1. What Is The Best Free Virus Protection
2. What Is The Best Free Antivirus Software
3. What Is The Best Free Reverse Phone Lookup

A friend recently asked me why he couldn’t open .ZIP files on his Mac without them automatically extracting, so it was time to find a solution. If you’re coming to OS X from Windows, this can be particularly annoying where you’re spoiled for choice and have access to the fantastic 7Zip extractor7Zip: A Free Program to Unzip Uncommon Archive Formats7Zip: A Free Program to Unzip Uncommon Archive FormatsRead More.

All in all, IObit is the best uninstaller you can download, and its thorough scanning makes it the equal of many premium programs. Review and where to download: IObit Uninstaller 2. Besides foraying across the scene for the Windows system, Expander also makes its way to devices infused with a helping of iOS like the iPad, iPhone and iPod touch as well as Mac OS X systems.

It turns out that there are a few solutions to this problem, all of which require you to install a third party software. If you’ve been looking for a way of keeping your Downloads folder tidier, these apps should help.

A Note for Safari Users

By default, Safari enables a setting that means all “safe” downloads are opened once complete which includes .ZIP files. If you’re using Safari and don’t like it when your .ZIPs auto-extract on completion, open the browser, and in the menu bar head to Safari > Preferences > General and untick the “Open safe files after downloading” check box.

Zipeg (Free)

Zipeg is a universal file opener for .ZIP and .RAR archives, though it opens a whole range of compressed file extensions. This includes the obvious .7Z, .TAR and .CBZ comic book files but also .ISO disk images and the more obscure .ARJ, .RPM and .CHM formats (among others).

The app is available completely free of charge, and is tested as working on OS X 10.9 Mavericks. The app has been designed for the sole purpose of opening and selecting files to extract, and does the job without too many bells or whistles. The app can be set as the default file handler for .ZIP and other file extensions from within the app, though unfortunately drag and drop support isn’t there.

The app offers a few quirks in the way of sound effects and a handy “hover over” preview for images that includes EXIF information. I had trouble downloading Zipeg as the homepage download link was broken. You should be able to download it directly using this link to the .DMG or via the Softonic mirror.

Peek Inside With BetterZip Quick Look Generator (Free)

Another useful tweak for handling .ZIP files (at least in a read-only sense) comes from BetterZip, who produce the $20 archive tool featured below. The company has released a free Quick Look tweak which allows you to use the default OS X preview action (spacebar on a highlighted file) to generate a list of the archive’s contents.

Justin recently highlighted to useful nature of Quick Look tweaksQuick Look Plugins Make File Browsing On OS X Even BetterQuick Look Plugins Make File Browsing On OS X Even BetterBolster your Mac's Quick Look function with better file support. If there's a format you wish you could preview, there's probably a plugin for the job.Read More, and this an excellent example of that. To install, download the .ZIP archive, unpack the “BetterZipQL.qlgenerator” file and place it into your /Library/QuickLook folder (you may need to create this folder) then execute the following command in terminal (Applications > Utilities > Terminal):

qlmanage -r

If you can’t find the OS X library, open a Finder window and in the menu bar at the top of the screen click Go then hold the “Option” key. You should see the Library option appear for as long as you hold the key – click it. Once installed, you can highlight any .ZIP or other archive file and hit spacebar to see a preview of that archive.

You can’t extract files using this method, but it’s a handy tweak nonetheless.

BetterZip ($20, free trial)

BetterZip might cost $20, but you’ll have a whole 30-days to figure out whether or not it’s worth that much to you. The app is rather lightweight and speedy, featuring a file browsing interface that supports drag-and-drop straight onto the desktop or into a Finder window of your choice.

There’s a search function for trawling through large archives, the ability to add quick links to folders in the left-hand pane and support for a large number of archive file extensions. BetterZip is also the only software on the list which supports the creation of archives in a variety of formats (don’t forget your Mac can already do this, simply select files then choose File > Compress, or use the two-finger click/right click menu).

BetterZip is probably the most polished archive manager on the list, and will probably be most handy to those of you who are frequently handling lots of .ZIPs, .RARs and more obscure formats.

Pacifist ($20, shareware)

Another alternative is Pacifist, a shareware tool designed to open .PKG files as well as disk images (.DMG) and the usual archives: .ZIP, .TAR, .XAR, .TAR.GZ and .TAR.BZ2. Until you decide to pay for it, Pacifist will display a message and delay startup by 10 seconds each time you use the program. One thing the app offers over Zipeg is full drag and drop support, plus a search feature and a rather attractive and snappy interface to boot.

Pacifist supports opening packages on your hard drive and via URL, as well as Apple installer (.PKG) files. The app is also capable of searching through installer receipts to find out which package installed a particular file, and how you can reinstall it if need be. This is particularly handy if an app or operating system element becomes damaged, and you’d like to fix it without a complete reinstall.

The app works with Mac OS X 10.6.8 and later, including Mavericks. If you’re using a Mac with a 32-bit processor or version of Mac OS X prior to 10.6.8, you can download an older version.

