unar
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Description:
Command-line unarchiving tools supporting multiple formats
Type: Formula  |  Tracked Since: Dec 28, 2025
Links: Homepage  |  formulae.brew.sh
Category: Developer tools
Tags: archive compression cli unar utility
Install: brew install unar
About:
Unar is a suite of command-line tools for extracting archives from a wide variety of formats. It provides the `unar`, `lsar`, and `bsdtar` utilities, offering a unified interface for handling different compression and archiving schemes. This makes it a versatile alternative to format-specific tools like `unzip` or `unrar`.
Key Features:
  • Supports a vast range of formats including RAR, ZIP, 7z, Tar, Gzip, and many others
  • Provides a single `unar` command to extract almost any archive type
  • Includes `lsar` for listing archive contents without extracting
  • Handles password-protected and multi-part archives
Use Cases:
  • Extracting downloaded archives of unknown or mixed formats
  • Automating batch extraction tasks in shell scripts
  • Accessing content from legacy or proprietary archive formats like RAR
Alternatives:
  • p7zip – p7zip is excellent for 7z format but less comprehensive for RAR compared to Unar.
  • bsdtar – bsdtar is often pre-installed and great for standard tar archives, but Unar supports a wider range of formats out of the box.
Version History
Detected Version Rev Change Commit
Sep 11, 2025 11:07am 6 VERSION_BUMP 4ea17936
Jan 3, 2025 1:02am 4 VERSION_BUMP c5ddaedf
Jan 2, 2025 6:11pm 4 VERSION_BUMP 828ab837
Oct 31, 2024 10:18pm 4 VERSION_BUMP 1c10e6d0