I switched to Mac a while ago and realized there’s no built-in way to open .7z files. On Windows, I always used 7-Zip, but it’s not officially available for macOS. What’s the best way to extract and create 7z files on a Mac?
Get yourself a decent file extractor that supports 7z. Just install it, drag and drop your archive, and boom - done. Most of them work just like 7-Zip on Windows, so no rocket science involved. If you’re feeling a little techy, you can actually open 7z files straight from the Terminal. macOS has a command-line tool (once you install the right package) that lets you extract and even create 7z archives. A bit more effort, but super handy once you get the hang of it. One more option is Finder-based solution. Some apps integrate nicely with Finder, so you can just right-click and extract without even opening another window. If you often face such a need, this way will be the most effective.
I ended up going with the Terminal route because, well… I like having full control over what’s happening under the hood. Once you set it up, it’s actually pretty smooth - just a couple of commands and you’re good to go. Plus, no extra apps cluttering up my Mac.
Opening 7z files on a Mac is one of those things that always catches you off guard. You download something, try to open it, and macOS just acts like it doesn’t exist. No built-in support, no quick preview—just a file sitting there, waiting for you to figure it out.
Of course, the go-to fix is grabbing an extractor—there are plenty out there that do the job. But some file managers have built-in archive support, which is also a convenient option since everything stays in one place. Commander One, for example, lets you manage archives like regular folders, so you don’t have to jump between different apps just to extract something.
For standalone tools, BetterZip and Entropy are solid picks too. Both let you preview the contents before extracting, which saves time when you only need a couple of files instead of unpacking the whole thing. I’ve always wondered why Apple never added proper 7z support to macOS. They finally let iPhones open ZIP files in the Files app, so it’s not like they’re against compressed formats. Maybe it’s just not mainstream enough? Or do most Mac users stick with ZIP and RAR and never even run into 7z?
Macs can open 7z archives directly by double clicking. It should make folder with the same name as the 7z archive with all the files.
Some years ago I used Keka since it had a GUI interface:
You can get a precompiled installation of 7zip from the developers, but it is only the command line version:
How to open 7-Zip on Mac?
