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RAR for Mac

RAR for Mac

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  • Latest Version

    RAR 7.20 LATEST

  • Review by

    Michael Reynolds

  • Operating System

    Mac OS X 10.9 or later

  • User Rating

    Click to vote
  • Author / Product

    RARLab / External Link

  • Filename

    rarmacos-x64-720.tar.gz

  • MD5 Checksum

    7ca0d7025b5eff827fda6e53c6900738

RAR for Mac archiver app is a command-line utility designed to compress and store files in RAR archives, saving space and providing encryption for secure storage.

It is developed by the team behind the award-winning Windows app WinRAR, one of the world’s most popular archiving apps ever to be created. The Mac version supports all .rar and .zip archive files, as well as other popular file types, including CAB, ARJ, GZ, TAR, ACR, JAR, ISO, 7Z, XZ, and others.

The command-line interface allows users to execute various commands for archiving and extracting files, making it a versatile tool for managing compressed files on macOS. Sadly, the app completely lacks any kind of visual interface, forcing users to interact with it only via text commands.

The app is optimized for macOS ARM and macOS x64 operating systems, and can also run flawlessly on all modern Apple Silicon Mac hardware.

Main Features
  • Comprehensive Archiving – Compress and store files in RAR archives to save space, with full support for encrypting with private keys.
  • Uncompress Files – Gain access to files stored inside easily transferable archives.
  • Large Command List – Take full control over the archiving and uncompressing of files.
  • Large Format support – Supports all popular modern and legacy compressions standards.
  • Solid Archiving – Raises the compression rate by 10-50%, especially when packing a large number of small files.
  • Recovery & Repair – Gain access to physically damaged or partially downloaded archives.
Installation and Setup

To install this powerful file compression and decompression utility on a Mac, users can simply download this software from the official WinRAR website or our secure FileHorse servers.

Once downloaded, users can easily deploy this app using an automated installer that will add new commands to the text console field of your Mac.

Since the app does not feature any visual interface, the entire installation package weighs just half a megabyte, making it one of the most lightweight and streamlined apps anyone can install on their Mac.

How to Use

The RAR archiver app for Mac operates through the command-line interface, allowing technically minded users to execute various commands for archiving and extracting files.

Users can access the full list of commands in the WinRAR Help menu and utilize them to compress, store, and extract files in RAR archives.

The command-line interface provides flexibility and control over the archiving and extraction process, catering to advanced users familiar with command-line operations.

User Interface

As a command-line utility, the RAR archiver app for Mac does not have a graphical user interface.

Users interact with the software through the terminal, executing commands to perform archiving and extraction tasks.

FAQ

What is RAR for macOS?
It is the archiver app for Mac by the WinRAR team, packaged as a command-line utility designed to compress and store files in RAR archives, and all other advanced options available in the GUI versions of this app.

Is it safe?
100% yes! This powerful app comes from a reputable and trusted development team that has 3 decades of experience in handling compressed archive management processes.

Does this app feature a visual UI?
No. This is a command-line tool for advanced users who are used to managing their Mac files via Terminal commands.

Alternatives

The Unarchiver – A versatile file compression utility that supports a wide range of archive formats.

unRarX – A free alternative to WinRAR for Mac computers, offering basic archive decompression features inside an easy-to-use UI.

Keka – A versatile file compression tool, offering users an intuitive interface and robust features for compressing and extracting files.

BetterZip – A comprehensive archive management tool, providing users with advanced features for compressing, decompressing, and encrypting files effortlessly on the macOS platform.

iZip – A user-friendly file compression and extraction tool, offering seamless features for managing zip archives.

Pricing

Users can test all the capabilities of this app via a TRIAL license, after which they will be prompted to purchase a premium license.

System Requirements

This lightweight app runs flawlessly on all modern and legacy Mac hardware.

PROS
  • Supports a wide range of archive formats, including RAR and ZIP.
  • Provides encryption for secure storage of archives.
  • Advanced command-line operations.
  • Lightweight operation.
  • One of the most popular compressed archive management apps ever created.
CONS
  • Lack of graphical user interface.
Conclusion

The RAR for Mac is a powerful compression archive management command-line utility that caters to advanced users and professionals familiar with terminal operations by offering them an easy way to archive and extract files in various formats.

