Quick Emulator (QEMU) operates as a Type 2 hypervisor. A hypervisor is used to create and run virtual machines (VMs). A Type2 hypervisor, which is also called a hosted hypervisor, runs within an operating system on the host computer. Other Type2 hypervisors include VMware Workstation, VirtualBox, and Parallels Desktop for Mac.

A Type 1 hypervisor, which is also called a native hypervisor or a baremetal hypervisor, runs directly on the host computer's hardware. KVM, Xen, HyperV, and VMware ESX/ESXi operate as Type1 hypervisors.