diff --git a/unmkinitramfs b/unmkinitramfs
index 2258e69..9bce38a 100755
--- a/unmkinitramfs
+++ b/unmkinitramfs
@@ -25,24 +25,28 @@ usage_error()
 # Extract a compressed cpio archive
 xcpio()
 {
-	archive="$1"
-	dir="$2"
-	shift 2
+	archive_uncomp="$1"
+	archive="$2"
+	dir="$3"
+	shift 3
 
-	if gzip -t "$archive" >/dev/null 2>&1 ; then
-		gzip -c -d "$archive"
-	elif zstd -q -c -t "$archive" >/dev/null 2>&1 ; then
-		zstd -q -c -d "$archive"
-	elif xzcat -t "$archive" >/dev/null 2>&1 ; then
-		xzcat "$archive"
-	elif lz4cat -t < "$archive" >/dev/null 2>&1 ; then
-		lz4cat "$archive"
-	elif bzip2 -t "$archive" >/dev/null 2>&1 ; then
-		bzip2 -c -d "$archive"
-	elif lzop -t "$archive" >/dev/null 2>&1 ; then
-		lzop -c -d "$archive"
-	# Ignoring other data, which may be garbage at the end of the file
-	fi | (
+	{
+		cat "$archive_uncomp"
+		if gzip -t "$archive" >/dev/null 2>&1 ; then
+			gzip -c -d "$archive"
+		elif zstd -q -c -t "$archive" >/dev/null 2>&1 ; then
+			zstd -q -c -d "$archive"
+		elif xzcat -t "$archive" >/dev/null 2>&1 ; then
+			xzcat "$archive"
+		elif lz4cat -t < "$archive" >/dev/null 2>&1 ; then
+			lz4cat "$archive"
+		elif bzip2 -t "$archive" >/dev/null 2>&1 ; then
+			bzip2 -c -d "$archive"
+		elif lzop -t "$archive" >/dev/null 2>&1 ; then
+			lzop -c -d "$archive"
+		# Ignoring other data, which may be garbage at the end of the file
+		fi
+	} | (
 		if [ -n "$dir" ]; then
 			mkdir -p -- "$dir"
 			cd -- "$dir"
@@ -65,13 +69,16 @@ checkzero()
 		LANG=C grep -q -z '^$'
 }
 
-# Split an initramfs into archives and call xcpio on each
+# Split an initramfs into archives and run cpio/xcpio to extract them
 splitinitramfs()
 {
 	initramfs="$1"
 	dir="$2"
 	shift 2
 
+	# Ensure this exists so we can use it unconditionally later
+	touch "$tempdir/main-uncomp.cpio"
+
 	count=0
 	start=0
 	while true; do
@@ -81,55 +88,92 @@ splitinitramfs()
 		# very roughly based on linux/lib/earlycpio.c
 		end=$start
 		while true; do
-			if checkzero "$initramfs" $end; then
-				# This is the EOF marker.  There might
-				# be more zero padding before the next
-				# archive, so read through all of it.
-				end=$((end + 4))
+			headoff=$end
+			magic="$(readhex "$initramfs" $end 6)" || break
+			test "$magic" = 070701 || test "$magic" = 070702 || break
+			namesize=$((0x$(readhex "$initramfs" $((end + 94)) 8)))
+			filesize=$((0x$(readhex "$initramfs" $((end + 54)) 8)))
+			nameoff=$((end + 110))
+			end=$(((nameoff + namesize + 3) & ~3))
+			end=$(((end + filesize + 3) & ~3))
+
+			# Check for EOF marker.  Note that namesize
+			# includes a null terminator.
+			if [ $namesize = 11 ] \
+			   && name="$(dd if="$initramfs" bs=1 skip=$nameoff count=$((namesize - 1)) 2> /dev/null)" \
+			   && [ "$name" = 'TRAILER!!!' ]; then
+				# There might be more zero padding
+				# before the next archive, so read
+				# through all of it.
 				while checkzero "$initramfs" $end; do
 					end=$((end + 4))
 				done
 				break
 			fi
-			magic="$(readhex "$initramfs" $end 6)" || break
-			test "$magic" = 070701 || test "$magic" = 070702 || break
-			namesize=0x$(readhex "$initramfs" $((end + 94)) 8)
-			filesize=0x$(readhex "$initramfs" $((end + 54)) 8)
-			end=$((end + 110))
-			end=$(((end + namesize + 3) & ~3))
-			end=$(((end + filesize + 3) & ~3))
 		done
+
 		if [ $end -eq $start ]; then
 			break
 		fi
 
