How to Unzip Files on Mac
Sending information through the Internet has become a daily necessity for the vast majority of people, whether it is a crucial part of their job or just sending a family photo to their relatives. To make the transfer faster, especially if it involves moving multiple files that could add up to a considerable total size, it is recommended to compress the files into an archive. That is exactly what '.zip' files are - archives that contain one or more compressed files.
The ZIP archive file format was released in the early days of computer development and the Internet - way back in 1989. Since then, the term ZIP file has become almost ubiquitous and it is sometimes used to refer to other archive formats such as RAR. So, how do you open and unzip such an archive on a Mac system to get to the files stored inside?
Opening a ZIP file
It turns out that doing so is extremely easy. All you have to do is double-click the ZIP archive and the built-in Archive Utility will take care of the rest. It will unpackage the archive and give you access to its contents. If you wish to use another unzipping utility, right-click/control-click the ZIP archive and choose the 'Open with' option. Here, you will be presented with the currently available utilities suitable to handle the task so choose the one you prefer.
Keep in mind that unzipping the archive and extracting the files doesn't get rid of the original ZIP archive so now you may have duplicated content on your system. If you do not clean the left-over archives they could pile up and begin to take significant portions of your Mac's available space.
Opening a .RAR file
Unlike the ZIP format, Mac's Archive Utility cannot operate with RAR archives. In this case, users will need to find a third-party application to help them extract the archived files. After finding and installing such a utility, it should become available via the Finder's contextual menu accessed by double-clicking or control-clicking the archive and selecting the 'Open with' option. Or, if everything is working correctly, you should be able to double-click the RAR archive and the third-party utility should be started automatically.