Một tập tin VMCZ chứa một cỗ máy ảo bị nén tạo bởi Microsoft Hyper-V, một chương trình tự động của Windows.Nó lưu trạng thái, dữ liệu và cấu hình phần cứng của một VM vào thời điểm tạo tập tin trong một gói nén Zip.Tập tin VMCZ được xuất khẩu bởi Hyper-V để chia sẻ và sao chép các máy móc ảo tới các máy tính hay server khác.

Microsoft Hyper-V allows users to run multiple operating systems as virtual machines in Windows, as well as create and manage virtualized software and hardware components. Hyper-V software also comes with Hyper-V Manager, which is a tool that provides a friendly user interface (UI) for interacting with Hyper-V. Hyper-V Manager is available as an optional program built into Windows systems that support Hyper-V. Microsoft introduced the VMCZ file type when it added the virtual machine export capability to Hyper-V Manager with the release of the Windows 10 Insider Build of 16226 in June 2017. The feature was introduced through the addition of a "Share" button to the UI of Hyper-V Manager that allows users to export a Hyper-V VM as a compressed VMCZ file. The Share feature makes it easier for users to copy virtual machines and transport them to other locations. After moving a VMCZ file to another system with Hyper-V installed, a user can simply double-click the file to import it into Hyper-V. Since a VMCZ file is a Zip-compressed package, a user can also manually extract the contents of the package with a Zip-decompression utility, such as Microsoft File Explorer, Corel WinZip, 7-Zip, or WinRAR. The contents typically include a VM hard disk drive .VHD or .VHDX file, a VM configuration .VMCX file, and a VM run state VMRS file. To export a virtual machine in Hyper-V Manager as a VMCZ file, select the "Share" button in the toolbar or right-click a virtual machine, then select Export. NOTE: Hyper-V was first released with Windows Server 2008 and has been made available for free beginning with Windows 8 and Windows Server 2012. It is available in 64-bit versions of Windows 10 Pro, Enterprise, and Education.