-		# Extract to cpio1, cpio2, ... subdirectories
-		count=$((count + 1))
-		subdir=cpio$count
-		dd < "$initramfs" skip=$start count=$((end - start)) iflag=skip_bytes,count_bytes 2> /dev/null |
-		(
-			if [ -n "$dir" ]; then
-				mkdir -p -- "$dir/$subdir"
-				cd -- "$dir/$subdir"
+		# Check whether this should be treated as an "early"
+		# or "main" initramfs.  Currently all filenames the
+		# kernel looks for in an early initramfs begin with
+		# kernel/ subdirectory, but we should never create
+		# this in the main initramfs.
+		if dd < "$initramfs" skip=$start count=$((end - start)) \
+			iflag=skip_bytes,count_bytes 2> /dev/null |
+		   cpio -i --list 2> /dev/null |
+		   grep -q ^kernel/; then
+			# Extract to early, early2, ... subdirectories
+			count=$((count + 1))
+			if [ $count -eq 1 ]; then
+				subdir=early
+			else
+				subdir=early$count
 			fi
-			cpio -i "$@"
-		)
+			dd < "$initramfs" skip=$start count=$((end - start)) \
+				iflag=skip_bytes,count_bytes 2> /dev/null |
+			(
+				if [ -n "$dir" ]; then
+					mkdir -p -- "$dir/$subdir"
+					cd -- "$dir/$subdir"
+				fi
+				cpio -i "$@"
+			)
+		else
+			# Append to main-uncomp.cpio, excluding the
+			# trailer so cpio won't stop before the
+			# (de)compressed part.
+			dd < "$initramfs" skip=$start \
+				count=$((headoff - start)) \
+				iflag=skip_bytes,count_bytes \
+				>> "$tempdir/main-uncomp.cpio" 2> /dev/null
+		fi
+
 		start=$end
 	done
 
+	# Split out final archive if necessary
 	if [ "$end" -gt 0 ]; then
-		# Extract to main subdirectory
-		subarchive=$(mktemp "${TMPDIR:-/var/tmp}/unmkinitramfs_XXXXXX")
-		trap 'rm -f "$subarchive"' EXIT
+		subarchive="$tempdir/main-comp.cpio"
 		dd < "$initramfs" skip="$end" iflag=skip_bytes 2> /dev/null \
 			> "$subarchive"
-		count=$((count + 1))
-		subdir=cpio$count
-		xcpio "$subarchive" "${dir:+$dir/$subdir}" -i "$@"
 	else
-		# Don't use subdirectories (for backward compatibility)
-		xcpio "$initramfs" "$dir" -i "$@"
+		subarchive="$initramfs"
 	fi
+
+	# If we found an early initramfs, extract main initramfs to
+	# main subdirectory.  Otherwise don't use a subdirectory (for
+	# backward compatibility).
+	if [ "$count" -gt 0 ]; then
+		subdir=main
+	else
+		subdir=.
+	fi
+
+	xcpio "$tempdir/main-uncomp.cpio" "$subarchive" \
+		"${dir:+$dir/$subdir}" -i "$@"
 }
 
 OPTIONS=$(getopt -o hv --long help,list,verbose -n "$0" -- "$@") || usage_error
@@ -168,5 +212,8 @@ if [ $# -ne $expected_args ]; then
 	usage_error
 fi
 
+tempdir="$(mktemp -d "${TMPDIR:-/var/tmp}/unmkinitramfs_XXXXXX")"
+trap 'rm -rf "$tempdir"' EXIT
+
 # shellcheck disable=SC2086
 splitinitramfs "$1" "${2:-}" $cpio_opts
diff --git a/unmkinitramfs.8 b/unmkinitramfs.8
index ae9252d..d0965af 100644
--- a/unmkinitramfs.8
+++ b/unmkinitramfs.8
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-.TH UNMKINITRAMFS 8  "2016/12/15" "initramfs\-tools" "System Administration"
+.TH UNMKINITRAMFS 8  "2025/03/20" "initramfs\-tools" "System Administration"
 
 .SH NAME
 unmkinitramfs \- extract content from an initramfs image
@@ -14,10 +14,21 @@ unmkinitramfs \- extract content from an initramfs image
 The
 .B unmkinitramfs
 command extracts the content of a given initramfs image using
-.BR cpio .
-If the image contains multiple segments, each are passed to
 .B cpio
-in order.
+and the appropriate decompressor command.
+
+The initramfs image may be a single compressed cpio archive, or the
+concatenation of any number of uncompressed cpio archives followed by
+a compressed cpio archive.
+
+When the initramfs image includes one or more "early initramfs"
+archives, that is uncompressed archives with microcode or other files
+that the kernel uses directly, these are extracted to sub\-directories
+named "\fBearly\fR", "\fBearly2\fR", etc., and the other archives are
+extracted to a sub\-directory named "\fBmain\fR".
+
+In a future version of initramfs\-tools this behaviour may change so
+that all archives are extracted directly into the given directory.
 
 .SH OPTIONS
 
@@ -40,9 +51,8 @@ Extract initramfs content of current running kernel:
 
 .SH BUGS
 .BR unmkinitramfs
-cannot deal with multiple-segmented initramfs images, except where an
-early (uncompressed) initramfs with system firmware is prepended to
-the regular compressed initramfs.
+does not support initramfs images with more or less than one
+compressed cpio archive.
 
 .SH AUTHOR
 The initramfs-tools are written by Maximilian Attems <maks@debian.org>