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The allure of zipped files is simple: they allow you to directly send and receive files, or batches of files, without encroaching on file size limits. Often, email providers have limits on how large attachments can be. Zip files make it easy to bypass that limitation without sending multiple emails.

Zipping files can also be useful for compressing files for storage on your Mac, or an external hard drive.

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How do you open a zip file on a Mac? Or what's the best way to do that? There are, of course, several methods for creating archives, such as built-in utilities, Terminal, and third-party apps. Below, we are going to explore how to unzip files on Mac, how to create zip archives, and showcase some archivers that make it really easy to zip and manage zipped files.

What is a Zip file?

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A zip file is a lossless way to compress and archive files and folders. You often encounter zip files in emails, as mentioned, but also when downloading from the internet. If you've ever downloaded an app or extension directly from a developer website, chances are it was a zipped file.

It uses the '.zip' filename, and its icon is typically a folder with a zipper running up the middle. Zipping files is a time-tested method, and is largely unchanged. Its use-cases have expanded, though. We use zip files for sending large files and bundles of PDF or text files, but it's now used as a method to send large folders of images as well as for downloading applications or games from the internet.

How to zip files on a Mac

Before we talk about some special apps and tools, we need to mention built-in macOS's utility that allows you to compress and decompress files and folders. Your Mac's simple Archive Utility, stored in the Applications > Utilities folder, is a simple, direct way to zip files. Its functionality is limited, but it's a decent option for quick zipping and unzipping of files and folders when you need to open zip files someone has sent you.

Here's how to zip a file on Mac with the Archive Utility:

1. Find the file or files you want to zip.
   Note: if you'd like to zip multiple files, it's best to put those files in the same folder. Then you can proceed to step two.
2. Right-click on the file or folder.
3. Select 'compress'

That's all it takes. Note the zipped file or folder will be created in the same location as the file or folder you zipped. You can move it manually if you like.

If you want to zip multiple files without first adding them to a folder, that's also possible with Archive Utility. Here's how:

1. Open the folder with files or folders you want to zip up
2. Select the items you want to include in the zip file and right-click on any one of the items.
3. Select 'Compress (x) Items' from the pop-up menu.

Once again, a progress bar will display. When the compression is finished, zipped items will be stored in a file called Archive.zip, which will be located in the same folder as the original items.

How to create an encrypted zip archive

Now that you know how to create a zip file on Mac, you may be wondering how to encrypt that zipped file. Archive Utility doesn't allow for this, but you can use the Terminal to accomplish this feat. Here's how:

1. Open 'Terminal' from your Applications
2. Enter the following command: cd desktop
3. Press enter on your Mac's keyboard
4. Enter the following command: zip -e [zipped filename]
   Note: Do not use brackets. If your filename were 'test.zip', you would enter: zip -e test.zip
5. Press enter
6. Terminal will ask for you to assign and verify a password.

The encrypted file will then appear on your desktop. Opening it will require a password.

We should note this method is clunky, a bit confusing for many – and dealing with Terminal is always a bit nerve-wracking. There's a much better way!

Get BetterZip for all ZIP tasks

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BetterZip is an app that makes compression and encryption a breeze. In fact, you can set BetterZip up to encrypt all files by default! It uses strong AES-256 encryption, and has the same lossless compression you'll find with any zipping method.

Here's how to encrypt zip files using BetterZip:

1. Open BetterZip on your Mac.
2. From the menu bar, select 'BetterZip,' and 'Preferences'
3. From the 'Presets' menu, select the 'Save' menu
4. Select 'Clean and Zip'
5. Under 'Encryption method,' select 'Strong (AES-256)'

If you'd like to use the same password for every file you encrypt, you can enter it in the filed just below 'encryption method'. If you don't supply a password, BetterZip will prompt you for one each time you zip and encrypt a file.

BetterZip is impressive for encrypting every zip file you create. If you're looking for a simpler approach, Archiver is the app you're looking for. It uses a drag-and-drop interface, and makes encryption as easy as checking a box and assigning a password. Here's how:

1. Open Archiver on your Mac
2. Drag the file you want to zip into the app
3. Select 'encrypt' if you want to secure the file with a password
4. Enter and verify your password
5. Select 'Archive'

How to add files to an existing zip file

BetterZip is your best path forward for adding files to an already zipped file. Here's how it's done:

1. Open BetterZip on your Mac
2. Select the zipped file you want to add new files to
3. Select 'Add' from the top of the betterZip window
4. Select the file or files you'd like to add to your already zipped file
   Note: If you want to add multiple files, you can shift-click to add a list, or command-click to add them one at a time.
5. Select and hold 'Save' from the top left of the BetterZip window
6. In the menu that appears, select 'Clean and Zip'

This creates a new .zip folder with the already-zipped file, as well as the files you added, all of which are now zipped in the same folder.

Unzip files on a Mac

Unzipping files on your Mac is simple. The best method is using the built-in Archive Utility app. The process is simple, and essentially a reversal of the process for zipping a file. Here's how to unzip files:

1. Right-click the zipped folder or file you'd like to unzip
2. Select 'open with'
3. Select 'Archive Utility'

The zipped file or folder will be unzipped. If you'd like to re-zip the file, simple follow the steps we've outlined in this article to zip it again.

