WhatFileType

Disk image file formats

18 formats in this category.

Disk image formats are a byte-for-byte copy of a disc, drive or installer. They can be mounted like a real drive or burned back to physical media.

.apkAPKAndroid Package.cueCUECue Sheet.debDEBDebian Package.dllDLLDynamic Link Library.dmgDMGApple Disk Image.esdESDWindows Electronic Software Download Image.exeEXEWindows Executable.imgIMGRaw Disk Image.isoISOISO 9660 Disc Image.msiMSIWindows Installer Package.ovaOVAOpen Virtual Appliance.pkgPKGmacOS Installer Package.qcow2QCOW2QEMU Copy-On-Write v2.rpmRPMRPM Package.vhdVHDVirtual Hard Disk.vhdxVHDXHyper-V Virtual Hard Disk.vmdkVMDKVMware Virtual Disk.wimWIMWindows Imaging Format File

What a disk image is

A disk image is a single file that contains a byte-for-byte copy of a disc, drive or installer. ISO images copy optical discs and are the standard way to distribute operating systems and bootable tools. DMG is Apple's disk image, the usual way macOS apps are delivered. IMG and platform-specific formats (VHD, VHDX, VMDK, QCOW2) back virtual machines and drive clones.

Because an image is a whole filesystem, you can mount it and browse its contents like a real drive, or write it back to physical media to recreate the original disc exactly.

Mounting and writing images

Modern operating systems can mount common images natively: double-clicking an ISO on Windows or a DMG on macOS opens it as a drive. Writing a bootable image to a USB stick, for installing an operating system, needs a dedicated tool such as balenaEtcher or Rufus, because a simple file copy will not make the drive bootable.

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