OVF file format is used as a standard file format for storing and distributing the software applications which are meant to run on virtual machines. OVF file format is not made for any specific architecture and therefore can be used for any virtual machine.

This file format is used as a container file with a number of files placed in its directory. Along with the data the OVF file also contains an OVF descriptor file which is XML based file and is used to describe the OVF file contents to the virtual machine. OVF descriptor is used to store metadata information.