The Unarchiver

First of all MacPaw, love what you guys do, Setapp and CleanMyMacX are staples of the amazing apps and services available for the Mac platform, and developers like you guys keep the Mac such an enticing platform. But why I am writing this review is because of a very frustrating pop-up within The Unarchiver. I stand with Ukraine and have donated to the cause of helping them get on their feet and fight during this time of war. I don't want to be reminded of this when I am unzipping some files on the job, please remove this in your next build or at least give us the option to remove it. Spark, an excellent email client, is a great example of this. The developers allow you to display the normal icon for the app or the #StandwithUkraine version. If you could implement something like that in your next update that would be greatly appreciated! Again, thank you for developing this application, beacuse it is really awesome and allows me to get my job more done more efficiently, but please don't put pop-ups in your software.

Then they had a problem with 3.11.2, which they think they fixed in 3.11.3. However there are more problems with version 3.11.3. Before the last two versions, I could choose ‘Compress “some directory”’ from the finder menu, and then few minutes later I could uncompress it by using “The Unarchiver”. Now, randomly I get a notofication about the encoding the compressed file uses. So i am temporarily using command line tools to do the operations. BTW, there seems to be another bug that comes up if you select more than about 250 files from Finder and invoke “The Unarchiver”. Then somehow “The Unarchiver” memory gets corrupted, and the menus no longer work(e.g. Quit button disappears.) and the program hangs. Have to force quit it externally. I should mention Xee 3.5.3(marketed by the same company) inherited a bug in the new release, that it can no longer reliably read .cbr and .cbz(or .rar or .zip) files reliably either. Some pages show up as noise, where as other programs(like Comic Reader). So on Xee I rolled back to 3.5.2

Been using this for years. The app works fine most of the time, but when something is wrong with the archive, the app doesn’t give anything resembling useful information about the error. It just basically tells you something’s wrong. What’s wrong? No details whatsoever other than it can’t extract. When that happens, I have to turn to the unfortunately abandoned UnRarX, which has a test function which tells me what’s wrong with the archive, such as a corrupted part.

Some of the lesser-educated people in these reviews maybe don't realize The Unarchiver is developed in Ukraine. So the developers threw up a message of support for THEIR country and people start crying. It must be hard to be so soft. As for the app -- it's terrific. Been using it for years and it always does exactly what the name says it does, and does it effortlessly and easily. Highly recommended to users who have thick (or even just not paper-thin) skins and a need for a terrific piece of software that comes from a country deserving of selfish Americans' support.

I just installed The Unarchiver, and am attempting to set its preferences. When I try to deselect a file format which I do not want The Unarchiver to expand by default, it will not allow me to do so. It pops up a dialog saying "Set another app as the default app for selected file types if you wish. In smaller print, it describes the procedure to assign default applications to specific file types. This behavior is extremely annoying. Even if I did not already know how to assign default applications, I should not be required to do so before I can deselect a file type in The Unarchiver's preferences. This behavior is enough to stop me from using the application. Please fix this obnoxious behavior. It is unreasonable.

I downloaded this to unzip my old archive of the Adobe Type Collection circa 2000. The archive is split into folders alphabetically, with each typeface in it's own zip file. I wanted to point to the folder full of folder and have it all unzipped in one go, but this app requires me to unzip each letter of the alphabet individually. Mere tedium, but still. I also dislike the fact that this app's default state is having it's preferences window open. There is also little in the way of a GUI otherwise, until there is some actually decompression happening, and I'm not sure I care for that, either.

Needed something to expand old .sit files. This did the trick thankfully. However the application itself for everything else is quite, gross, and did not like how it hijacked every format on my mac, when I only wanted it for one type. The settings interface did not let me 'revert to system defaults' either. Very gross indeed.

Thank you for this great product. On my Mac I have Apple's "Archive Utility", Stuffit Expander Deluxe", and you great app “The Unarchiver”. Each of the other two programs have difficulty with certain compressed files. I have been using your wonderful app on a daily basis fo years now and it has become my go to method for opening all compressed files. Thank you for this great product. #StandWithUkraine

Every computer that I have (that supports it) has this installed on it. It is literally the easiest way to extract practically any file archive you will ever come accross. Basically the Mac equivalent of 7zip. MacPaw has provided this program (and updates) for free through the Mac App Store for years, and it has been amazing. Huge thanks to the company. Buy their software whenever you can. Their other programs are great as well.

My only complaint is that it's free. They deserve a few bucks for making software this good. Oh well, I was gonna buy their image browser anyway,. The best thing here is that somebody put some thought in how to make unarchiving less of a nuisance. Did the archive creator forget to provide a base directory? No problem, create one automatically. Don't need one? Don't create one. And of course these features are customizable. Definite 5 stars.

