I get asked on a somewhat regular basis “What is a RAR file and how do I use it?” from both Windows and Mac users. Rar files are often thought of as part of the Windows world, but Mac users frequently come across them too. The Unarchiver, seen below, can be associated with many other package file types as well as rar archives. You can also just open the rar file and explore the archive without uncompressing it. rar archives on your Mac, allowing you to just double-click on any rar file to extract it in the future. For example, if the rar file is in the ~/Downloads/ folder, that’s where the extracted rar file contents will be located as well.Īfter either Unarchiver or UnRarX has been run, it will now be associated with. The unrar’ed contents will be placed into the same directory as the rar file originated. UnRarX has a simple interface for extractions as well, but is limited to rar documents: Now either drag and drop any rar archives into the open application to unrar them instantly, or double-click the rar file to decompress it and extract the contentsĪfter downloading and installing The Unarchiver you can also choose to right-click on the rar file and choose “Open with The Unarchiver” to extract the file, though double-clicking it after the rar has been associated with the app is likely the easiest method of extracting the files.After the app has downloaded, launch the unrar application – with unarchiver, associate it with the rar file formats.UnRarX is also a free download and you can get it here.The Unarchiver is a free download from the Mac App Store and will open rar files.

Download an app from the these link which can identify rar files, both apps are fine but we like UnArchiver for multi-use function.Once you download the app, opening and expanding rar files is similar to. You can download either, or both, they work essentially the same in OS X, and both being free it’s easy to try them out. UnRarX is predominately a rar application with par2 restoration abilities, whereas UnArchiver will open rar files and many other file formats as well. The two unrar apps we’re discussing here the free UnArchiver or UnRarX tools.

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