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Daily Mac App: Keka
Great free archive utilities are pretty hard to come by on the Mac. Keka is the exception. If OS X's built-in compression utility doesn't do enough for you, Keka could be the answer. Keka's been around since 2009, but only recently made it into the Mac App Store. Unlike Growl, Keka is available both as a paid, US$2 app from the Mac App Store and as a free download from the Keka project site. The two versions will be kept in sync, so there'll always be a free option. Of course if you use it, supporting the developers, either by a donation or buying it in the Mac App Store, will help them continue to update it. Keka allows you to compress files in multiple formats. Zip, 7z, Tar, Gzip and Bzip2 are all included. What's more Keka can extract even more with RAR, 7z, Lzma, Zip, Tar, Gzip, Bzip2, ISO, EXE, CAB, PAX, and even ACE supported. Keka also supports encrypted archives meaning you can password protect compressed files, as well as split archives -- handy when you have file size limitations. Like the Unarchiver and others, you can set Keka as the default extraction client, so files can be decompressed with a double click. If you want to get a bit more advanced, the Keka Dock icon serves as the one-stop shop for compression. Drag and drop files onto it to either decompress or create a new archive in the default format of your choosing. Format and compression method can be changed quickly from a pop-up menu from the Dock icon. It's all very slick.
Daily Mac App: iZip Archiver
Simple handling of compressed archives is a breeze on a Mac, simply secondary-click and hit "Compress". Likewise opening a zip file is as easy as a double-click. But what happens when you want to get a bit more advanced with your compression archives? That's where something like iZip Archiver steps in. iZip Archiver is available from both the Mac App Store and directly from the developer's site. The version available in the Mac App Store is a fairly limited application, but the free version available from izip.com allows you to do a couple of things that your Mac can't do natively, even with the likes of The Unarchiver, TinyExpander or Stuffit Expander installed. Essentially iZip Archiver will allow you to create archives in .zip format, secure them with a passcode and share them via files.com. That bit of the app doesn't really add anything to the default Mac-archiving experience. But what it will do is allow you to open and edit archives without extracting them first. Opening an archive mounts it like an external drive or .dmg, and allows you to look through the contents, open, edit, rename or extract single files, as well as add to or delete items from the archive. In this way you can add files you'd forgotten to zip up, or remove files you no longer want in your archive without having to unzip and re-zip them. For small archives it only saves a little time, but for really massive archives, skipping the extraction step will save you heaps of time. iZip Archiver supports ZIP, ZIPX, RAR, TAR, TAR.GZ and 7ZIP files, so most common archives are covered. There are other alternatives like BetterZip 2 and Stuffit Deluxe to name just two, but most of them aren't free. So if you're looking for a free tool for the occasional archive modification, iZip Archiver will do the job for you for nothing. The restricted iZip Archiver is available from the Mac App Store, while the more fully featured version is available directly from the developer's site.
TUAW's Daily Mac App: BetterZip 2
Mac OS X has had a zip utility built into it for some time. For extracting stuff other than Zip files, the Unarchiver's your friend. But what about actually compressing and managing archives? That's where BetterZip 2 steps in. BetterZip 2 allows you to open archives without first extracting them, allowing you to see precisely what's inside them before processing them. Often you've got loads of files compressed together, but you only want one -- BetterZip allows you to extract single files from archives without having to extract the whole lot, which can save you time and disk space if it's a really large archive. You can also update archives, adding files into an already compressed archive without having to extract the whole lot first and then re-compressing them together. BetterZip is able to open and extract most common formats, from ZIP to TAR, RAR to JAR, it's got you covered (for a full list see the MAS listing). BetterZip can also compress files into six archive types natively (ZIP, TAR, GZip or BZip2 compressed TAR, XAR and 7-Zip), as well as RAR archives courtesy of an external RAR command-line utility. You can also secure your ZIP, 7-Zip and RAR files with passwords, with WinZip compatible AES-256 encrypted archives at your fingertips. The US$19.99 BetterZip brings a full archive manager to your Mac. It's fast, easy to use and handles all but the most obscure archives. I would like to see the ability to create a few more archive types, but native ZIP and 7-Zip support will see you though most of your archiving needs. BetterZip 2 is available from the Mac App Store for $19.99 with a trial available from the developer's site.