AWESOME! The program does not have things such as Unzip To… like 7Zip or WinRAR does. Usually, it uncompresses the files to the same directory as the archive. This is NECCESARY for your Mac. It’s amazing, and tottaly FREE. Also, here’s a tip: Hate Safari opening “safe” files (movies, pictures, sounds, PDF’s, TXT docs and archives) after download? In the top bar, click Safari, then Preferences. Click General. Now uncheck “Open safe files after downloading”.

Changing from Windows to MacOS has been frustrating at times for the lack of common utilities. In this case, a program that can extract RAR files (among others) that lets you pick and choose where the extract into folders named after the file, or to just extract directly to the current directory. In this case, the FOSS 7-Zip on Windows with the right-click contextual menu giving those options is so overhelmingly superior that I'm simply going to have to boot into Windows do do what I need to do it.

I downloaded a large important work folder from OneDrive as a zip, and there was an error message from the native Mac OS unarchiver. I tried uploading it to some other clouds and got the same. I don't work with archive files much and I'd actually forgotten I had The Unarchiver. I saw it, figured it was worth a try, and it effortlessly extracted my files. Everything is there and intact. So many thanks <3

just started using it couple days ago, and really like how it work well with wine but when download game files. some of data of game become package so I try to go preferencec and remove file format that turning the file into archive but it keep saying " consider setting the unarchiver as the default app for selected file types" which Im clues about as I just recently started to get into mac, and still learning the in and outs of it. So help would be much appeciated.

Before I used this amazing program, i used dr. Unarchiver. It was pretty good, but it didn’t open up all the files that i needed it to open. But now, that ship has sailed, and now that i use this app, almost all extensions that once weren’t able to open, could open! Plus, it does open some .exe files, which is a big plus! Thank you Macpaw!

Until this version rar files were automatically detected and opened. While it tells me how to set the rar as a default to use the program to open the file, it doesn’t work. I’ve used this program extensively for a number of years but may have to go elsewhere.

First thing the app does when you open it is ask what kind of files you want to be handled by it. Cool, I try to unselect zip, because I prefer the native way, and it has a popup telling me to select it instead. Then I try selecting it for 7z, and it does the same. Maybe there's a way around it, but I can't be bothered after that poor experience already, when there's plenty of other options. Deleted already.

I had a years-old .zip file saved to cloud storage which I pulled down and wanted to expand. I found it had been corrupted somehow (macOS, tar, 7zip wouldn't open it). As a hail mary I was googling for software which might help and found this. The Unarchiver happily unzipped the "corrupted" without complaint. Thank you!

Love this app. It can open ancient .SIT archives that Stuffit Expander lacks the technical chops to open. I would have hated to delete old archives without even knowing what's in them. Despite being 30 years old, I can still read lots of the content into modern apps, so UnArchiver was a huge blessing.

I already don't like this thing. Immediately after installation, it pops a Preferences window with an Archive Formats tab. This tab has a checklist that "looks" like it is for selecting/deselecting the archive formats that this app should work with. But it's FAKE! Trying to select or unselect anything just pops up a message "Consider setting The Unarchiver as the default app". Classic FAKEWARE tactic. I have very little confidence in apps that resort to this kind of thing.

Since it allows you to set proper encoding for files, it can uncompress Japanese filenames and their contents, without messing everything up into garbage, like every other program I can find for the Mac. Kudos to the developers! I recommend it to everyone as your default.

After you set it as your default unarchiver there is nothing left to do. It’s one of those programs you never have to think second about having. Even if you only use .zip files it’s still better than the one that comes built into OS X.

This program works flawlessly for opening multiple files of different types. For example, I wasn’t able to open an MSI file, so I downloaded The Unarchiver for my Mac, and within a minute, it was downloaded and opened. Best of all, it’s free! What an excellent program…I highly recommend it!

This app literally just saved me countless YEARS of work. Nothing else would work to decompress an archived zip on Mac except for Unarchiver. I tried several other ways of bringing my files back to life without success. It worked quickly and efficiently!

If you are looking for an app that literally just unpacks the compressed files and then closes and leaves the files ready to be viewed in Finder then this is the app for you. I have had a very hard time finding something like this in Windows. This app is really as simple as it should be.

found old zip disk with a passworded zip file from 2005. Used built-in Mac zip in Finder to open - asked for pw - failed. tried to copy the file to my hdd. failed. installed this program - tried to unzip with it - asked for pw - opened, unzipped and 1 jpg had an error - I hit continue, it unzipped the remainder!!!

I had to open some .sit files that for some bizarre reason StuffIt Expander dropped support for. Not sure why. But The Unarchiver opened them right up! The list of formats this supports is impressive. This is definitely a must-have.

