LanguageQCOW2
QEMU Copy-On-Write data
File type: Virtual machine, virtualization software related file
Files with qcow2 extension can be found as one of the default disk image file types from QEMU.
What is qcow2 file?
File type category:
Virtual machine, virtualization software related file
Date updated: November 8, 2021
The qcow2 file extension was used from version 0.9 of QEMU for one of its disk image format.
QCOW image format is one of the disk image formats supported by the QEMU processor emulator. It is a representation of a fixed size block device in a file. Benefits it offers over using raw dump representation include:
- Smaller file size, even on filesystems which don't support holes (i.e. sparse files)
- Copy-on-write support, where the image only represents changes made to an underlying disk image
- Snapshot support, where the image can contain multiple snapshots of the images history
- Optional zlib based compression
- Optional AES encryption
How to open qcow2 file?
You can work with these files in QEMU.
Suggested software to open qcow2 file:
Associated software actions with the qcow2 file
Software applications that can open qcow2 files:
Qemu Manager (Microsoft Windows)
QEMU (Linux/Unix)
Software apps that create qcow2 files:
Qemu Manager (Microsoft Windows)
QEMU (Linux/Unix)
Software applications that handle other tasks involving qcow2 files:
Qemu Manager (Microsoft Windows)
QEMU (Linux/Unix)