Packer can create machine images for any platform. Packer ships with support for a set of platforms, but can be extended through plugins 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.
Note: 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 GitHub so we can discuss how to make it happen.
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.
Amazon EC2 (AMI). Both EBS-backed and instance-store AMIs within EC2, optionally distributed to multiple regions.
DigitalOcean. Snapshots for DigitalOcean that can be used to start a pre-configured DigitalOcean instance of any size.
Docker. Snapshots for Docker that can be used to start a pre-configured Docker instance.
Google Compute Engine. Snapshots for Google Compute Engine that can be used to start a pre-configured Google Compute Engine instance.
OpenStack. Images for OpenStack that can be used to start pre-configured OpenStack servers.
Parallels (PVM). Exported virtual machines for Parallels, including virtual machine metadata such as RAM, CPUs, etc. These virtual machines are portable and can be started on any platform Parallels runs on.
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 to support more.