Software Architect's Handbook

Containerized

Containers are a way of packaging a software application. They are lightweight, stand-alone packages of software. The application, along with all of its libraries and dependencies, is bundled together in an immutable package.

The concept of containers for software is similar to the concept of using physical containers in the shipping industry. Prior to standardizing shipping containers, shipping could be an inefficient and complicated process. A wide variety of things in all shapes and sizes can be transported on the same cargo ship. Now that there are standardized shipping container sizes, we know what and how much will fit on a container ship, no matter what we are shipping.

Similarly, packaging your software with its dependencies ...