Comparison

How MacPacker compares to 7-Zip, The Unarchiver, Keka and BetterZip

Every archive, package and disk-image format the five macOS archivers handle, side by side — which ones each app can open, and which ones it can create.

10 August 202668 formats · 9 capabilities

The apps

MacPacker

0.19.0

Price: Free
Licence: GPL-3.0, open source
Needs: macOS 14.6+
Shape: Archive browser

39read

1write

7-Zip

26.02 · macOS console build

Price: Free
Licence: LGPL + BSD, open source
Needs: 64-bit macOS
Shape: Command line only

43read

9write

The Unarchiver

4.3.9 · Mar 2025

Price: Free
Licence: Proprietary (MacPaw)
Needs: macOS 10.13+
Shape: Extractor

42read

0write

Keka

1.6.7 · Jun 2026

Price: Free; $6.49 App Store
Licence: Proprietary
Needs: macOS 10.10+
Shape: Compressor / extractor

33read

16write

BetterZip

6.0.4 · 2026

Price: $35 one-time
Licence: Proprietary
Needs: macOS 13.5+
Shape: Archive manager

34read

15write

The read and write totals count the rows of the table below, where one row can stand for a family of formats. Every app counts its own formats differently, so the totals are for orientation and the table is the comparison.

Format matrix

Read means the app can list an archive's contents and extract from it. Write means the app can produce that format — creating it, and where noted updating it. A format appears here if at least one of the five supports it.

Format	MacPacker		7-Zip		The Unarchiver		Keka		BetterZip
Format	Read	Write	Read	Write	Read	Write	Read	Write	Read	Write
Everyday archives	MacPacker		7-Zip		The Unarchiver		Keka		BetterZip
ZIP.zip .jar .war .apk .ipa .appx .xpi .epub .cbz	Yes⁶	Yes⁹	Yes	Yes⁹	Yes	No	Yes	Yes⁹	Yes	Yes⁹
ZIPX.zipx	Yes	No	Partial¹	No	Yes	No	Yes	No	Yes²	No
7z.7z	Yes	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
RAR / RAR5.rar .cbr .r00	Yes	No	Yes	No	Yes	No	Yes	No	Yes	Partial³
TAR.tar	Yes	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
ARJ.arj	Yes	No	Yes	No	Partial⁴	No	No	No	Yes	No
LHA / LZH.lha .lzh	Yes	No	Yes	No	Yes	No	Yes²	No	Yes	No
CAB.cab	Yes	No	Yes	No	Yes	No	Yes	No	Yes	No
CHM.chm	Yes	No	Yes	No	No	No	No	No	Yes	No
CPIO.cpio .cpgz	Yes	No	Yes	No	Yes	No	Yes	No	Yes	No
ACE.ace	No	No	No	No	Partial⁵	No	Yes²	No	No	No
ALZip.alz	No	No	No	No	Yes	No	No	No	No	No
ARC / PAK.arc .pak	No	No	No	No	Yes	No	No	No	No	No
Zoo.zoo	No	No	No	No	Yes	No	No	No	No	No
Platform & package formats	MacPacker		7-Zip		The Unarchiver		Keka		BetterZip
AR.ar .a .lib	Yes	No	Yes	No	Yes	No	No	No	No	No
Debian package.deb	Yes	No	Yes	No	Yes	No	No	No	Yes	No
RPM package.rpm	Yes	No	Yes	No	Yes	No	No	No	Yes	No
XAR.xar	Yes	No	Yes	No	Yes	No	Yes²	No	Yes	Yes
Apple installer package.pkg	Yes	No	Yes	No	Yes²	No	No	No	Yes²	No
Apple signed archive.xip	Yes⁷	No	Yes	No	Yes²	No	Yes	No	Yes²	No
MSI / OLE compound.msi .doc .xls	Yes	No	Yes	No	Yes	No	Yes	No	No	No
Self-extracting EXE / NSIS.exe .nsis	Yes	No	Yes	No	Partial	No	Yes	No	Partial	No
Windows imaging.wim .swm .esd	Yes	No	Yes	Yes	No	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	No
Apple Archive.aar .yaa .aea	No	No	No	No	No	No	Yes¹⁰	Yes¹⁰	No	No
Legacy, Mac-classic and long tail	MacPacker		7-Zip		The Unarchiver		Keka		BetterZip
StuffIt.sit	Yes	No	No	No	Yes	No	No	No	Yes	No
StuffIt X.sitx	Yes	No	No	No	Partial	No	No	No	Yes²	No
StuffIt self-extracting.sea	Yes	No	No	No	Yes²	No	No	No	Yes²	No
Compact Pro.cpt	No	No	No	No	Yes	No	Yes	No	No	No
DiskDoubler / PackIt.dd .pit	No	No	No	No	Yes	No	No	No	No	No
BinHex / MacBinary.hqx .bin	No	No	No	No	Yes²	No	No	No	Yes	No
LZX.lzx	Yes	No	No	No	Yes	No	No	No	No	No
Amiga ADF / DMS / PowerPacker.adf .dms .pp	No	No	No	No	Yes	No	No	No	No	No
CP/M LBR / Squeeze / Crunch.lbr	No	No	No	No	Yes	No	No	No	No	No
TNEF mail attachmentwinmail.dat	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	Yes	No
WARC web archive.warc	No	No	No	No	Yes	No	No	No	No	No
Game data (NDS, NSA, SAR).nds .nsa .sar	No	No	No	No	Yes	No	No	No	No	No
SWF media extraction.swf	No	No	Yes	No	Yes	No	No	No	Yes	No
PDF image extraction.pdf	No	No	No	No	Yes	No	No	No	Yes	No
Single-stream compression	MacPacker		7-Zip		The Unarchiver		Keka		BetterZip
GZIP.gz	Yes	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
BZIP2.bz2	Yes	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
XZ.xz	Yes	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
LZMA (raw).lzma	No	No	Yes	No	Yes	No	Yes	No	No	No
Unix compress.Z	Yes	No	Yes	No	Yes	No	Yes²	No	Yes	Yes
LZ4.lz4	Yes	No	No	No	No	No	Yes²	No	No	No
Zstandard.zst	No	No	Yes	No	No	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Brotli.br	No	No	No	No	No	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
lzip.lz	No	No	No	No	No	No	Yes	Yes	No	No
lrzip.lrz	No	No	No	No	No	No	Yes	Yes	No	No
LZO / Snappy.lzo .sz	No	No	No	No	No	No	Yes²	No	No	No
Compound tar streams	MacPacker		7-Zip		The Unarchiver		Keka		BetterZip
tar.gz / tar.bz2 / tar.xz / tar.Z.tgz .tbz2 .txz .taz	Yes	No	Yes	Partial⁸	Yes	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
tar.lz4.tlz4	Yes	No	No	No	No	No	Yes²	No	No	No
tar.zst / tar.br.tzst .tbr	No	No	Partial⁸	Partial⁸	No	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Disk images and filesystems	MacPacker		7-Zip		The Unarchiver		Keka		BetterZip
Apple Disk Image.dmg .smi	Yes	No	Yes	No	No	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
ISO 9660.iso	Yes	No	Yes	No	Yes	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Raw disc images.bin .mdf .nrg .cdi	No	No	No	No	Yes	No	No	No	No	No
UDF.udf .iso	No	No	Yes	No	No	No	No	No	No	No
SquashFS.squashfs .sfs	Yes	No	Yes	No	No	No	Yes²	No	No	No
FAT.fat .img	Yes	No	Yes	No	No	No	No	No	No	No
NTFS.ntfs .img	Yes	No	Yes	No	No	No	No	No	No	No
HFS / HFS+.hfs .hfsx	No	No	Yes	No	No	No	No	No	No	No
ext2 / ext3 / ext4.ext .img	No	No	Yes	No	No	No	No	No	No	No
APFS.apfs .img	No	No	Yes	No	No	No	No	No	No	No
CramFS.cramfs	No	No	Yes	No	No	No	No	No	No	No
VirtualBox VDI.vdi	Yes	No	Yes	No	No	No	No	No	No	No
Hyper-V VHD / VHDX.vhd .vhdx	Yes	No	Yes	No	No	No	No	No	No	No
VMware VMDK.vmdk	Yes	No	Yes	No	No	No	No	No	No	No
QEMU QCOW2.qcow2	Yes	No	Yes	No	No	No	No	No	No	No
MBR / GPT partition maps.mbr .gpt	No	No	Yes	No	No	No	No	No	No	No

