page_title: About Docker
page_description: Introduction to Docker.
page_keywords: docker, introduction, documentation, about, technology, understanding, Dockerfile

# About Docker

**Develop, Ship and Run Any Application, Anywhere**

[**Docker**](https://www.docker.io) is a platform for developers and sysadmins
to develop, ship, and run applications.  Docker lets you quickly assemble
applications from components and eliminates the friction that can come when
shipping code. Docker lets you get your code tested and deployed into production
as fast as possible.

Docker consists of:

* The Docker Engine - our lightweight and powerful open source container
  virtualization technology combined with a work flow for building
  and containerizing your applications.
* [Docker.io](https://index.docker.io) - our SAAS service for
  sharing and managing your application stacks.

## Why Docker?

- **Faster delivery of your applications**  
    * We want your environment to work better. Docker containers,
      and the work flow that comes with them, help your developers,
      sysadmins, QA folks, and release engineers work together to get your code
      into production and make it useful. We've created a standard
      container format that lets developers care about their applications
      inside containers while sysadmins and operators can work on running the
      container in your deployment. This separation of duties streamlines and
      simplifies the management and deployment of code.
    * We make it easy to build new containers, enable rapid iteration of
      your applications, and increase the visibility of changes. This
      helps everyone in your organization understand how an application works
      and how it is built.
    * Docker containers are lightweight and fast! Containers have
      sub-second launch times, reducing the cycle
      time of development, testing, and deployment.

- **Deploy and scale more easily**  
    * Docker containers run (almost) everywhere. You can deploy
      containers on desktops, physical servers, virtual machines, into
      data centers, and up to public and private clouds.
    * Since Docker runs on so many platforms, it's easy to move your
      applications around. You can easily move an application from a
      testing environment into the cloud and back whenever you need.
    * Docker's lightweight containers Docker also make scaling up and
      down fast and easy. You can quickly launch more containers when
      needed and then shut them down easily when they're no longer needed.

- **Get higher density and run more workloads**  
    * Docker containers don't need a hypervisor, so you can pack more of
      them onto your hosts. This means you get more value out of every
      server and can potentially reduce what you spend on equipment and
      licenses.

- **Faster deployment makes for easier management**  
    * As Docker speeds up your work flow, it gets easier to make lots
      of small changes instead of huge, big bang updates. Smaller
      changes mean reduced risk and more uptime.

## About this guide

First, the [Understanding Docker
section](introduction/understanding-docker.md) will help you:

 - See how Docker works at a high level
 - Understand the architecture of Docker
 - Discover Docker's features;
 - See how Docker compares to virtual machines
 - See some common use cases.

> [Click here to go to the Understanding
> Docker section](introduction/understanding-docker.md).

### Installation Guides

Next, we'll show you how to install Docker on a variety of platforms in the
[installation](/installation/#installation) section.

> [Click here to go to the Installation
> section](/installation/#installation).

### Docker User Guide

Once you've gotten Docker installed we recommend you work through the
[Docker User Guide](/userguide/), to learn about Docker in more detail and
answer questions about usage and implementation.

> [Click here to go to the Docker User Guide](/userguide/).