Unrar has been removed, but I need unrar. Alternatives?

[cryo-kronos]

So, unrar is gone from Homebrew, apparently because of licensing issues.

However, I need to install unrar on macOS Mojave. What are my alternatives?

[carlocab]

I've extracted the formula to my tap, which you can use via:

brew install carlocab/personal/unrar

There are bottles for Catalina and Big Sur, but I guess that doesn't quite work for you, so I suspect it'll build from source. If it doesn't work I'm willing to accept PRs, but I can't promise I'll spend time investigating it myself to fix it.

Otherwise, you can also extract the formula to your own tap yourself using brew extract.

[TheShubham-K]

@cryo-kronos thank you, it really works.

[thorinmesser]

there is another in homebrew-cask Named rar so, you can use

brew install rar

command rar and unrar will be found in /usr/local/bin/

Anyone else coming here from the future will find that rar is now also gone.

[codymoorhouse]

Anyone else coming here from the future will find that rar is now also gone.

Perhaps 😂

I'll share what I used as a new replacement, it's unrar without an r but works the same.

brew install unar
unar file.r00

[gromgit]

Anyone else coming here from the future will find that rar is now also gone.

% brew info --cask rar
==> rar: 7.01
https://www.rarlab.com/
Not installed
From: https://github.com/Homebrew/homebrew-cask/blob/HEAD/Casks/r/rar.rb
==> Name
RAR Archiver
==> Description
Archive manager for data compression and backups
==> Artifacts
rar/default.sfx -> /opt/homebrew/lib/default.sfx (Generic Artifact)
rar/rarfiles.lst -> /opt/homebrew/etc/rarfiles.lst (Generic Artifact)
rar/rar (Binary)
rar/unrar (Binary)
==> Analytics
install: 5,861 (30 days), 17,349 (90 days), 64,886 (365 days)

Seems alive and well to me.

[udance4ever]

Seems alive and well to me.

not so well in May 2025 on two of our Macs, brew now installs v7.11 of rar and the binaries are just killed (even if I grant rar permission in System Settings):

% brew upgrade rar
==> Upgrading 1 outdated package:
rar 7.01 -> 7.11
==> Upgrading rar
==> Downloading https://www.rarlab.com/rar/rarmacos-arm-711.tar.gz
######################################################################### 100.0%
==> Backing Generic Artifact 'default.sfx' up to '/opt/homebrew/Caskroom/rar/7.0
==> Removing Generic Artifact '/opt/homebrew/lib/default.sfx'
==> Backing Generic Artifact 'rarfiles.lst' up to '/opt/homebrew/Caskroom/rar/7.
==> Removing Generic Artifact '/opt/homebrew/etc/rarfiles.lst'
==> Unlinking Binary '/opt/homebrew/bin/rar'
==> Unlinking Binary '/opt/homebrew/bin/unrar'
==> Moving Generic Artifact 'default.sfx' to '/opt/homebrew/lib/default.sfx'
==> Moving Generic Artifact 'rarfiles.lst' to '/opt/homebrew/etc/rarfiles.lst'
==> Linking Binary 'rar' to '/opt/homebrew/bin/rar'
==> Linking Binary 'unrar' to '/opt/homebrew/bin/unrar'
==> Purging files for version 7.01 of Cask rar
🍺  rar was successfully upgraded!
% unrar
zsh: killed     unrar
% rar
zsh: killed     rar

good news is the workaround to use Carlo's personal tap works great on both a 2020 M1 MacBookPro (macOS 15.4.1) and an 2017 iMac (macOS 13.7.5) - thanks!

[cryo-kronos]

Interestingly, MacPorts still has unrar; they haven’t removed it. Given that MacPorts has traditionally been quite conservative, I’m surprised that Homebrew has removed unrar but MacPorts hasn’t.

As for alternatives, certain apps (e.g., nzbget) require unrar to function, so 7z isn’t going to work.

[gromgit]

Interestingly, MacPorts still has unrar; they haven’t removed it. Given that MacPorts has traditionally been quite conservative, I’m surprised that Homebrew has removed unrar but MacPorts hasn’t.

MacPorts allows distribution of software under a Restrictive/Distributable license; Homebrew doesn't. Each party is being perfectly consistent in applying their respective rules.

certain apps (e.g., nzbget) require unrar to function

@carlocab already offered an alternative that neither the Homebrew software nor maintainers have any issue with.

[reagle]

Has anyone found any alternatives yet? 7zip says unsupported format.