YesPartialNoReadWrite

Beyond the format list

Format coverage is half the picture. These rows cover what you can do with an archive once it opens.

Capability	MacPacker	7-Zip	The Unarchiver	Keka	BetterZip
Open split / multi-volume setsJoining archives that arrive as .001, .z01 or .r00 parts.	Partial¹¹	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Create split volumesWriting an archive across several sized parts.	No	Yes	No	Yes	Yes
Open password-protected archivesPrompting for a password and decrypting on read.	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Write encrypted archivesAES-256 on output. MacPacker's save panel exposes format and compression level only.	No	Yes	No	Yes	Yes
Modify an archive in placeAdding, deleting or renaming entries without a full unpack-and-repack.	Partial¹²	Yes	No	No	Yes
Archive browserA window that lists an archive's contents before you extract anything.	Yes	Partial¹³	No	No	Yes
Browse nested archivesOpening an archive that sits inside another, without extracting the outer one first.	Yes	No	No	No	No
Finder / Quick Look extensionsSystem integration beyond the app window.	Yes	No	No	Yes	Yes
Command-line interfaceScriptable from a shell.	No	Yes	Partial¹⁴	Yes	Yes

YesPartialNo

Notes

17-Zip's ZIP handler registers the .zipx extension and decodes the LZMA, PPMd and BZip2 methods WinZip uses, but 7-Zip does not advertise ZIPX as an output format.
2Supported in practice, but not listed on the vendor's own published format page.
3RAR writing needs the external rar command-line tool, which BetterZip can download and install; the RAR licence is bought separately from win.rar GmbH.
4The Unarchiver reads ARJ but not multi-part ARJ sets (vendor's own annotation: “No multi-part”).
5The Unarchiver reads only pre-2.0 ACE archives — no WinAce (vendor's annotation: “Only old files”).
6MacPacker identifies formats by content rather than extension, so any ZIP-based container opens as ZIP whatever it is called.
7.xip is a XAR container, so MacPacker opens it as one.
8Two passes: the tar is built first, then compressed. There is no single command for it.
9Writing a JAR, APK, IPA or similar means writing a ZIP container: none of these apps produce the signing or manifests that make a valid platform package.
10Keka's AAR is the Apple Archive format (.aar, .yaa). MacPacker's .aar is the unrelated ZIP-based Android Archive.
11MacPacker joins split ZIP sets only — spanned (.z01…) and numeric (.zip.001…). Split RAR or 7z sets are not recognised.
12ZIP only.
13The macOS build of 7-Zip is a console binary: 7zz l lists an archive, but there is no window.
14The unar and lsar tools are a separate download from the app.

More comparisons

Compiled 10 August 2026, against the versions listed above.

Get MacPacker

v0.20.0 · macOS 14+

$ brew install --cask macpacker

.dmg .zip App Store Releases

App Store updates may lag a few days behind direct downloads due to Apple review.