Open-source Notices and Source Information
BetterMac applications build on mature open-source components. Each component remains governed by its own license. This page lists the components, versions, and full license texts for each application.
Release and purchase status
Better UnArchiver is available through the Mac App Store, where Apple handles transactions and restoration. Direct website checkout, License issuance, and account recovery remain disabled. Do not send payment information or transaction credentials to support.
Written offer for source code
For the components below that are licensed under the GNU LGPL, we will provide, for three years from the date of distribution of the relevant version, a complete machine-readable copy of the corresponding source code for a charge no more than our cost of physically performing source distribution. Send requests with the application name and version to support@bettermac.net. Where an official upstream source archive is listed below, that archive is the corresponding source and may be downloaded directly instead.
Better UnArchiver component inventory
| Component | Version | Use | Form of inclusion | License |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 7-Zip | 25.01 | ARJ and DMG reading, and 7z capability gaps | Unmodified standalone executable 7zz, invoked out of process (not linked) | GNU LGPL-2.1-or-later; the GNU LGPL with the unRAR restriction for some code; BSD 3-clause and BSD 2-clause for some code |
| UnRAR | 7.23 | RAR / RAR5 listing and extraction | Compiled from source, statically linked | UnRAR license (a freeware license, not an OSI-approved open-source license) |
| libarchive | 3.8.9 | In-process archive reading, extraction, and creation | Statically linked | Mainly BSD 2-clause, with per-file exceptions (see below) |
| XZ Utils / liblzma | 5.8.3 | LZMA / XZ support, statically combined into libarchive | Statically linked | BSD Zero Clause License (0BSD) |
7-Zip
7-Zip Copyright © 1999-2025 Igor Pavlov. The 7zz shipped with the application is the official macOS universal binary, unmodified and only re-signed as required for a macOS bundle. The application itself contains no derivative of the 7-Zip source. Because 7zz is a separate executable invoked through a documented command-line interface, a recipient may substitute their own build of 7-Zip.
Third-party code within 7-Zip: LZFSE (BSD 3-clause, Copyright Apple Inc.), the Zstandard decoder (BSD 3-clause, Copyright Facebook, Inc.), and XXH64 (BSD 2-clause, Copyright 2012-2021 Yann Collet).
Official source archive: 7z2501-src.tar.xz (SHA-256 ed087f83ee789c1ea5f39c464c55a5c9d4008deb0efe900814f2df262b82c36e).
UnRAR restriction
UnRAR source code may be used in any software to handle RAR archives without limitations free of charge, but cannot be used to develop RAR (WinRAR) compatible archiver and to re-create RAR compression algorithm, which is proprietary. Distribution of modified UnRAR source code in separate form or as a part of other software is permitted, provided that full text of this paragraph, starting from "UnRAR source code" words, is included in license, or in documentation if license is not available, and in source code comments of resulting package.
RAR and RAR5 are extraction-only in Better UnArchiver. The application does not create RAR archives, does not recreate the proprietary RAR compression algorithm, and does not repair RAR recovery records; the Reed-Solomon recovery-volume sources are excluded from the build. All copyrights to RAR and UnRAR are owned by the author, Alexander Roshal.
Third-party code within UnRAR: CRC32 based on the Intel Slicing-by-8 algorithm (BSD License, Copyright © 2004-2006 Intel Corporation, All Rights Reserved), Dmitry Shkarin PPMII and Dmitry Subbotin rangecoder (public domain), Szymon Stefanek AES and Steve Reid SHA-1 implementations (public domain), and BLAKE2sp. The full acknowledgements text is linked below.
libarchive per-file exceptions
The libarchive license file states that the per-file statements are controlling, and the distribution is not uniformly licensed. Specifically: archive_read_support_filter_compress.c, archive_write_add_filter_compress.c and mtree.5 carry a 3-clause BSD notice from the Regents of the University of California; archive_parse_date.c is in the public domain; and the BLAKE2 files are triple-licensed under CC0-1.0, the OpenSSL license, or Apache-2.0 at the recipient's option — BetterMac elects CC0-1.0 for those files.
System libraries
zlib, libbz2, libiconv, and CommonCrypto are provided dynamically by macOS under the operating-system license and create no separate redistribution obligation.
Better Share components
| Component | Version | Use | Form of inclusion | License |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| FlyingFox | 0.27.1 | LAN HTTP server for the browser share channel | Swift Package dependency, compiled with the application | MIT License |
FlyingFox Copyright © 2022 Simon Whitty, licensed under the MIT License. Source repository: github.com/swhitty/FlyingFox. Better Share contains no other third-party components.
Full license texts
7-Zip license · GNU LGPL 2.1 full text · UnRAR license · UnRAR acknowledgements · libarchive license · liblzma license · FlyingFox license
For any question about a component license, or to request source code, contact support@bettermac.net.