---
layout: "intro"
page_title: "Supported Platforms"
prev_url: "/intro/use-cases.html"
next_url: "/intro/getting-started/setup.html"
next_title: "Getting Started: Install Packer"
---

# Supported Platforms

Packer can create machine images for any platform. Packer ships with
support for a set of platforms, but can be [extend through plugins](/docs/extend/builder.html)
to support any platform. This page documents the list of supported image
types that Packer supports creating.

If you were looking to see what platforms Packer is able to run on, see
the page on [installing Packer](/intro/getting-started/setup.html).

<div class="alert alert-info alert-block">
<strong>Note:</strong> We're always looking to officially support more
target platforms. If you're interested in adding support for another
platform, please help by opening an issue or pull request within
<a href="https://github.com/mitchellh/packer">GitHub</a> so we can discuss
how to make it happen.
</div>

Packer supports creating images for the following platforms or targets.
The format of the resulting image and any high-level information about the
platform is noted. They are listed in alphabetical order. For more detailed
information on supported configuration parameters and usage, please see
the appropriate [documentation page within the documentation section](/docs).

* ***Amazon EC2 (AMI)***. Both EBS-backed and instance-store AMIs within EC2,
  optionally distributed to multiple regions.

* ***DigitalOcean***. Snapshots for [DigitalOcean](http://www.digitalocean.com)
  that can be used to start a pre-configured DigitalOcean instance of any size.

* ***OpenStack***. Images for [OpenStack](http://www.openstack.org)
  that can be used to start pre-configured OpenStack servers.

* ***VirtualBox (OVF)***. Exported virtual machines for VirtualBox, including
  virtual machine metadata such as RAM, CPUs, etc. These virtual machines are
  portable and can be started on any platform VirtualBox runs on.

* ***VMware (VMX)***. Exported virtual machines for VMware that can be run
  within any desktop products such as Fusion, Player, or Workstation, as well
  as server products such as vSphere.

As previously mentioned, these are just the target image types that Packer
ships with out of the box. You can always [extend Packer through plugins](/docs/extend/builder.html)
to support more.
