Input file
VMDK
- Full Name: VMware Virtual Disk Format
- Developer: VMware
Output file
XVA
- Full Name: Citrix Xen Virtual Appliance Format
- Developer: Citrix
What is VMDK file?
VMDK (.vmdk) is a virtual machine disk file used by VMware virtualization software. It shares the same format as other virtual disk formats such as those used for VirtualBox and Parallels Desktop virtual machines. VMDK files contain hard drive data that has been “zipped” and packaged for use by a hypervisor, like VMware Workstation, which abstracts physical hardware and allows multiple operating systems to run on different hardware profiles simultaneously. [ ⏩ ] VMDK file extension
What is XVA file?
XVA (XVA) is a compact and portable file format used to store both the "state" of an entire virtual machine as well as all its files and data configurations. XVA was originally developed by Citrix Systems for its XenServer, a commercial virtualization platform. It is also supported by VMware vSphere, but not by some of the other major virtualization providers like Microsoft Hyper-V. XVA files are based on XML, so they are text files with specific structure. [ ⏩ ] XVA file extension
How to convert the file from VMDK to XVA?
To successfully convert the VMDK file to XVA, you should install one of the applications from the list. After installing the software, open the program and select the file you want to convert (file-name.VMDK). The next step is to select the target format from the list, in this case XVA (usually converters allow you to convert to several different formats, so check out their features - maybe one of the available formats will suit you more than XVA).
What is a file conversion?
A data conversion is normally an automated process to some extent. The effect of the operation of one program is automatically the input product of another application. If that does not happen we need to help the process a little bit and convert the file on our own, e.g. VMDK to XVA. To obtain a matched structure of the data, it is necessary to use an appropriate converter.
Program for converting VMDK files to XVA files is a kind of a "binary code translator" compensating for the differences in the code or translating it in such a way so that another application could use it. For us, as users, the visible change will be only another file extension. (After converting the file, it will be the extension XVA, while before this step we had the VMDK file). For the programs, the difference is on a much higher level – either the application will be able to open a new XVA file, or not.