Archiver
Archiver is a macOS archive utility that opens, creates, previews, and encrypts compressed files such as Zip, RAR, 7z, and tar archives.
What is Archiver?
Archiver is a native macOS file compression and extraction app for opening, creating, and managing archive files. It helps Mac users unpack common download formats such as Zip, RAR, 7z, tar.gz, and split archives, while also giving them tools to create their own compressed files. The app supports previewing archive contents before extraction, which is useful when you only need a few files from a larger package. It also includes options for adjusting compression settings, choosing output folders, and protecting new archives with AES-256 encryption and passwords. Archiver is designed for everyday file sharing, software downloads, long-term storage, and working with older or less common archive formats on macOS. Incredible Bee Ltd. publishes it as a focused utility for people who want more archive control than the built-in Archive Utility provides.
Key features
- Open and extract many archive formats including Zip, RAR, 7z, tar, StuffIt, and BinHex
- Create compressed archives for sharing files or saving disk space
- Preview archive contents before extracting everything
- Protect new archives with passwords and AES-256 encryption
- Handle split archives such as multi-part RAR and 7z sets
- Choose compression levels and extraction destinations to match your workflow
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Safety overview
Status: Mostly safe
Archiver is a legitimate archive utility for macOS, and the permissions it commonly needs for opening, extracting, and saving files are consistent with that purpose. As with any archive app, the main risk comes from the files you open rather than from the utility itself: compressed downloads can contain malicious apps, scripts, or misleading file names. Treat archives from unknown senders cautiously, preview contents before extracting, and scan anything executable before opening it. If you installed an older release such as Archiver 3, check for updates because archive-handling tools benefit from current compatibility and security fixes.
Recommendation: Keep Archiver if you regularly work with RAR, 7z, split archives, encrypted archives, or older compression formats that the built-in macOS tools handle less well. If you only unzip occasional standard Zip files and do not use its extra controls, you can remove it with little impact and rely on macOS Archive Utility instead.
Common paths
/Applications/Archiver.app
Support paths
~/Library/Application Support/Archiver
Preference paths
~/Library/Preferences/com.incrediblebee.Archiver3.plist
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