An IMA file contains a disk image of a floppy disk, hard drive, CD, or virtual hard drive (VHD). It stores the disk image as raw, unformatted binary data that can be mounted by various disk utility programs, such as WinImage, Nero, UltraISO, and MagicISO, in order for it to be readable by a computer.

IMA files are typically created by WinImage, a disk-imaging suite used to write, read, and edit disk images. WinImage users may create the IMA file to store multiple types of disk images but most often create the IMA file to store a disk image of a 1.44MB 3.5" floppy disk. Users can compress IMA files using WinImage in order to save disk space. Compressed IMA files are created as .IMZ files by WinImage.