Windows Imaging Format

The Windows Imaging Format is a file-based disk image format (as opposed to a sector-based one) used to preserve and distribute a complete copy of a set of files with all its MS-Windows filesystem structure and metadata. It is created with the ImageX command line tool, part of the free Windows Automated Installation Kit (WAIK). The file name extension  is used for images splited into multiple parts. The variant with the file name extension  use   compression. Reconstruct.WIM2 is generated as second disk image by Microsoft's recovery drive creating tool , when the option to back up system files to the recovery drive is chosen. The  file extension is used for Microsoft Windows provisioning packages.

Identification
WIM images begin with  or  for the wimlib pipable variant.

Software

 * ImageX
 * DISM part of the Windows Assessment and Deployment Kit
 * wimlib
 * 7-Zip

Sample files

 * https://telparia.com/fileFormatSamples/archive/wim/

Links

 * Wikipedia article
 * Tech docs in Microsoft site
 * White paper