Disk images

QCOW2 → IMG

Learn about the formats: What is QCOW2? What is IMG?

At a glance

ConvertX.am converts QCOW2 files to IMG online, for free and without signing up. Upload a file of up to 500 MB and download the IMG result; uploaded and converted files are deleted automatically within about an hour.

Input:: QCOW2
Output:: IMG
Price:: Free, no sign-up
File size:: Up to 500 MB
Your files:: Deleted automatically within about an hour

Convert QCOW2 virtual machine disk images to raw IMG format instantly using ConvertX. This tool is essential for system administrators migrating KVM/QEMU instances to bare-metal drives or other hypervisors.

QCOW2 (QEMU Copy On Write 2) is a dynamic disk image format that supports compression, encryption, and snapshots, making it ideal for efficient hypervisor storage. In contrast, the IMG format is a raw, sector-by-sector binary representation of a storage medium with no built-in metadata or dynamic resizing features. When converting QCOW2 to IMG, the virtualization wrapper and dynamic allocation features are stripped away, resulting in a flat sequential byte stream that direct physical hardware or alternative virtualization engines can read immediately.

The conversion from QCOW2 to IMG is completely lossless. Because both formats represent the exact same disk sectors and file system blocks, the data integrity remains 100% intact.

Tips

Ensure your target storage device has enough free capacity to hold the fully expanded size of the raw IMG file, as QCOW2 sparse allocation is flattened.
Verify file system integrity inside the QCOW2 image using fsck before initiating the conversion to prevent corruption on the raw disk.
Remember that raw IMG files do not support snapshots; back up your QCOW2 source before starting the process if you need to roll back changes.

Common use cases

Flashing a QCOW2 virtual machine directly onto a physical solid-state drive (SSD) or hard disk drive (HDD) for bare-metal execution.
Migrating KVM or Proxmox virtual machine disks to alternative virtualization platforms that only ingest raw IMG or RAW formats.
Performing low-level data forensics or file recovery by mounting the flat IMG image directly on a host operating system.

Why ConvertX stays free — forever

We built this project so anyone can convert files without paywalls, accounts, or hidden limits. Here is what that promise means in practice.

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Free tools today — and always

Every converter on ConvertX is free to use: no trials, no premium tiers, and no credit packs. We will never put core conversion features behind a subscription. Whether you convert one photo or a hundred files a week, the price stays zero.

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Privacy-first processing

Many image, audio, and video conversions run entirely in your browser. Your files never leave your device for those jobs. When server processing is required for documents or specialized formats, uploads are handled securely and removed automatically — typically within one hour.

File formats: what to choose

A quick guide to strengths and trade-offs of popular formats — so you pick the right one before converting.

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Disk images

Virtual disks and raw drive images.

Common extensions: ISO, IMG, VHD, VMDK, QCOW2

Advantages

+ ISO is standard for installers and OS images
+ VM formats bundle entire systems
+ Preserves exact byte-level copies

Disadvantages

− Images are often several gigabytes
− Conversion between VM formats can be slow
− Boot sectors may break if format changes

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Images

Raster and vector graphics for web, print, and photography.

Common extensions: PNG, JPG, WebP, AVIF, GIF, SVG, HEIC, TIFF

Advantages

+ WebP and AVIF offer excellent compression for the web
+ PNG keeps transparency and sharp edges
+ SVG scales without quality loss

Disadvantages

− RAW and TIFF files are large and slow to share
− JPEG loses quality on every re-save
− Some formats are not supported in older browsers

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Documents

Office files, PDFs, ebooks, and plain text.

Common extensions: PDF, DOCX, XLSX, PPTX, ODT, EPUB, TXT

Advantages

+ PDF locks layout for printing and sharing
+ DOCX and ODT are easy to edit collaboratively
+ Plain text works on any device

Disadvantages

− PDF is hard to edit without special tools
− Complex layouts may shift after conversion
− Scanned PDFs need OCR for editable text

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Video

Clips, streams, screen recordings, and movies.

Common extensions: MP4, WebM, MOV, MKV, AVI, MPEG

Advantages

+ MP4 (H.264/H.265) plays almost everywhere
+ WebM is efficient for web embedding
+ MKV can hold multiple audio and subtitle tracks

Disadvantages

− High-resolution video needs lots of storage and bandwidth
− Re-encoding always takes time and may reduce quality
− Some codecs require licensing for commercial use

Frequently asked questions

Not necessarily. While QCOW2 uses dynamic allocation to save space on the host, converting to a raw IMG format typically removes this optimization, meaning the output file size changes insignificantly or matches the maximum allocated virtual disk capacity.

No. The translation is strictly structural, converting the QEMU container format into a raw sector-by-sector byte stream without altering any underlying file systems or data blocks.

No, raw IMG files do not support internal snapshot management features found in QCOW2. You must handle backups and versioning at the host level.