RAR File Not Opening on Mac? Common Causes and Fixes

Updated · Sanii Verma

Guide · 3 min read

Most RAR files that will not open on a Mac fail for one of a few reasons — no RAR-capable app, an incomplete or damaged download, a missing part of a split archive, a wrong password, or no room or permission to write. Find yours below; some can be fixed, and some only the sender can fix.

Work down this list in order: the first causes are the most common, and the quickest to rule out. Where Rar Extractor shows a specific message for a cause, it is quoted exactly, so you can match what you see.

1. Nothing on the Mac can open RAR

If double-clicking the file does nothing, or opens it in the wrong app, the Mac probably has no RAR extractor at all. Archive Utility, which is built into macOS, handles ZIP and several other formats but not RAR. Install an app that reads RAR — the options are in how to open RAR files on a Mac.

2. It is not really a RAR file

A file can be named .rar and be something else, or be an archive type the app does not open. Rar Extractor looks at the file's first bytes when the name does not settle it, and if it is not a format the app opens it says:

This is not an archive this app opens.

Check where the file came from. A download that saved an error page under the archive's name is a common cause: open the file in TextEdit, and if you see HTML or a sentence about an error, download it again.

3. The download is incomplete or damaged

RAR stores a checksum for every file inside. If the data does not match — most often because a download stopped early or a disk copy failed — extraction stops with:

Corrupted archive (CRC error).

Download the file again, ideally from the original link, and compare its size with the size the site lists. Some archives include a recovery record that WinRAR can use to repair them; Rar Extractor does not repair archives, so a damaged file has to be replaced or repaired in WinRAR first.

4. A part of a split archive is missing

An archive split into parts (name.part1.rar, name.part2.rar, … or name.rar, name.r00, name.r01, …) needs every part, in the same folder, with its original name. If one is missing:

A later part of this split archive is missing.

And if you opened a later part instead of the first:

Open the first part of this archive (.part1.rar), not a later part.

Put all the parts together, check none was renamed by the browser (for example name.part2 (1).rar), and open the first one. More in how to extract a multipart RAR on Mac.

5. The password is wrong

A password-protected archive cannot be opened without its exact password. Passwords are case-sensitive, and a copied password can pick up a space at the start or end. Rar Extractor says:

Wrong password.

and keeps what you typed, so you can fix a typo rather than retype it. If you do not have the password, only the person who made the archive can give it to you. See password-protected RAR files.

6. There is no room, or no permission, to write

Extraction writes a new folder next to the archive, so it needs free space for everything inside — often much more than the archive's own size — and permission to write in that folder. An archive in a read-only location (a mounted disk image, a shared folder you can only read) cannot be extracted in place.

  • Check free space in System Settings, then General, then Storage, and free some up if it is low.
  • Move the archive to a folder you own, such as Downloads or Desktop, and try again. Permissions on a folder can be checked with Get Info.

7. The archive needs more memory than the app will use

RAR5 archives can be made with very large compression dictionaries. To stay safe on any Mac, Rar Extractor refuses an archive that needs a dictionary over 1 GB, with:

This archive needs more memory than this app will use.

This is rare. WinRAR, or RARLAB's command-line RAR, can extract such archives.

8. An encrypted 7z, not a RAR

Rar Extractor opens 7z archives, but not encrypted ones. If the file is a 7z with a password, it says:

This 7z archive is encrypted and cannot be opened.

Use an app that supports encrypted 7z for that file.

Still stuck?

If none of these match, email support with the exact message and the archive's name and size. Do not send the archive itself if it holds anything private.

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