diff --git a/include/dwarfs/categorizer.h b/include/dwarfs/categorizer.h
index e3440558..d7d3a0cc 100644
--- a/include/dwarfs/categorizer.h
+++ b/include/dwarfs/categorizer.h
@@ -49,6 +49,7 @@ class categorizer {
   virtual ~categorizer() = default;
 
   virtual std::span<std::string_view const> categories() const = 0;
+  virtual bool is_single_fragment() const = 0;
 };
 
 class random_access_categorizer : public categorizer {
@@ -98,6 +99,10 @@ class categorizer_job {
 
   explicit operator bool() const { return impl_ != nullptr; }
 
+  bool has_multi_fragment_sequential_categorizers() const {
+    return impl_->has_multi_fragment_sequential_categorizers();
+  }
+
   class impl {
    public:
     virtual ~impl() = default;
@@ -106,6 +111,7 @@ class categorizer_job {
     virtual void categorize_random_access(std::span<uint8_t const> data) = 0;
     virtual void categorize_sequential(std::span<uint8_t const> data) = 0;
     virtual inode_fragments result() = 0;
+    virtual bool has_multi_fragment_sequential_categorizers() const = 0;
   };
 
  private:
diff --git a/src/dwarfs/categorizer.cpp b/src/dwarfs/categorizer.cpp
index 067100c0..00dcc50c 100644
--- a/src/dwarfs/categorizer.cpp
+++ b/src/dwarfs/categorizer.cpp
@@ -49,6 +49,7 @@ class categorizer_manager_private : public categorizer_manager::impl {
   categorizers() const = 0;
   virtual fragment_category::value_type
   category(std::string_view cat) const = 0;
+  virtual bool has_multi_fragment_sequential_categorizers() const = 0;
 };
 
 template <typename LoggerPolicy>
@@ -66,6 +67,7 @@ class categorizer_job_ final : public categorizer_job::impl {
   void categorize_random_access(std::span<uint8_t const> data) override;
   void categorize_sequential(std::span<uint8_t const> data) override;
   inode_fragments result() override;
+  bool has_multi_fragment_sequential_categorizers() const override;
 
  private:
   LOG_PROXY_DECL(LoggerPolicy);
@@ -158,6 +160,12 @@ inode_fragments categorizer_job_<LoggerPolicy>::result() {
   return best_;
 }
 
+template <typename LoggerPolicy>
+bool categorizer_job_<
+    LoggerPolicy>::has_multi_fragment_sequential_categorizers() const {
+  return mgr_.has_multi_fragment_sequential_categorizers();
+}
+
 categorizer_job::categorizer_job() = default;
 
 categorizer_job::categorizer_job(std::unique_ptr<impl> impl)
@@ -188,6 +196,10 @@ class categorizer_manager_ final : public categorizer_manager_private {
     return it->second;
   }
 
+  bool has_multi_fragment_sequential_categorizers() const override {
+    return has_multi_fragment_sequential_categorizers_;
+  }
+
  private:
   void add_category(std::string_view cat) {
     if (catmap_.emplace(cat, categories_.size()).second) {
@@ -202,6 +214,7 @@ class categorizer_manager_ final : public categorizer_manager_private {
   std::vector<std::shared_ptr<categorizer const>> categorizers_;
   std::vector<std::string_view> categories_;
   std::unordered_map<std::string_view, fragment_category::value_type> catmap_;
+  bool has_multi_fragment_sequential_categorizers_{false};
 };
 
 template <typename LoggerPolicy>
@@ -211,6 +224,11 @@ void categorizer_manager_<LoggerPolicy>::add(
     add_category(c);
   }
 
+  if (!c->is_single_fragment() &&
+      dynamic_cast<sequential_categorizer const*>(c.get())) {
+    has_multi_fragment_sequential_categorizers_ = true;
+  }
+
   categorizers_.emplace_back(std::move(c));
 }
 
diff --git a/src/dwarfs/categorizer/binary_categorizer.cpp b/src/dwarfs/categorizer/binary_categorizer.cpp
index 075cb85a..73e33b65 100644
--- a/src/dwarfs/categorizer/binary_categorizer.cpp
+++ b/src/dwarfs/categorizer/binary_categorizer.cpp
@@ -62,6 +62,8 @@ class binary_categorizer_ final : public binary_categorizer_base {
   categorize(std::filesystem::path const& path, std::span<uint8_t const> data,
              category_mapper const& mapper) const override;
 
+  bool is_single_fragment() const override { return false; }
+
  private:
   LOG_PROXY_DECL(LoggerPolicy);
 };
diff --git a/src/dwarfs/categorizer/incompressible_categorizer.cpp b/src/dwarfs/categorizer/incompressible_categorizer.cpp
index 976b2b05..4cc61f7a 100644
--- a/src/dwarfs/categorizer/incompressible_categorizer.cpp
+++ b/src/dwarfs/categorizer/incompressible_categorizer.cpp
@@ -156,6 +156,7 @@ class incompressible_categorizer_ final : public sequential_categorizer {
   std::unique_ptr<sequential_categorizer_job>
   job(std::filesystem::path const& path, size_t total_size,
       category_mapper const& mapper) const override;
+  bool is_single_fragment() const override { return true; }
 
  private:
   logger& lgr_;
diff --git a/src/dwarfs/categorizer/libmagic_categorizer.cpp b/src/dwarfs/categorizer/libmagic_categorizer.cpp
index 47324906..f22ccd1c 100644
--- a/src/dwarfs/categorizer/libmagic_categorizer.cpp
+++ b/src/dwarfs/categorizer/libmagic_categorizer.cpp
@@ -147,6 +147,8 @@ class libmagic_categorizer_ final : public libmagic_categorizer_base {
   categorize(std::filesystem::path const& path, std::span<uint8_t const> data,
              category_mapper const& mapper) const override;
 
+  bool is_single_fragment() const override { return true; }
+
  private:
   LOG_PROXY_DECL(LoggerPolicy);
   magic_wrapper m_;
diff --git a/src/dwarfs/inode_manager.cpp b/src/dwarfs/inode_manager.cpp
index 44eb7e2d..1290365e 100644
--- a/src/dwarfs/inode_manager.cpp
+++ b/src/dwarfs/inode_manager.cpp
@@ -155,6 +155,10 @@ class inode_ : public inode {
 
     if (mm) {
       if (catjob) {
+        DWARFS_CHECK(
+            !catjob.has_multi_fragment_sequential_categorizers(),
+            "multi-fragment sequential categorizers are not supported");
+
         catjob.set_total_size(mm->size());
         catjob.categorize_random_access(mm->span());
       }