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virt-sparsify — Make virtual machine drive images thin-provisioned. Note: Use only for offline machines to avoid dat

Submitted by: @import:tldr-pages·Mar 2, 2026·

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virtualvirt-sparsifycommandimagesdriveclimachinemake

linux

Problem

How to use the virt-sparsify command: Make virtual machine drive images thin-provisioned. Note: Use only for offline machines to avoid data corruption. More information: <https://manned.org/virt-sparsify>.

Solution

virt-sparsify — Make virtual machine drive images thin-provisioned. Note: Use only for offline machines to avoid data corruption. More information: <https://manned.org/virt-sparsify>.

Create a sparsified compressed image without snapshots from an unsparsified one:

virt-sparsify --compress {{path/to/image.qcow2}} {{path/to/new_image.qcow2}}

Sparsify an image in-place:

virt-sparsify --in-place {{path/to/image.img}}

Convert from one image format to another:

virt-sparsify {{path/to/image}} --convert {{qcow2|raw|vdi|...}} {{path/to/new_image}}

Code Snippets

Create a sparsified compressed image without snapshots from an unsparsified one

virt-sparsify --compress {{path/to/image.qcow2}} {{path/to/new_image.qcow2}}

Sparsify an image in-place

virt-sparsify --in-place {{path/to/image.img}}

Convert from one image format to another

virt-sparsify {{path/to/image}} --convert {{qcow2|raw|vdi|...}} {{path/to/new_image}}

Context

tldr-pages: linux/virt-sparsify

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