AMI stands for Amazon Machine Image. It is a virtual image used to create a virtual machine within an EC2 instance.

For an AWS interview question asking about AMI (Amazon Machine Image), the correct answer would be:

“An AMI, or Amazon Machine Image, is a template that contains the software configuration (such as the operating system, application server, and applications) required to launch an instance in the Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (EC2). It provides the information required to launch an instance, which is a virtual server in the cloud. AMIs are used to create instances, and they can be customized, shared, and even sold through the AWS Marketplace. Essentially, AMIs provide a convenient way to replicate the setup of an instance across multiple instances, ensuring consistency and efficiency in deploying and managing EC2 instances.”