diff --git a/doc/source/formats.rst b/doc/source/formats.rst
index 952f68eac5..fd464e4ed0 100644
--- a/doc/source/formats.rst
+++ b/doc/source/formats.rst
@@ -102,3 +102,7 @@ You can set your image's container format to one of the following:
 * **ami**
 
   This indicates what is stored in Glance is an Amazon machine image
+
+* **ova**
+
+  This indicates what is stored in Glance is an OVA tar archive file
diff --git a/etc/glance-api.conf b/etc/glance-api.conf
index 5eae5b4f62..3568aadb54 100644
--- a/etc/glance-api.conf
+++ b/etc/glance-api.conf
@@ -108,7 +108,7 @@ workers = 1
 #send_identity_headers = False
 
 # Supported values for the 'container_format' image attribute
-#container_formats=ami,ari,aki,bare,ovf
+#container_formats=ami,ari,aki,bare,ovf,ova
 
 # Supported values for the 'disk_format' image attribute
 #disk_formats=ami,ari,aki,vhd,vmdk,raw,qcow2,vdi,iso
diff --git a/glance/common/config.py b/glance/common/config.py
index 23c69118df..1129788a35 100644
--- a/glance/common/config.py
+++ b/glance/common/config.py
@@ -41,7 +41,7 @@ paste_deploy_opts = [
 ]
 image_format_opts = [
     cfg.ListOpt('container_formats',
-                default=['ami', 'ari', 'aki', 'bare', 'ovf'],
+                default=['ami', 'ari', 'aki', 'bare', 'ovf', 'ova'],
                 help=_("Supported values for the 'container_format' "
                        "image attribute"),
                 deprecated_opts=[cfg.DeprecatedOpt('container_formats',
diff --git a/glance/tests/unit/v2/test_images_resource.py b/glance/tests/unit/v2/test_images_resource.py
index bab8694309..2f823fd1f8 100644
--- a/glance/tests/unit/v2/test_images_resource.py
+++ b/glance/tests/unit/v2/test_images_resource.py
@@ -3176,7 +3176,7 @@ class TestImageSchemaFormatConfiguration(test_utils.BaseTestCase):
 
     def test_default_container_formats(self):
         schema = glance.api.v2.images.get_schema()
-        expected = ['ami', 'ari', 'aki', 'bare', 'ovf']
+        expected = ['ami', 'ari', 'aki', 'bare', 'ovf', 'ova']
         actual = schema.properties['container_format']['enum']
         self.assertEqual(expected, actual)