However, RAR file format still remains privately licensed and there's no built-in support for RAR format in macOS, which explains why you can't open RAR directly on Mac. As a proprietary archive format, RAR requires patented decoders and doesn't limit its file size. RAR represents Roshal Archive, named after the Russian software engineer who created the format. Just double click a ZIP, it'll be extracted instantly, but that's not the same case with RAR files. A ZIP file can be opened on a Mac computer without third-party software. MacOS use ZIP format to compress files by default. What is a RAR file & Why Can't Mac Open RAR Files by Default? How to Compress Videos on Mac, Windows, Android, iPhone How to Compress PDF File Size for Email Attachment To open RAR files and extract files on Mac, follow these 2 easy ways in the post. However, RAR format is not supported by macOS by default. RAR is a data compression format that is commonly used for packing multiple files into one so that they can be sent in smaller file size.

You may have received a RAR file and then found that it can't be opened on your Mac computer.

Uncompress rar on mac