Mac Compression Utilities

When it comes to opening compressed files in just about any format, the most downloaded utility is The Unarchiver from MacPaw. There's not much you can throw at it that it can't handle, including old files from StuffIt and DiskDoubler. It can even extract files from some Windows .exe installers. The problem with The UnArchiver is that it does decompression only. If you want to make your own archives, you need another program. Natively, macOS can create ZIP and DMG files but that's it.

BetterZip 5 from macitbetter is a much more full-featured app, although it isn't free. It's $24.95 for use on up to five Macs for personal users. It is also available on Setapp. Better Zip has some pretty cool superpowers:

• Quicklook extension for viewing files inside archives without opening them
• Edit archived files in an external application, and BetterZip can save the changes back and update your archive.
• Open and extract winmail.dat files.
• Open, extract, and modify ePub files.
• Extract images and sounds from PDFs
• AES-256 Encryption, password manager, password generator
• Finder Integration and share menu
• Filtering - only extract certain files from archives
• Integration with Alfred and Hazel

Keka is a perennial favorite of many Mac users. It has a free version on the developer's websiteand a $5 version on the Mac App Store. Keka has compression and decompression tools. Keka can divide large files into multiple parts that will automatically reassemble after decompression. You gain the ability to use 256-bit encryption. You can also take advantage of a drag and drop interface into the Keka main window, or by simply dropping files onto the Keka icon in the dock.

For those who want scripting and a CLI as well as a GUI, Peazip is probably the best bet. A free app, it also has the widest array of security features.

• Offers two-factor authentication
• Opens 200 types of compressed files in the GUI
• Multiple file management features: convert archives, search in archives, bookmarks, tabbed browsing,
• Portable - can be run from a USB or other external drive
• Open Source
• Cross platform (Linus, macOS Windows)

Some Finder alternatives offer compression and decompression, including:

• Commander One
• PathFinder
• Qspace