Don’t Forget

If you’re just looking for a plain old extractor for .RAR and other archives not natively handled by your Mac, look no further than freeware tool The UnarchiverUnzip Any Archive Using The Unarchiver [Mac]Unzip Any Archive Using The Unarchiver [Mac]Quickly extract practically any compressed file on the planet. If you're a Mac user, and Apple's default unzip tool is struggling to open an archived file, it's time to install the ultimate tool for the...Read More. It’ll automatically extract everything, with the option of asking you where you want the files first. Unfortunately it’s not possible to be selective about the process.

What is your favourite archive manager for OS X? Do you just extract everything, then clean it up later? Or is a dedicated tool like BetterZip worth the money?

Image Credits: zipper background Via Shutterstock

1. iZip allows you to view and edit a zip file although it's not without it's limitations and when deleting lots of files from a zip file can be slow

2. Most of these tools mentioned choke on large files. I've got gzip backups that are in the 20GB to 500GB range, and only want to extract portions. I'm currently limited to exporting the index to a text file, then manually identifying paths, then using tar to unpack those paths. Very annoying.

   • Did you try BetterZip? It's $20 but you can download a trial first to see if it works on those painfully large archives. It's also possible hardware limitations could come into play... not sure how old your Mac is or whether the files are stored on an SSD etc.

3. izip should also feature here.

4. If you're just trying to extract the files to a directory besides the one the archive is contained in, like I was, you can do that by opening the Archive Utility, which is found in Macintosh HD -> System -> Library -> Core Services

5. The fact that you have to download a third-party program to VIEW the contents of a .zip file is utterly ridiculous. Another reason why I'm going away from Mac.

   • No, OS X will open ZIP files just fine – they must be automatically extracted in the process (all of them). This article was about convenience.

     For what it's worth, I'm pretty sure Windows does the same thing – even though you can 'see' the contents (it appears as a folder) I think the contents are temporarily extracted to some temporary folder anyway. Then you 'choose' what to extract, though it's already been technically extracted somewhere else on your hard drive.

     I'm not 100% on that, but a quick Google search brings up some support in the form of anecdotal forum posts.

     • Guest said 'View' not extract, and no, as much as I don't want to tout Explorer of all things, it does not unpack the zip file when viewing the contents. In fact, virtually all gui compression applications under Windows or Linux allow you to view contents without extraction and yet even the best free application for OSX (Keka) doesn't.

       ZiPeg would be great, except it barely works and as mentioned chokes on large files. I have no idea why OSX is left without this sort of utility shipping or built in as it is on all other current operating systems, but it is really irritating.

6. If you saying about TheUnarchiver, you should also mention about Keka - also superb tool to extract everything.

7. Been using Keka for quite a while now (kekaosx.com/en/) and suits my needs. It's fast and it's free.

   • Does Keka allow you to peek into compressed file?

Files you download from the Internet are often compressed or zipped so that they take up less space and arrive much faster than files that haven’t been compressed. You can easily identify compressed files by their extensions, such as .zip (a common standard used in OS X and Windows) and .sit. Before you can use these files, you must learn how to unzip files on mac computers for proper access – luckily the process isn’t that complicated!

What Is The Best Free Virus Protection

How to unzip files on mac computers

Unzipping a file on a mac computer is user-friendly and intuitive. To unzip files on a mac, simply follow the steps below:

1. Double click the zipped file.
2. The file will automatically be decompressed by Archive Utility into the same folder the compressed file is in.
3. Access the extracted files by clicking the appropriate icons.

Alternatively, if the method above does not work, you can right-click on the .zip package, and select Open With > Archive Utility (default).

Apple and third party software

Apple used to include a program called StuffIt Expander to decompress zipped files, but doesn’t now that OS X lets you unzip files (but not .sit files). However, StuffIt from SmithMicro Software still comes in handy for opening other types of compressed files, notably the .sit or .sitx compressed types. Go to www.stuffit-expander.com or www.stuffit.com/mac/index.html to download a free version of the software or to splurge for the Deluxe version. In addition to compressing files, StuffIt Deluxe lets you encrypt and back up files.

Meanwhile, you can archive or create your own .zip files through OS X, which is useful if you’re e-mailing a number of meaty files to a friend. Right-click (or Ctrl-click) files you want to compress inside Finder and choose Compress Filename. The newly compressed files carry the .zip extension. The archive is created in the same location as the original file and is named originalfilename.zip. You can also choose File→Compress. If you compress a lot of files at once, the archive takes the name Archive.zip.

By default, compressed files are opened with the Archive Utility. It appears in the Dock (in Leopard) while the files are being unsqueezed, unless you choose to open them with Stuffit Expander or some other program.

How to zip files on a mac

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On the flip side, you can also archive or create your own .zip files through OS X, which is useful if you’re e-mailing a number of meaty files to a client or friend. Follow the step-by-step instructions below to easily zip files on a mac:

1. Right-click or Ctrl-click the multiple files you want to compress (whether on the desktop or inside the Finder).
2. Select Compress Filename from the pop-up menu.
3. The files are now compressed in a .zip extension and the archive is created in the same location as the original file name, except with the .zip appended to its name.

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On some Apple computers, you can also compress a file by simply choosing File→Compress. If you compress a lot of files at once, the archive takes the name Archive.zip.