PeaZip
Handles 200-plus archive formats, creates encrypted archives, and doubles as a file manager.
What it does
PeaZip is a full archive manager rather than just an extractor. It fully supports creating 7Z, ZIP, TAR, GZ, BZ2, XZ, ZST, BR, WIM, PAQ/ZPAQ and its own PEA format, and can browse and extract RAR, CAB, DEB, DMG, ISO, LHA, UDF and ZIPX among 200-plus types.
Beyond compression it covers:
- Authenticated encryption with AES-256, Twofish and Serpent, in PEA, ZIP, 7Z, ARC and RAR containers,
- Two-factor archive protection — password plus keyfile, which is unusual in a free archiver,
- an encrypted password manager,
- self-extracting archives, volume spanning and split files,
- secure deletion, duplicate finding and hash calculation,
- exporting any operation as a command-line script.
Notes
- Not in Homebrew; download from the project site.
- It is a Free Pascal / Lazarus application, so the interface is not native-looking on macOS.
- The PEA format is PeaZip’s own. Anything meant to be opened elsewhere should be 7Z or ZIP with AES.
Alternative to
| Alternative | Type | Trade-off |
|---|---|---|
| Keka | Open source | A far more native macOS app for the same create-and-extract job |
| BetterZip | Paid | Polished, with archive browsing |
| 7-Zip on the command line | Open source | The same compression and AES-256 without a GUI |
| Cryptomator or age | Open source | Better answers if encryption, not compression, is the point |