> For the complete documentation index, see [llms.txt](https://notes.tatusl.dev/llms.txt). Markdown versions of documentation pages are available by appending `.md` to page URLs; this page is available as [Markdown](https://notes.tatusl.dev/virtualization/file_formats.md). # File formats ## Running .ova packaged virtual appliances with KVM/QEMU OVA is Open Virtual Appliance package, which is a tar archive containing .ovf descriptor file and typically one or more disk images, for example in .vmdk format. OVF file describes specifications for a virtual machine in XML format. .ova file can be extracted with the following command: ``` tar xf $name_of_ova_file.ova ``` Then, .vmdk disk images can be converted to KVM/QEMU supported QCOW2 format with the following command: ``` qemu-img convert -O qcow2 $path_to_vmdk_file.vmdk $name_of_qcow2_file.qcow2 ``` New VM can be then created from QCOW2 disk image using for example libvirt. If there are multiple disk images in .ova, VM might need multiple disks to be attached. ## Resources * Open Virtualization Format - * Virtual appliance -