This is an old revision of this page, as edited by 87.221.88.105 (talk) at 17:40, 14 March 2011. The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.
Revision as of 17:40, 14 March 2011 by 87.221.88.105 (talk)(diff) ← Previous revision | Latest revision (diff) | Newer revision → (diff) | This article does not cite any sources. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Find sources: "IMG" file format – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR (December 2009) (Learn how and when to remove this message) |
The IMG file format is one of the following files:
- A CD or DVD image file, essentially equivalent to an ISO file. On such a file, simply changing the extension from IMG to ISO can make it usable as the latter by most programs.
- An archive format used for creating a disk image of floppy disks and HDDs. This allows for digital storage, transmission, and replication of floppy disks and HDDs. Files created using this format typically use the ".IMG" file extension.
- A file in the Macintosh Disk Image format used by Aladdin Systems (now Allume Systems) ShrinkWrap and Apple Disk Copy for Mac OS although they share the same file extension.
- The IMG file format, also known as GEM IMG, is an image file format used to store bitmap digital images on Graphical Environment Manager.
- A graphics image format used in various ways by many different graphics software packages.
IMG Archive Format details
An IMG file contains a raw dump of the content of a disk. This format is not compatible with the Disk Copy Fast and DiskDupe format but is supported by multiple software vendors and conventions. It contains the same data as the IMA file format.
Support and development
The IMG file format is currently supported by GNU RaWrite & RaWrite2, RawWrite for Windows, and WinRawrite. It is utilized by Microsoft Virtual Machine/Microsoft Virtual Server, Qemu, VirtualBox and WinImage
Nero Burning ROM prior to 6.0 supported reading IMG file for creating bootable CD, but since then calls them IMA.
Please note that some popular DOS-based programs like HDCopy create archives with the same IMG file extension, but the file format is different. Those programs use a proprietary file format, which is not a raw dump of the disk and so is not directly usable by RaWrite, VirtualBox, etc. You have to use HDCopy to restore the disk image with proprietary file format, and then create a raw dump of that to be readable by VirtualBox, WinImage, etc.
Use
IMG files are used for:
- Digital storage, transmission, and replication of floppy disks.
- Mounting virtual floppy disk volumes.
See also
| Disk image file formats | |
|---|---|
| Comparison of disc image software | |
| Optical discs | |
| Hard disks | |
| Floppy disks | |
| CDDA | Disc Description Protocol |
| Convention: Any item in this table that has the form of "A+B" or "A+B+C" indicates a disk format that spans multiple files, where A contains the bulk of the data, and B and C are sidecar files. | |
 | This article related to a type of software is a stub. You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it. |