An A02 file most often represents part three of a divided archive rather than a standalone format, because large compressed files get broken into chunks like A00, A01, A02, etc., and A02 won’t open by itself since the header lives in the first part, causing errors such as "corrupt"; the correct workflow is to place all parts together and open the starter—either the .ARJ file if present or the .A00 if not—so tools like 7-Zip or WinRAR can automatically read A01, A02, and the rest, with extraction failures usually pointing to missing or damaged volumes, and sorting by name to confirm all parts exist helps ensure successful extraction.

To identify what your A02 file is tied to, list files in name order so matching pieces cluster together, checking whether files share the same prefix such as `backup. If you cherished this post and you would like to obtain extra info regarding A02 file recovery kindly take a look at our web-page. a00`, `backup.a01`, and `backup.a02`; if a main file like `backup.arj` is present, open that rather than A02, but if no `.arj` exists and the set starts at `.a00`, then `.a00` is the correct entry point, which you can test by using 7-Zip or WinRAR to open it, and if any part numbers are missing or filenames differ, the archive won’t extract until the missing/corrupted volumes are replaced.

Describing A02 as "part 3" means it belongs to a multi-volume archive produced when a big compressed file is divided into `.A00`, `.A01`, `.A02`, etc. for easier transfer or storage, so A02 itself has no separate meaning and continues the same data, while the header and index live in the first volume or a main `.ARJ`, making A02 alone unusable; seeing matching files like `something.a00`, `something.a01`, and `something.a02` indicates a split set, and opening the first piece lets your extraction tool assemble the full archive.

An A02 file often won’t open because it’s only a mid-stream piece, and archive formats expect the header, file list, compression info, and checksums to appear in the opening volume (`.A00` or a main `.ARJ`), so an extractor checking A02’s beginning sees no valid signature and reports "cannot open as archive"; keeping all parts together and launching the first volume is how the archive tool correctly reads A01, A02, etc. to rebuild the original content.

When an extractor "uses" an A02 file, it’s simply pulling more bytes from it because all structure lives in the starter (`.ARJ` or `.A00`), and as the tool decompresses, it requests the next sequential piece—`.A01`, then `.A02`—to continue the data stream; if A02 is mislabeled, misplaced, or broken, the process halts with messages like "cannot find next volume".