Springy for Mac

Simple archiving for macOS

Springy is a lightweight, user-friendly archiver for Mac users who prefer an alternative to StuffIt. It supports drag-and-drop archiving and integrates into Finder for quick access via a contextual menu. A handy preview feature lets you inspect archive contents before extracting, which is especially useful with very large archives. Compression and extraction are fast, and you can open and edit files inside an archive just by double-clicking them.

Recommended alternative: WinRAR (free)

Supported archive types

Springy works with most common and many less-common archive formats, including but not limited to:

• 7Z
• ZIP
• TAR
• RAR
• GZIP
• BZIP2
• PAX
• CPIO
• CPGZ
• UNIX compress
• SIT
• JAR
• DMG
• ISO disk images

You can also create disk images with Springy in addition to standard archive formats.

Installation note

During setup Springy asks you to place its application into a Contextual Menu Items folder so the Finder contextual menu will include Springy actions. Some users have reported that dragging the app to that folder instead opens the Downloads folder — if that happens, place the contextual menu component manually or consult support documentation for the correct target folder on your version of macOS.

Usability and performance

• Quick extraction and compression make Springy suitable for everyday use.
• The ability to preview and browse archives before extracting helps avoid unnecessary operations on large files.
• Editing items inside an archive by double-clicking is supported and convenient.
• Finder integration and Services menu entries let you archive or extract with minimal clicks.

Recent fixes and enhancements

Notable improvements and bug fixes in recent updates include:

• Resolved an issue in version 1.6 that could corrupt a ZIP after modifying it and quitting the app.
• Added read/open/extract capability for 7Z archives (full create/modify support planned).
• Added support for opening and extracting Microsoft CAB files.
• Springy now functions as a Services provider on Snow Leopard, using the Services menu rather than the older Finder contextual plug-in (CM plug-in remains for Leopard and earlier).
• Introduced a direct-extract mode: double-clicking an archive or disk image in Finder extracts it immediately (application mode only).
• New flat file list view displays all items without folder hierarchy (application only).
• Much-improved automatic detection of archive types.
• Faster handling of ZIP archives, especially those containing tens of thousands of files.
• Can open and extract from certain malformed large ZIPs created by Apple tools (Archive Utility, ditto) that don't conform to Zip64.
• Can open empty, uncompressed TAR, PAX, and CPIO archives created by Springy.
• Icon previews are shown right after generation for a smoother user experience (application only).
• Updated toolbar icons in the preferences panel (thanks to Kenichi Yoshida).
• File size display on Snow Leopard now uses decimal units (powers of 10) to match system-wide conventions.
• Removed the option to set Springy as the default handler for DMG files to prevent issues experienced by some users (application only).
• Fixed a bug that caused incorrect drawing of the last preview column after making an empty column selection in Snow Leopard (application only).
• Fixed rendering issues for some file previews in a preview column on Snow Leopard (application only).
• Corrected a bug that could permanently disable the password text field when creating DMG images (application only).
• Fixed a CM plug-in hang that occurred after right-clicking two or more times on an empty selection in Path Finder (contextual menu plug-in only).

If you rely on complex or very large archives, Springy’s improved ZIP handling and preview features make it a compelling alternative for users who find StuffIt cumbersome.