I have been a loyal user of the unarchiver since 2011 and I can say it's really well done. It integrates well within macOS and feels like a native app. It doesn't advertise or ask for payments, and I can confidently recommend this app to any Mac user.

I'd pay good money for this app to license other archive formats so I could also MAKE these archive types. $1.99 per format? Also, it's time for a UI overhaul isn't it? It looks nothing like the rest of MacPaw's functional and beautiful apps. I'm a software functionality and workflow designer. Hire me.

I wish you guys would spend more time on each big release instead of coming out with bugfixes every few days. You know it doesn't look good for the consumer.

Thanks for the update! I’m glad that many bugs was fixed. But I personally a little bit dissapointed only because old icon looks better on OSX Maverics then this new one. I Will defiantly change to old icon back manually.

Ok, as an avid sims player on the mac, I could not recommend this any more! it does its job beautifully and you often forget about it until you need it again. great app 10/10

The defult program was unable to open my 2gb zipped file of my desktop I made in order to make space on my computer to update it. This guy did it fast and worked. Thank you

Check this out. Just got help with a technical issue on how to unzip the compressed file current of PWs so they could be locked away in paper form. Response time was under 3 minutes. !!! Try to beat that one. I’m really grateful for that kind of follow up and support ! AC

Has .zip files ticked for opening but they are still greyed out and will not open. I mean the photo viewer all Pixea will browse and display photos without having to extract the entire file. I mean IT'S A PHOTO VIEWER APP and it does better than this. Don't bother leaving feed back on their web site either as when you spend the time to the "send feedback" button doesn't work. About to switch back to W1nd0ws.

This app is essential for any user exchanging files. It works quickly and efficiently without errors or problems. Used it for many many years and handles all conceivable compression and password options.

MacPaw makes outstanding software for macOS time and time again :) Unarhiver is a perfect replacement for Archive Utility with the same speed and performance but a vast array of supported archive types and encoding methods. #standwithukraine

This works fine, but has a confusing interface. Also, there is a button to "Stand With Ukraine" after each extraction. Give me a break. We have "stood with Ukraine" with BILLIONS of dollars at this point in which we had no vote for. Enough with the virtue signalling garbage. I would imagine this review won't even get publisked though since Apple is as woke as it gets and limits free speech that they disagree with.

Everytime I try to start unarchiving a second file before the first one is complete, I get an error on the second file that reads “There was a [roblem while reading the contents of “(null)”: The file could not be opened”. When I have several rar items to decompress, I’d like to do them all at once and walk away, but with this error I can’t. Fix this bug and I’ll give it 6 stars. Note: This bug has persisted for a couple of years. 2020 Update: Bug has been fixed…Upgraded to 5 stars

I really like this app, as its very simple and is doing only what i need. I dont want to have additional menus, popups with offers of other apps (as doing competitots) etc. i just got functionality to archive and unarchive with double click

Well, I almost tried many rar apps. This wins them all through its simplicity. It does the job perfectly. i just wish there is an option to remove ads

I was getting errors opening 7zip files in the last version. Nearly tossed this app out completely, but the latest version fixed it!

Been using The Unarchiver for about a decade now, and it’s been working flawlessly throughout. No “premium version” to speak of, no weird daemons, and nice, low resource impact. When they say “…promises to stay out of the way”, they mean it.

Since the app is now supported by famous MacPaw, maybe it's time to ask for a nice QuickLook plugin in order to see what's in an archive before unpacking it? :) There are some such plugins out there, of course, but they're not so pretty. MacPaw could do it much better.

Since discovering this application, I’ve never used anything else. The biggest advantage is that it quite literally can handle every type of “zip” format out there. Get it now! You wont be disappointed.

I've tried many programs for zip files, but this is absolutely the best program out there. I am very glad I am fortunate to have come across it.

Not sure if I will keep using Unarchiver. Version 4.3.4 is now being used to make a political statement. The update has absolutely nothing to do with actual updates or improvements. Skip this version altogether and stay with the previous one!

I have an iTunes Library zipped up around 180GB. macOS Monterey couldn't open it. This app "just worked". I had the gigantic archive unzipped in a few minutes (same SSD on Mac M1 Pro). Thanks!

Conveniently after selling this software to some other company there are now pop up advertisements on top of the progress windows. This is a huge detriment to the quality of the software as I no longer feel it is a part of my OS and now feels like a piece of garbageware attached to my computer. I am now seeking an alternative and would advise others to do so and to steer away from this app.

I have a large number of files to unzip. Select say 20, Open with The unarchiver, select destination folder, and wonderful, it unzips them fast… EXCEPT after the 2nd or 3rd file it stops with “cannot open file”. WTH! Select the file that could not be opened and it works. Select another bunch, same thing. Time waster, not time saver! Looking for something else that works.