What is a OVA file
Files with the OVA extension are commonly used by virtualization applications. They are so-called virtual appliances in the form of a package that contains all kinds of files and information an application like VMware Workstation or Oracle’s Virtualbox need to set-up and run a virtual machine. The files inside the OVA include a descriptor file with an OVF extension, certificate or manifest files (latter usually have the extension MF), and other files needed by the virtualization applications.
OVA files are actually directories in the OVF format, the standard format for virtual machine software. What distinguishes OVA from OVF files is that OVA files are saved in a single archive. For this, the TAR packaging method is used. It facilitates the distribution of virtual machine information.
Here's a small, but not exhaustive list of programs that can open OVA documents:
- Oracle VM Virtualbox (Windows, Mac & Linux)
- VMware Fusion (Mac)
- VMware OVF Tool (Windows, Mac & Linux)
- VMware vCenter Converter (Windows)
- VMware Workstation (Windows & Linux)
