Free online RAW to OVA converter

What the RAW format is

In virtualization, RAW is a sector-by-sector virtual disk image. It contains guest operating-system partitions, boot records, filesystems, and unused sectors, but normally does not contain the virtual machine's CPU, memory, firmware, controller, or network configuration.

QEMU, KVM, libvirt, Proxmox VE, and disk-imaging utilities can create or use RAW images. You may encounter files named disk.raw, vm.img, or files without an extension. The extension is not a reliable format identifier; qemu-img info can detect the actual image format.

What the OVA format is

OVA is a single-file Open Virtualization Appliance package. It is usually a TAR archive containing an OVF descriptor, one or more virtual disks, and optionally a manifest containing SHA-1 or SHA-256 checksums.

An OVF descriptor supplies the virtual hardware definition that a hypervisor needs to import the appliance. OVA is useful for moving a preconfigured guest between VMware products, VirtualBox, and other OVF-compatible platforms without transferring separate configuration files.

How to actually convert RAW to OVA

Using VirtualBox

VirtualBox can convert the RAW disk, create a temporary virtual machine around it, and export the result as OVA. Install VirtualBox, place the source image in a writable directory, and run these commands from a terminal:

VBoxManage convertfromraw disk.raw disk.vdi --format VDI
VBoxManage createvm --name RawGuest --register
VBoxManage modifyvm RawGuest --memory 4096 --cpus 2 --ostype Linux_64
VBoxManage storagectl RawGuest --name SATA --add sata --controller IntelAhci
VBoxManage storageattach RawGuest --storagectl SATA --port 0 --device 0 --type hdd --medium disk.vdi
VBoxManage export RawGuest --output raw-guest.ova

Replace Linux_64 with the guest operating system type where necessary. For a UEFI-installed guest, set the firmware before exporting:

VBoxManage modifyvm RawGuest --firmware efi

Alternatively, use the VirtualBox interface: create a virtual machine without adding a new disk, select Settings → Storage, attach the converted VDI file, then select File → Export Appliance, choose the machine, select the OVA format, and start the export.

For a no-install conversion, you can use the free converter on 101convert.com if the RAW file fits its upload limits and the service supports the required virtualization image size. Large virtual disks are generally better handled locally because uploading and downloading the OVA can take longer than the conversion itself.

Compatibility and limitations

RAW contains disk sectors only, so the resulting OVA cannot automatically recover the original VM's RAM allocation, virtual hardware model, MAC address, snapshots, shared folders, or network settings. Set those values manually before export.

Choose the same boot mode used by the guest: a BIOS-installed system may fail when exported with UEFI, and a UEFI system may fail with legacy BIOS. The disk controller also matters; SATA, SCSI, IDE, and VirtIO drivers are not interchangeable in every guest operating system.

Converting a sparse RAW image can produce a large OVA if unused sectors are allocated. Free space inside the guest, write zeros to it, shut down the guest, and compact the disk before packaging when supported. Check the result with tar -tf raw-guest.ova; a valid package should contain an .ovf descriptor and at least one virtual disk.

Test the imported appliance on the target hypervisor before deleting the RAW source. OVA compatibility varies between platforms, and some importers require changes to firmware, disk controller, virtual network adapter, or hardware version.