RAR Extractor Free for Mac

RAR Extractor Free for Mac opens ZIP, RAR, and TAR files.

Pros

Streamlined interface: While this app mostly works in the background, taking over when you need to open a compressed file, it does feature a Preferences window as well that allows you to customize the program's behavior to an extent.

Extraction options: You can choose to have extractions appear in the current folder, unarchive them to the Desktop, or unarchive them to a different location. You can also decide what post-extraction steps the program should take. Options include exiting the app, opening the extracted files automatically, or deleting the compressed version of the files. You can also choose to do all, none, or some combination of these.

Cons

Banner ad: There is a large, flashing banner ad that takes up about a quarter of the Preferences pane.

Unclear completion: If you don't choose to have the unarchived file open once extraction is complete, it can be hard to know when the program is done. There is no alert to inform you, so you just have to go looking for the new files to see if they've shown up yet.

Bottom Line

RAR Extractor Free for Mac delivered on all of its promises during testing and was able to extract all of the files we tried it on.