See my Disclosure Policy for more information. You'll need to unzip or extract files first before you can work with them.This post may contain affiliate links, which means if you click and make a purchase through my link, I make a small commission at no cost to you. Choose the destination for your file folder.Įxtract is the same thing as unzip and means to restore original files from a compressed archive to an alternate location.

Right-click on the file and choose Open with and Parallels.

Click the Extraction button to specify how you want the program to manage the folder.

Select the RAR or 7z file you want the program to open.

The program will prompt you to the files you want to open.

So how do you unzip a file on Mac using software like Parallels? With such software, you can change the default extraction destination, create a new folder for extract files, and automatically open the folders once the extraction is done. Parallels does a great job of decompressing different formats like Tar, 7z, and RAR. So, if you want to unzip such files on Mac, you'll need to get good software to help you with this. Some file formats, like Roshal Archive (RAR), need software to unzip and turn them into a folder.

If it's not, right-click and click Open With, and choose Archive Utility.

Select Open to unzip your file if Archive Utility is set as your default.

Alternatively, you can right-click on the zipped folder.

Right-click the zipped file and open it with Archive Utility

Click appropriate icons to access the extracted files.This will prompt the Archive Utility tool to unzip the files in the same folder the zipped file is in.Double-click on the zipped file to unzip any zipped file on your Mac.Let's look at these ways closely: Double click the zipped file There are three ways to unzip files on Mac: you can double-click on the zipped file, right-click and click open with Archive Utility or use third-party software. Spammers also use ZIP files as phishing bait, where they camouflage themselves as a bank, business partner, friend, or employer, and instruct the recipient to take specific action. As much as a Mac has a built-in defense mechanism, attackers use ZIP archives to surpass the defense, infect the computer and collect information about the system. The ability to conceal content is what makes ZIP files a hacker's best friend. But they can potentially be - when cybercriminals use them to infiltrate Mac systems. Unless a Mac user uses third-party software, they cannot tell what's inside the zipped folder without opening the file. Usually, ZIP files don't display their content. Unfortunately, cybercriminals also use ZIP files to advance their course.

These two features make the ZIP file format one of the most common ways people share files and collections of files online. ZIP file bundles multiple files into a single container file and also compresses them.

How to unzip files on mac