diff --git a/bundles/org.eclipse.equinox.p2.artifact.repository/src/org/eclipse/equinox/internal/p2/artifact/repository/simple/SimpleArtifactRepositoryIO.java b/bundles/org.eclipse.equinox.p2.artifact.repository/src/org/eclipse/equinox/internal/p2/artifact/repository/simple/SimpleArtifactRepositoryIO.java
index 2893b710e8..58aaa784e9 100644
--- a/bundles/org.eclipse.equinox.p2.artifact.repository/src/org/eclipse/equinox/internal/p2/artifact/repository/simple/SimpleArtifactRepositoryIO.java
+++ b/bundles/org.eclipse.equinox.p2.artifact.repository/src/org/eclipse/equinox/internal/p2/artifact/repository/simple/SimpleArtifactRepositoryIO.java
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 /*******************************************************************************
- * Copyright (c) 2007, 2022 IBM Corporation and others.
+ * Copyright (c) 2007, 2023 IBM Corporation and others.
  *
  * This program and the accompanying materials
  * are made available under the terms of the Eclipse Public License 2.0
@@ -14,11 +14,26 @@
  *******************************************************************************/
 package org.eclipse.equinox.internal.p2.artifact.repository.simple;
 
-import java.io.*;
+import java.io.BufferedInputStream;
+import java.io.BufferedOutputStream;
+import java.io.IOException;
+import java.io.InputStream;
+import java.io.OutputStream;
 import java.net.URI;
-import java.util.*;
+import java.util.ArrayList;
+import java.util.HashSet;
+import java.util.LinkedHashSet;
+import java.util.List;
+import java.util.Map;
+import java.util.Set;
+
 import javax.xml.parsers.ParserConfigurationException;
-import org.eclipse.core.runtime.*;
+
+import org.eclipse.core.runtime.IProgressMonitor;
+import org.eclipse.core.runtime.IStatus;
+import org.eclipse.core.runtime.OperationCanceledException;
+import org.eclipse.core.runtime.Status;
+import org.eclipse.core.runtime.URIUtil;
 import org.eclipse.equinox.internal.p2.artifact.repository.Activator;
 import org.eclipse.equinox.internal.p2.artifact.repository.Messages;
 import org.eclipse.equinox.internal.p2.core.helpers.LogHelper;
@@ -28,13 +43,19 @@
 import org.eclipse.equinox.internal.p2.persistence.XMLWriter;
 import org.eclipse.equinox.p2.core.IProvisioningAgent;
 import org.eclipse.equinox.p2.core.ProvisionException;
-import org.eclipse.equinox.p2.metadata.*;
+import org.eclipse.equinox.p2.metadata.IArtifactKey;
+import org.eclipse.equinox.p2.metadata.Version;
+import org.eclipse.equinox.p2.metadata.VersionRange;
+import org.eclipse.equinox.p2.repository.artifact.IArtifactDescriptor;
 import org.eclipse.equinox.p2.repository.artifact.IArtifactRepository;
 import org.eclipse.equinox.p2.repository.artifact.IProcessingStepDescriptor;
 import org.eclipse.equinox.p2.repository.artifact.spi.ProcessingStepDescriptor;
 import org.eclipse.osgi.service.datalocation.Location;
 import org.eclipse.osgi.util.NLS;
-import org.xml.sax.*;
+import org.xml.sax.Attributes;
+import org.xml.sax.InputSource;
+import org.xml.sax.SAXException;
+import org.xml.sax.XMLReader;
 
 /**
  * This class reads and writes artifact repository metadata
@@ -548,6 +569,11 @@ public void startElement(String name, Attributes attributes) {
 			protected void finished() {
 				if (isValidXML() && currentArtifact != null) {
 					Map<String, String> properties = (propertiesHandler == null ? new OrderedProperties(0) : propertiesHandler.getProperties());
+					String format = properties.get(IArtifactDescriptor.FORMAT);
+					if (format != null && format.equals(IArtifactDescriptor.FORMAT_PACKED)) {
+						// ignore packed artifacts as they can no longer be handled at all
+						return;
+					}
 					currentArtifact.addProperties(properties);
 
 					properties = (repositoryPropertiesHandler == null ? new OrderedProperties(0) : repositoryPropertiesHandler.getProperties());