitting 'Enter'.