PAR File Documentation

Overview

Feature Value
Format Name Parchive Index File
File Extension .PAR, .P01, .P02, etc.
Primary Use Data Recovery and Integrity Verification
MIME Type application/x-par2
File Signature (Hex) 50 41 52 32
Creator Parchive project
Recovery Methodology Reed-Solomon Error Correction
Block Size Variable Yes
Maximum File Size Supported Dependent on Block Count
Direct Editing No
Encryption Support No
Compression No, used for recovery not compression
File Spanning Yes
Versioning PAR, PAR2
Recovery File Creation Multiple redundancy levels
Open Format Yes
Checksum Types CRC32, MD5
Operating Systems Supported Windows, Linux, macOS
Popular Software Support Multipar, Par2cmdline