What is the difference between a Docker container and a Docker image?

A Docker container is a running instance of a Docker image, which makes this choice accurate. To delve deeper, Docker images serve as the blueprint for creating containers. They consist of everything needed to run an application: code, libraries, dependencies, and runtime. When an image is executed, it creates a container, which is the live, running instance that can be interacted with.

This process facilitates a key aspect of Docker's utility: it encapsulates an application and its environment in a lightweight, manageable format that can be consistently deployed across different environments.

Other options don't correctly define the relationship between containers and images. For example, suggesting that an image is a running instance of a container misrepresents how the two interact, while proposing that a container is just a zipped version or a configuration file of an image also overlooks the dynamic, operational nature of containers compared to the static nature of images. The distinction illustrates how Docker separates concerns between the application architecture (image) and its operational state (container).