How to open zip files as a pro

To open zipped files and folders, both BetterZip and Archive are great options. We especially like BetterZip, here, because each zipped file or folder is previewed in the BetterZip window before you open it up. That way, you always know what you're about to open!

Here's how to unzip files using BetterZip.

1. Open BetterZip
2. Select the zipped file or folder you want to unzip
3. Select 'Extract' from the top of the BetterZip window

Your file or folder will be unzipped.

Here's the method if you choose Archive:

1. Open Archive on your Mac
2. Select the zipped file or folder you want to unzip
3. Drag it to the Archive window
4. Select it from the menu
5. Select 'Extract' from the bottom of the Archive window

That's all it takes!

Look inside the archive without extraction

Viewing a zipped file without actually unzipping it can be important if you have many zipped files on your computer, or have zipped folders and can't remember where you stuck a particular file.

For this, we like BetterZip. It automatically offers up a preview of zipped files and folders on the right side of its screen. There's no guessing, or fussy methodology. All you have to do is select the file in BetterZip, and the preview loads immediately.

Extract a separate file from a zip archive

Again, we really like BetterZip for this. Here's how to do it:

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1. Open BetterZip on your Mac
2. Select the zipped folder with the file(s) you want to extract
3. Right click the file you want to extract
4. Select 'Extract Selected' from the drop-down menu

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Unzip files and folders using Terminal

If you would rather unzip files using the Terminal, here's how to do it:

1. Open Terminal on your Mac
2. Change directory to where your zipped file or folder is located using the 'cd' command. (As an example, if your zipped file were in the documents folder, you would enter 'cd documents' into Terminal – without the quotations. Keep in mind if your zipped file is buried in another folder, you will have to change directory until you reach the file's location.)
3. Enter the following command: unzip [filename]. (If your file were named zipped-stuff.zip, you would enter 'unzip zipped-stuff.zip' – again, no quotations.)

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Download 7-Zip for MacOS. 7Zip is a great app that should be included on iTunes. As productivity is a concern on all Apple devices, the development of 7Zip would be a great delight for all its users. I mean, why not? It is the most powerful and secure archiving and file compression tool in its category and field. For more resources about 7Zip for other operating systems, check out our other articles on 7Zip.

So, you are one of the opulent citizens of the society or perhaps meticulous with the software and security, thus, you prefer using Mac computers. As a matter of fact, some programs and software for Windows, Linux, and for Mac are programmed differently. This goes the same with 7Zip for Mac.

By default, Mac OS X is incapable of handling these files. But this shouldn’t be much of an issue as there are lots of other archiving tools available that can open a .7z file and other file compression formats.

Theme mac leopard for xp free. The 7Zip file format is considered a better file compression format because of its high security and overall stability. It 7Zip can compress any file much better than ZIP and WinRAR or WinZip. This makes 7Zip safer and a much better choice.

Contents

Zip File For Mac Free Download

• 1 A Walkthrough on 7-Zip for Mac
  • 1.1 Reminder

A Walkthrough on 7-Zip for Mac

Keep on reading as we are going to walk you through on the steps for opening .7z archive files regardless of what version of Mac OS you are using. Don’t worry, it is easy and quick to do even it gets an error cannot open a file as archive sometimes. Here’s how it goes.

1. Download “The Unarchiver” first. The latest version is 4.2.2 and support macOS 10.7 or later. the file is 13.6 MB. You can either download it from the Mac App Store or click here for direct download.
2. The app is relatively small so you should be able to get it installed for a few seconds depending on your internet speed.
3. As soon as The Unarchiver app finishes installing, open it and you will see the file association list.
4. Launch the Unarchiver and there you’ll find the file association list, inform the Unarchiver to associate it with .7z files.
5. The moment that you’ve associated the Unarchiver with .7z you could then double-click any .7z file on your Mac computer. It will then open and uncompress like other archive format or launch Unarchiver and just drag and drop the 7z files to the utility.

This is everything that you have to know in opening any .7z archive files saved on your Mac computer. After installing the UnArchiver and associated it with .7z 7Zip files, you may now launch the .7z archive simply by double-clicking on it. Inside the UnArchiver utility, your file will open and decompress the original 7z file. It will exit the app automatically when it is finished. It is possible to directly open the Unarchiver and open the file in the Unarchiver directly where it’ll be extracted.

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Reminder

Since 7Zip archives have undergone a strong compression procedure, it sometimes takes a while in order to completely extract large 7z files. Don’t be surprised as well if the 7Zip has expanded to something bigger than the original file size as the size of the archive. This is totally normal. Just be sure that you have enough disk space to accommodate all the uncompressed data.

Unarchiver is a well-known solution to all kinds of archive formats available on Mac. It’s been discussed as an alternative when you have to unRAR and open RAR files in Mac OS and it can open virtually any archive format you might come across. This can include but not limited to:

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• 7z
• zip
• sit
• tgz
• tar
• gz
• rar
• bzip and;
• hqx

Due to its expansive nature and free of charge, it is a wonderful addition to your Mac software toolkit. Well, it is comparable to a Swiss army knife but for computers.

The Complete Package

The Unarchiver provides support to every release of the Mac OS software that’s in use. This is regardless if you’re using the latest release, Sierra, macOS High Sierra, Mac OS X El Capitan, Mountain Lion, Mavericks, Snow Leopard, Yosemite, and so forth. It’ll work and can get the job done in opening and decompressing zip as well as other archive formats available.