User:Egberts/Drafts/Virtual image

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Virtual image is a storage area used by a virtual machine (guest OS or container), sometime called virtual disk image or virtual storage image.


Formats of Virtual Image

Note
QCOW2 is the default image format of QEMU.


Comparison of virtual image formats are:

Type Used By File Signature Description
QCOW2 QEMU both QEMU's own Tiny Code Generator. This is the default. More frequently denoted as qemu and not qemu/tcg so often. app-emulation/qemu
VDI VirtualBox both Oracle VirtualBox started out with using the VDI for its hard drives. Now VirtualBox defaults to VMDK format.
VMDK VMware both main hard drive
VHDX Microsoft HyperV "VHDX" Windows virtual hard drive. Replaced VHD image format