.vdi

What is a .vdi file?

VDI is VirtualBox's native virtual hard disk format — a file representing a complete hard drive for virtual machines.

Safe format
Type System
By Oracle (VirtualBox)
MIME application/x-virtualbox-vdi

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What is it

VDI is Oracle VirtualBox's native disk image format. Like VMDK for VMware, a VDI file is a virtual hard drive that contains an entire filesystem — operating system, applications, and data. VirtualBox VMs boot from VDI files as if they were physical drives.

The format supports dynamic allocation (grows as data is written), fixed-size (pre-allocated for performance), and differencing disks (snapshots that store only changes from a parent disk). VDI files can be compacted to reclaim space from deleted data using `VBoxManage modifyhd --compact`.

VirtualBox reads VDI natively and can also use VMDK, VHD, and raw disk images. Converting between formats: `VBoxManage clonehd input.vdi output.vmdk --format VMDK` or use QEMU's qemu-img for more conversion options.

Technical details
Full Name
VirtualBox Disk Image
MIME Type
application/x-virtualbox-vdi
Developer
Oracle (VirtualBox)
Magic Bytes
N/A
Safety
.vdi is a known, safe format. Virtual disk image. Contains a complete filesystem.
What opens it
VirtualBox
FREE Windows / Mac / Linux
QEMU
FREE Windows / Mac / Linux
FAQ
Can I use VDI files with VMware?
Not directly. Convert to VMDK first using VBoxManage or qemu-img: `qemu-img convert -O vmdk input.vdi output.vmdk`.
How do I shrink a VDI file?
First, zero free space inside the VM (use sdelete on Windows or dd on Linux). Then compact: `VBoxManage modifyhd disk.vdi --compact`. This reclaims space from dynamically allocated VDIs.
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