# 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 - --- # Agent Instructions: Querying This Documentation If you need additional information that is not directly available in this page, you can query the documentation dynamically by asking a question. Perform an HTTP GET request on the current page URL with the `ask` query parameter: ``` GET https://notes.tatusl.dev/virtualization/file_formats.md?ask= ``` The question should be specific, self-contained, and written in natural language. The response will contain a direct answer to the question and relevant excerpts and sources from the documentation. Use this mechanism when the answer is not explicitly present in the current page, you need clarification or additional context, or you want to retrieve related documentation sections.