Kernir

Kernir is a free, open-source archive viewer and editor for Mac, iPhone and iPad. Press Space in Finder to see what’s in a ZIP, 7z or RAR, take out one file, add or remove files, and save the archive back. Built entirely from Apple’s own controls.

Download for Mac
Download on the Mac App Store Download on the App Store
View source on GitHub

Requires macOS 14 or later.

A Kernir window showing the contents of project.zip: a src folder with two Swift files, an assets folder, an image, a PDF and text files, with sizes, kinds and dates.
The Quick Look panel for project.zip, listing its folders and files with sizes, and an Open in Kernir button.

Press Space to look inside.

Archive Utility, the Mac’s built-in tool, can only unpack a whole archive. It can’t show you what’s inside first or change one file.

Select a ZIP, 7z or RAR in Finder and press Space. Quick Look lists every file and folder in it, with sizes, without unpacking anything or opening an app.

Need just one file? Open the archive in Kernir and drag that file out.

How Quick Look for archives works

Change an archive without unpacking it.

  • Add and remove. Drop files onto the window or a folder in it, and delete what you don’t need.
  • Extract. Takes out the selection, or everything if nothing is selected.
  • Save. Repacks the archive, and replaces the original only once the new one is fully written.

It behaves like any Mac document: ⌘Z undoes, and closing asks before throwing changes away.

Edit a ZIP without unzipping
Kernir on iPhone listing the Project archive, with Design, Docs and Photos folders and file controls.

On iPhone and iPad too.

Open archives from Files or the Share sheet, browse their folders, preview files and save changes back in place.

Read the illustrated iPhone and iPad guide

iOS 17 or iPadOS 17 or later.

Download on the App Store

Opens ZIP, 7z, RAR and the other archives people send you.

Need help with a particular task? Browse the archive guides.

Reading and writing are handled by libarchive, the open-source library behind tar on macOS. RAR is read-only, because the format is closed.

Password-protected ZIP and 7z AES-256 archives open after you enter the password. Encrypted RAR archives aren’t supported yet.

FormatReadWrite
ZIPYesYes
7zYesYes
TAR, TAR.GZ, TAR.BZ2, TAR.XZYesYes
RARYesNo
GZ, BZ2, XZ, ZSTDYesNo
ISOYesNo
CPIO, XAR, LHA, CABYesNo

Light and dark, like the rest of your Mac.

Kernir follows your Mac’s appearance and uses the same list, toolbar and Liquid Glass buttons as Finder, so it looks at home in both.

The Kernir window for project.zip, the same list of folders and files in light or dark appearance.
Appearance

Free, with no catch.

The app needs no account and has no subscription, no Pro version and no tracking. The code is on GitHub under the MIT license, and anyone can read it, report a problem or send a fix.

If Kernir saves you time, you can say thanks with a coffee. It helps, and it’s never required.

Buy me a coffee
irustamov/kernir
Price
Free
Requires
macOS 14 or later, iOS 17 or iPadOS 17 or later
License
MIT

Download Kernir

Download for Mac
Download on the Mac App Store Download on the App Store
View source on GitHub

Kernir.dmg, signed and notarized. Requires macOS 14 or later.

Buy me a coffee