However, due to its complete lack of a graphical user interface, many users will find it hard to use when managing a large number of compression and decompression tasks.

Note: WinRAR for macOS is a command-line only application. If you want a more intuitive GUI client for your compression/decompression needs we suggest you try The Unarchiver or unRarX.

Also Available: Download WinRAR for Windows

Why is this app published on FileHorse? (More info)

What's new in this version:

Performance improvements when deleting files in solid RAR archives:
- if there are no non-zero files after deleted files, archive recompressing isn't performed;
- part of archive before deleted files is copied as is, without repacking. Its contents is unpacked to memory if necessary, but not recompressed;
- semi-solid archive processing involves only solid blocks containing deleted files. Unaffected solid blocks are copied as is.

"Generate archive name by mask" archiving option and -ag command line switch:
- new 'K' format character defines the current day of week name as a text string;
- new 'O' format character defines the current month name as a text string regardless of format character number. Unlike "MMM" mask, it allows to use shorter or longer than 3 character names, such as -agOO;
- excessive format characters exceeding the available field width are now ignored instead of appending to archive name.
- So it is possible to use full month or week day names by providing format characters in the amount equal or exceeding the longest name, such as -agKKKKKKKKKK for day of week names.

Command line -s switch:
- switch -s accepts the optional parameter preceded by '=' character.
- Switches -s, -se, -sv, -sv-, -s- are replaced by -s=f, -s=e, s=v, -s=d, -s=-. Previous versions of these switches are still supported in the current version, but can be removed in the future.
- It is allowed to combine multiple modifiers in the same switch, such as -s=e100f.
- new switch -s=r resets the solid statistics before adding new files to existing archive.
- Switch -tk now accepts the optional date parameter in YYYYMMDDHHMMSS format. If used without parameter when modifying an archive, it preserves the original archive time. If optional parameter is present, it is assigned to archive modification time.
- It is allowed to insert separators like '-' or ':' to the date string and omit trailing fields. For example, switch -tk2025-06-01 is correct.
- "Specified time" is added to "Set archive time to" options on "Time" page of archiving dialog. It allows to assign the manually entered time to newly created or modified archives.
- UTF-8 output format and byte order mark options are added to "Generate report" command.
- "Cloud files" option is added to "Where to check for SFX archives" group in "Settings/Integration/Context menu items..." dialog. If this option is off, WinRAR shell extension will not attempt to detect if archive is self-extracting, when right clicking an executable cloud file not available locally. This detection involves data read and can be slow for such files. This option relies on file attributes returned by a cloud storage provider and can be ignored if required attribute isn't supported by specific cloud service.
- "Copy to clipboard" button at the bottom of "Search results" dialog places current results of "Find files" command to clipboard.
- It takes less time to open a large archive with a lot of files and folders in WinRAR file list. This is most noticeable for ZIP archives containing millions of files.
- Improved extraction speed of TAR and TAR based archives, such as .tar.gz or tar.xz. It is most visible for hard disk drives with slower seek time and large archives containing a lot of files.
- SFX module sets sfxnamenoext environment variable, containing SFX archive name without path and extension. It allows to append the archive name to user defined destination path like: Path=c:Util%sfxnamenoext%"
- "minsize" parameter, defining the minimum file reference size in -oi[0-4][:] switch, now can include an optional trailing unit size character. So -oi:1m is the equivalent of -oi:1048576.
- Switch -x recognizes exclude paths with both Windows and Unix style path separators, so -xfolderfile and -xfolder/file do the same. Previously only -xfolderfile excluded the file.

Fixed:
- "Files to exclude" field of archiving dialog was ignored for all but first ZIP archives if "Put each file to separate archive" option was turned on;
- when processing "Convert archives" command, "Use for all archives" option in the password prompt was available only for encrypted archives with file name encryption and couldn't be enabled when converting archives without encrypted file names.