Mac OS: Unable to expand zip file

The Mac Archive Utility doesn't allow you to unzip large files, use the command line.

unzip file.zip

I get a similar error with a zip file containing a very large file (5.5GB uncompressed). The error comes when I double-click on the file in the finder. That launches the MacOS Archive Utility, which is what gives the error. In my case it happens after it does the decompression, which takes quite a while.

Unable to expand "zip_file_name_here.zip" into "destination_folder_here".
(Error 1 - Operation not permitted.)

As it turned out, the uncompressed files were hidden away in a temporary directory, and they were fine, so it's some sort of sandbox error or something.

The easy solution for me: Download Stuffit Expander from the Mac App Store. It was able to deal with the file just fine.


I tried using Archive Utility but it was throwing the same error. Wasn't able to expand my file. I used another application (The Unarchiver) which is also free in Appstore. It works fine for me.