appimagetool converts an AppDir into a self-mounting filesystem image. appimaged is a daemon that handles registering and unregistering AppImages with the system (e.g., menu entries, icons, MIME types, binary delta updates, and such).

Providing an AppImage for distributing application has, among others, these advantages:

Applications packaged as an AppImage can run on many distributions (including Ubuntu, Fedora, openSUSE, CentOS, elementaryOS, Linux Mint, and others)
One app = one file = super simple for users: just download one AppImage file, make it executable, and run
- No unpacking or installation necessary
- No root needed
- No system libraries changed
- Works out of the box, no installation of runtimes needed
- Optional desktop integration with appimaged
- Optional binary delta updates, e.g., for continuous builds (only download the binary diff) using AppImageUpdate
- Can optionally GPG2-sign your AppImages (inside the file)
- Works on Live ISOs
- Can use the same AppImages when dual-booting multiple distributions
- Can be listed in the AppImageHub central directory of available AppImages
- Can double as a self-extracting compressed archive with the --appimage-extract parameter