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Box File Format
In the past, boxes were just tar files of VirtualBox exports. With Vagrant supporting multiple providers, box files are now tar files where the contents differ for each provider. They are still tar files, but they may now optionally be gzipped as well.
Box files made for Vagrant 1.0.x and VirtualBox continue to work with Vagrant 1.1+ and the VirtualBox provider.
The only file required within a box is a "metadata.json" file. This is a JSON file that has a top-level object that can contain any metadata about the box. Vagrant requires that a "provider" key exists in this metadata with the name of the provider the box is made for.
The "metadata.json" file for a VirtualBox box:
{
"provider": "virtualbox"
}
If there is no metadata.json file or the file does not contain valid JSON with at least a "provider" key, then Vagrant will error when adding the box.