[SMillerDev]

There are a bunch of alternatives in the accepted answer.

[reagle]

Sorry, @yuconora's answer was hidden beneath a "View more" which surprised me -- Don't think I've seen that before on Github. Perhaps it's a Discussions thing?

[csarmiento]

I just found this gem:

brew info rar
rar: 6.0.0
https://www.rarlab.com/
Not installed
From: https://github.com/Homebrew/homebrew-cask/blob/HEAD/Casks/rar.rb
==> Name
RAR Archiver
==> Description
Archive manager for data compression and backups
==> Artifacts
rar/default.sfx -> /usr/local/lib/default.sfx (Generic Artifact)
rar/rarfiles.lst -> /usr/local/etc/rarfiles.lst (Generic Artifact)
rar/rar (Binary)
rar/unrar (Binary)
==> Analytics
install: 2,326 (30 days), 4,512 (90 days), 8,555 (365 days)

It seems that rarlab has provided an official rar/unrar commad for MacOS

[ahuigo]

I just found this gem:

brew info rar
rar: 6.0.0
https://www.rarlab.com/
Not installed
From: https://github.com/Homebrew/homebrew-cask/blob/HEAD/Casks/rar.rb
==> Name
RAR Archiver
==> Description
Archive manager for data compression and backups
==> Artifacts
rar/default.sfx -> /usr/local/lib/default.sfx (Generic Artifact)
rar/rarfiles.lst -> /usr/local/etc/rarfiles.lst (Generic Artifact)
rar/rar (Binary)
rar/unrar (Binary)
==> Analytics
install: 2,326 (30 days), 4,512 (90 days), 8,555 (365 days)

It seems that rarlab has provided an official rar/unrar commad for MacOS

“unrar” cannot be opened because the developer cannot be verified.

[csarmiento]

Do you know open source rar extractor for macOS? this is trial version

➜  Desktop rar

RAR 6.00   Copyright (c) 1993-2020 Alexander Roshal   1 Dec 2020
Trial version             Type 'rar -?' for help

Usage:     rar <command> -<switch 1> -<switch N> <archive> <files...>
               <@listfiles...> <path_to_extract\>

However, the unrar execuable says:

▶ unrar

UNRAR 6.00 freeware      Copyright (c) 1993-2020 Alexander Roshal

Usage:     unrar <command> -<switch 1> -<switch N> <archive> <files...>
               <@listfiles...> <path_to_extract\>

[srigi]

All the proposed alternatives cannot extract RAR5 archives. I downloaded unrar binary from https://www.rarlab.com/rar_add.htm and put it into /usr/local/bin manually.

[csarmiento]

Did you try the unrar that comes with rar from brew (brew install rar) ?

As the command says it is freeware...

▶ unrar

UNRAR 6.01 freeware      Copyright (c) 1993-2021 Alexander Roshal

Usage:     unrar <command> -<switch 1> -<switch N> <archive> <files...>
               <@listfiles...> <path_to_extract\>

[srigi]

I didn't. My problem is now solved, so nothing more I need to do.
Just for the sake of persistence (like when I reinstall macOS), I've put binary into my custom bin $HOME/bin.

But thank you for the suggestion.

[mrochcn]

brew install rar

[nguyenvulong]

7z did not work for me, but The Unarchiver (brew install --cask the-unarchiver) did.

[Bo98]

Worth noting that system tar on macOS does have limited support for extracting rar files. It may be enough for some use cases:

tar xf sample.rar

It doesn't support anything using filters or encryption.

macOS's tar is an older version of libarchive's bsdtar. You can brew install libarchive for a newer version (named bsdtar instead) with better RARv5 and filter support which we've been using for rar files for a while internally with decent success: https://github.com/Homebrew/brew/blob/673f19086b0909b13664b2a3873f26025ad5236c/Library/Homebrew/unpack_strategy/rar.rb#L28-L31. Apple's version will probably eventually gain this support when they update to something newer than their current 3.5.3.

If it doesn't work for the type of rar you're using then one of the other solutions in this thread will work: unar formula, 7zip formula or some casks like rar and the-unarchiver.

For creating rars, you have no options except the rar cask due to strict legal protections on who can create rar files.

[Bo98]

As an update here: macOS 15.4 ships an updated tar so installing libarchive shouldn't be necessary anymore for many basic extraction cases if you use the latest macOS.

[ben-xo]

@Bo98 Thanks for this - excellent intel