Understanding Safari’s Safe Download Behaviour
By default, Apple Safari is configured to automatically open “safe” files immediately after they finish downloading. This includes unzipping compressed archives (.zip files), opening PDF documents, and expanding disk images. While this feature is designed to save time, it can be highly inconvenient if you are downloading a ZIP file to send to someone else, or if you prefer to organise your compressed files before extracting their contents.
How to Disable Automatic Unzipping in Safari
You can prevent Safari from automatically opening compressed files by adjusting a simple preference setting.
1. Open the Safari browser on your Mac.
2. Click on Safari in the top menu bar, then select Settings (or Preferences on older versions of macOS).
3. Ensure you are on the General tab.
4. Look at the very bottom of the General settings window.
5. Untick the box next to Open “safe” files after downloading.
Managing Your Downloads Manually
Once you disable this setting, Safari will no longer automatically expand ZIP files or launch other downloaded media. Instead, the files will remain in their original format within your Downloads folder.
To extract a ZIP archive manually, simply open your Downloads folder in Finder and double-click the ZIP file. The macOS Archive Utility will instantly extract the contents into a new folder in the same location, giving you complete control over when and where your files are uncompressed.