Files with the .OVA extension contain packs of files to describe virtual machines – an OVF descriptor, an .MF manifesto, the relevant certificates, and all other necessary information. It is a catalog, saved using the Open Virtualization Format standard, packed in a TAR format, with a specific extension for virtual machine creation environments.

The virtualization programs that use OVA files are VMware Workstation and Oracle VM VirtualBox. OVA packs stand for and are often referred to as Open Virtual Apps.