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Introduction to Archiva

Overview of Archiva for macOS: dual engine (libarchive and 7-Zip), in-memory previews and no network access.

What is Archiva

Archiva is a native app for macOS 26 Tahoe or later (built with SwiftUI, for Macs with Apple Silicon and Intel) designed to explore, verify and manage compressed archives without extracting them.

Unlike traditional utilities, which force you to decompress the whole archive to disk just to look at one file, Archiva lets you:

  • browse the internal structure with expandable folders;
  • preview images, PDFs, text and source code directly in memory and, with Quick Look, documents, video and audio too;
  • inspect Mac apps (.app), extensions and installer packages (.pkg) without extracting them;
  • extract only the files you need by dragging them to the Finder;
  • open password-protected archives or archives split into several volumes;
  • create new archives, including AES-256 encrypted ones, and convert existing archives to another format.

Two Engines

Archiva combines two engines for compatibility and speed:

EngineIntegrationTasks and formats
libarchiveSystem library, in the app’s own processListing, browsing and in-memory preview of ZIP, RAR/RAR5, 7z, TAR, GZ, BZ2, XZ, ISO, CAB, LHA, CPIO and XAR; compressed TAR archives split into parts (.tar.gz.001…).
7-Zip 26.037zz bundled in Contents/MacOS (sandboxed, with the inherit entitlement)Encrypted listings (7z -mhe, RAR -hp), password-protected content (7z, RAR, ZIP AES), multi-volume archives (.7z.001, .partN.rar, .rNN, .zNN) and creating new archives.

Principles

  1. No network access: the app has no network entitlement (com.apple.security.network.client). No file, name or password ever leaves your Mac, and the bundled 7zz runs in the same sandbox with no connection.
  2. No temporary files just for reading: opening an archive writes nothing to disk; previews of images, PDFs and text in the info panel read content in memory (with libarchive or 7zz e -so). Quick Look only opens real files: for the file you choose to view, Archiva writes a copy to a private temporary folder and deletes it when the preview is no longer needed.
  3. Extraction only on request, never overwriting: files already in the destination are never overwritten (the new one gets a number, e.g. Folder 2). If the archive has a single item at its root it’s extracted directly, otherwise into a folder named after the archive.

Next Steps