An A02 file is simply the third part of a split archive and won’t open individually because the structural header lives in the first chunk, so programs return errors such as “cannot open volume”; proper extraction requires placing all volumes in one folder and opening the starter—either the main .ARJ or the .A00—allowing archive tools to pull automatically from A01, A02, etc.; if issues occur, they usually reference missing files, incomplete parts, or CRC errors, and sorting the directory by name helps verify that every expected volume is present.
To verify what your A02 belongs to, sort files so related ones group together, then look for identical prefixes—e.g., `backup.a00`, `backup.a01`, `backup.a02`—and check if a `.arj` file appears, which serves as the correct entry point; if there’s no `.arj` and the set starts at `.a00`, that’s the file to open via 7-Zip or WinRAR, and gaps in numbering or mismatched filenames signal missing or damaged segments that need re-copying or re-downloading before extraction succeeds.
Saying an A02 is “part 3” means it’s the third numbered segment in a multi-volume archive produced when large compressed files are split—most often into `.A00`, `.A01`, `.A02`—so A02 doesn’t hold standalone meaning but continues the same compressed stream, with the archive header stored in the first volume or a main `.ARJ`, making A02 unreadable on its own; when identical prefixes like `something.a00`, `something.a01`, and `something.a02` appear, the right method is to open the first piece so your extractor can automatically use the later parts.
An A02 file generally fails to open alone because it’s a middle block of a split archive, and since the essential metadata—header, index, compression descriptors, integrity markers—is stored at the start of `.A00` or `.ARJ`, A02 begins mid-stream with no identifying signature, prompting errors like “unknown format”; once all pieces sit in the same folder, opening the first part lets the extractor automatically process A01, A02, and the remaining volumes.
When a tool like 7-Zip or WinRAR “uses” A02, it handles it strictly as the next data segment, because extraction starts from the initial `.ARJ` or `.A00` which contains the archive header, and volume data is consumed sequentially—first `. If you loved this post and you would like to receive more info relating to A02 file technical details kindly visit the web-page. A00`, then `.A01`, then `.A02`—without any manual merging; if A02 is absent or corrupted, you get errors such as “CRC mismatch”.
