.PVM File Extension

A PVM file is a virtual machine created by Parallels Desktop for Mac emulation software. It stores the contents of a hard drive and memory used to load and run Windows (or another supported operating system) on a Macintosh computer.

To open a PVM file as a virtual machine, you must have installed Parallels Desktop for Mac on your Mac. Place your PVM file in the folder you set as the default location for storing virtual machines (Parallels default location is Macintosh HD/​Users/​[username]/​Documents/​Parallels/​). Then, open Parallels, select File → Open, and select your PVM file.

If you want to view a PVM file's contents outside Parallels, you can right-click the file in Finder and select Show Package Contents. With Parallels installed, you can also mount and examine the hard disk a Windows PVM file contains, by right-clicking your PVM file and selecting Open With > Parallels Mounter.

Index file used for organizing collections of digital content; developed by the Optical Storage Technology Association (OSTA) as part of the Music/Photo/Video (MPV) standard; formatted in XML.

PVM files may be generated by various digital media devices such as printers and digital cameras. They can be read by any program that supports PVM format.

Digital photo album created with HP digital camera software; contains a list of images imported from an HP digital camera; often named "album.pvm" or "index.pvm;" used by HP Image Zone Express, which has been replaced by Photosmart software.