Apple devices are the best when it comes to user comfort and user security. For security concerns, Apple won’t recommend you to install third-party apps and games. For common tasks like managing zip files on Mac, you can use the built-in tool. Whereas in Windows, you need to install the WinRAR or any other app. If you’re wondering how to unzip files on Mac, the following section will help you with the necessary steps.

Zip files are more important if you want to send multiple files via an email or any file sharing app. You can compress the files or folders you want to send, make it a single file, and share them with ease.

How to Zip Files/Folders on Mac

(1) Select the files or folders that you want to compress on your Mac PC.

(2) After the selection, right-click on your mouse or Ctrl + Click on the trackpad.

(3) Choose the Compress option on the pop-up.

Zip Files on Mac

(4) The selected files will be compressed, and a new zip file will be created with the name Archive.zip in the same location.

Archive Utility

If you compress a single file, the zip file will have the name of the file you compressed. For instance, if you compress the file named Techplip, the compressed zip file will have the name Techplip.zip.

How to Unzip Files/Folders on Mac

Unzipping refers to expand the files that are compressed. Like zipping the file, unzipping can also be done on Mac with the built-in feature.

(1) Double-click the zipped or a compressed file.

(2) It will be unzipped at the same location. Then you can see all the files that are compressed one by one.

You can also right-click the zip file and choose Open With Archive Utility to unzip the file.

Note: Archive Utility can’t handle zip files of big size. If you are unable to expand some specific zip files on Mac, use the Terminal method mentioned below.

Unzip a File on Mac using Terminal

In Mac, you can zip and unzip a file by using the Commands on the terminal window.

Open the terminal on Mac and run the following command to compress techplip.txt and techplip.jpeg files into a single zip file named archive.zip.

zip archive.zip techplip.txt techplip.jpeg

If you want to unzip a zip file, enter

unzip archive.zip

It will unzip the file named archive.zip. If you want, you can also provide a file location where you want to unzip the files. For instance, 

unzip archive.zip /Library/Preferences

Note: If the zip file you are going to extract is password protected, it will ask you to enter the password. You need to enter the correct password to extract the file.

Unable to Expand Zip Files on Mac

When you are extracting a zip file, you may have some errors like “unable to expand (error 1- operation not permitted)” If you are unable to expand or extract the zip files on your Macbook, you can try the below-mentioned solutions.

Solution 1: Install The Unarchiver app from the Mac Store. It is a third-party app used to manage zip files on Mac.

Solution 2: If the Unarchiver is not working for you, try the Stuffit Exander 16 app from the Mac Store.

Solution 3: Try renaming the zip file from .zip to .rar. It will expand the zip file without any issues.

Solution 4: Check whether you are using the Terminal windows with Admin rights.

Solution 5: If none of the above solutions is not working for you, try the below command in the Terminal window.

ditto -V -x -k --sequesterRsrc --rsrc filename.ZIP filelocation

Related Guide: How to Create a TXT File on Mac

Replace the filename.zip with the name of the file that you want to expand and filelocation with the folder that the unzipped file is saved.

These are the different ways to manage zip files on your Mac PCs. Archive Utility on Mac is one of the most powerful tools to zip and unzip files. Whenever you want to zip or unzip, use the Archive Utility application. If you are comfortable with the Command Line window, you can use the commands.