QCOWINFO(1) General Commands Manual QCOWINFO(1)

# [NAME](#NAME)

`qcowinfo` — determines information about a QEMU Copy-On-Write (QCOW) image file

# [SYNOPSIS](#SYNOPSIS)

`qcowinfo` \[`-hvV`] `source`

# [DESCRIPTION](#DESCRIPTION)

`qcowinfo` is a utility to determine information about a QEMU Copy-On-Write (QCOW) image file

`qcowinfo` is part of the `libqcow` package. `libqcow` is a library to access the QEMU Copy-On-Write (QCOW) image file format

`source` is the source image.

The options are as follows:

[`-h`](#h)

shows this help

[`-v`](#v)

verbose output to stderr

[`-V`](#V)

print version

# [ENVIRONMENT](#ENVIRONMENT)

None

# [FILES](#FILES)

None

# [EXAMPLES](#EXAMPLES)

```
# qcowinfo file.qcow2
qcowinfo 20260623

QEMU Copy-On-Write (QCOW) image information:
	Format version		: 2
	Media size		: 4.0 GiB (4294967296 bytes)
	Encryption method	: None
	Number of snapshots	: 0

```

# [DIAGNOSTICS](#DIAGNOSTICS)

Errors, verbose and debug output are printed to stderr when verbose output -v is enabled. Verbose and debug output are only printed when enabled at compilation.

# [SEE ALSO](#SEE_ALSO)

[qcowmount(1)](/man/os/libqcow/qcowmount.1)

# [AUTHORS](#AUTHORS)

Joachim Metz <joachim.metz@gmail.com>

# [BUGS](#BUGS)

Please report bugs of any kind on the project issue tracker: https://github.com/libyal/libqcow/issues

# [COPYRIGHT](#COPYRIGHT)

Copyright (C) 2010-2026, Joachim Metz <joachim.metz@gmail.com>.

This is free software; see the source for copying conditions. There is NO warranty; not even for MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.

June 26, 2026 Linux 4.19.0-gvisor

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Document: qcowinfo(1) from libqcow 20260703-r2 (Chainguard OS)
Source: https://github.com/libyal/libqcow