Update 2012: Get Keka for Mac. Awesome! 

Looking for a 7zip compatible archiver/unarchiver for Macintosh? I was earlier tonight…I right-clicked on a folder titled 21stCentury, a presentation I’d given earlier this Fall including videos, images, and Keynote slideshow files, and PDF versions. Unfortunately, the right-click ZIP compression available on via right-click (Ctrl-click) on a Mac kept hanging in the last 5 seconds of the compression, as shown below:

So, I decided to try my old standby, GUI Tar. and decided to use the 7zip format that I’ve standardized on for long-term archives. For whatever the reason, GUI TAR didn’t work either, also freezing. This was the first time I’d tried to use it on a Mac using Snow Leopard, so I’ll be dropping it from my list of favorite Mac apps…even the latest version doesn’t work. Sigh.

Since I’ve standardized on 7zip format, I had to find a program that would work well on Mac. Sure enough, there’s been some innovation in this area and I found several solutions, however only one worth writing home about.

What works best? Keka for Mac. It’s free.