diff --git a/Dockerfile b/Dockerfile
index e3a8f557..6d38357e 100644
--- a/Dockerfile
+++ b/Dockerfile
@@ -21,6 +21,8 @@ ENV PLUGIN_AZURERM=0.2.2
 ENV PLUGIN_NULL=1.0.0
 ENV PLUGIN_CLOUDFLARE=0.1.0
 ENV PLUGIN_TEMPLATE=1.0.0
+# Pip version
+ENV PIP=9.0.3
 
 # Install with apt and pip
 RUN apt-get update -y && apt-get install -y \
@@ -33,6 +35,7 @@ RUN apt-get update -y && apt-get install -y \
       libffi-dev \
       openssl \
       python-pip \
+      qemu-utils \
       unzip && \
     `# Add google cloud` \
     echo "deb http://packages.cloud.google.com/apt cloud-sdk-xenial main" \
@@ -41,9 +44,8 @@ RUN apt-get update -y && apt-get install -y \
       | apt-key add - && \
     apt-get update -y && apt-get install -y \
       google-cloud-sdk="$GOOGLE_CLOUD_SDK_VERSION" && \
-    `# Pip` \
-    pip install --no-cache-dir --upgrade \
-      pip && \
+    `# Upgrade pip and install pip deps` \
+    pip install --no-cache-dir --upgrade pip=="${PIP}" && \
     pip install --no-cache-dir \
       ansible=="$ANSIBLE_VERSION" \
       j2cli=="$J2CLI_VERSION" \
diff --git a/bin/image-create-openstack.sh b/bin/image-create-openstack.sh
index 1af8f93f..99629c1a 100755
--- a/bin/image-create-openstack.sh
+++ b/bin/image-create-openstack.sh
@@ -1,101 +1,40 @@
 #!/usr/bin/env bash
 
 # Checks and uploads specified Image to user's OpenStack account.
-# Downloads image first from an Amazon S3 storage account to host,
-# then uploads image to openstack teenancy.
-# Uses curl and python-glanceclient to do the job.
+#
+# 1. Downloads image first from an Amazon S3 storage (using curl and python-glance client)
+#
+# 2. Converts the image to the required format (if needed)
+#
+# 3. Uploads image to openstack tenancy. (using curl and python-glance client)
+#
+#
 #
 # Env vars
+#
 #   KN_IMAGE_NAME
+#   KN_DISC_FORMAT
 #   KN_IMAGE_BUCKET_URL
-
+#
 # Exit immediately if a command exits with a non-zero status
+
 set -e
 
+source ./bin/openstack/functions.sh
+KN_IMAGE_BUCKET_URL=${KN_IMAGE_BUCKET_URL:-"https://s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/kubenow-eu-central-1"}
+
 echo "Started script image-create-openstack"
 
-if [ -z "$KN_IMAGE_NAME" ]; then
+if [ -z "${KN_IMAGE_NAME}" ]; then
   echo >&2 "env KN_IMAGE_NAME must be set for this script to run"
   exit 1
 fi
 
-KN_IMAGE_BUCKET_URL=${KN_IMAGE_BUCKET_URL:-"https://s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/kubenow-eu-central-1"}
-file_name="$KN_IMAGE_NAME.qcow2"
-
-# Check if image is present already
-echo "List images available in OpenStack..."
-image_list="$(glance image-list)"
-image_id="$(printf '%s' "$image_list" |
-  grep "\s$KN_IMAGE_NAME\s" |
-  awk -F "|" '{print $2;}' |
-  tr -d '[:space:]')"
-
-# If it doesn't exist then download it
-if [ -z "$image_id" ]; then
-  echo "Image not present in OpenStack"
-  echo "Downloading image to local /tmp/"
-  curl "$KN_IMAGE_BUCKET_URL/$file_name" \
-    -o "/tmp/$file_name" \
-    --connect-timeout 30 \
-    --max-time 1800
-
-  echo "Download md5 sum file"
-  curl "$KN_IMAGE_BUCKET_URL/$file_name.md5" \
-    -o "/tmp/$file_name.md5" \
-    --connect-timeout 30 \
-    --max-time 1800
-
-  echo "Check md5 sum"
-  md5only=$(cut -f1 -d ' ' "/tmp/$file_name.md5")
-  printf '%s' "$md5only  /tmp/$file_name" | md5sum -c
-else
-  echo "File exists - no need to download"
-fi
-
-# If it didn't exist then upload it
-if [ -z "$image_id" ]; then
-  echo "Uploading image"
-  glance image-create \
-    --file "/tmp/$file_name" \
-    --disk-format qcow2 \
-    --min-disk 20 \
-    --container-format bare \
-    --name "$KN_IMAGE_NAME" \
-    --progress
-else
-  echo "file exists - no need to upload"
-fi
-
-echo "Verify md5 of present/uploaded image..."
-echo "List images available in OpenStack..."
-image_list="$(glance image-list)"
-image_id="$(printf '%s' "$image_list" |
-  grep "\s$KN_IMAGE_NAME\s" |
-  awk -F "|" '{print $2;}' |
-  tr -d '[:space:]')"
-
-# Get checksum of uploaded file
-image_details="$(glance image-show "$image_id")"
-checksum="$(printf '%s' "$image_details" |
-  grep -w "checksum" |
-  awk -F "|" '{print $3;}' |
-  tr -d '[:space:]')"
-
-# Get checksum of bucket image
-echo "Download md5 sum file"
-curl "$KN_IMAGE_BUCKET_URL/$file_name.md5" \
-  -o "/tmp/$file_name.md5" \
-  --connect-timeout 30 \
-  --max-time 1800
-
-md5only=$(cut -f1 -d ' ' "/tmp/$file_name.md5")
-if [ "$md5only" != "$checksum" ]; then
-  echo >&2 "Wrong checksum of present/uploaded image."
-  echo >&2 "Something might have failed on file transfer."
-  echo >&2 "Please delete image $KN_IMAGE_NAME from Openstack and try again."
+if [ -z "${KN_DISC_FORMAT}" ]; then
+  echo >&2 "env KN_DISC_FORMAT must be set for this script to run"
   exit 1
-else
-  echo "Checksum OK"
 fi
 
-echo "Image upload done"
+maybe_download_image "${KN_IMAGE_NAME}" "${KN_DISC_FORMAT}" "${KN_IMAGE_BUCKET_URL}"
+maybe_convert_image "${KN_IMAGE_NAME}" "${KN_DISC_FORMAT}"
+maybe_upload_image "${KN_IMAGE_NAME}" "${KN_DISC_FORMAT}" "${KN_IMAGE_BUCKET_URL}"
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/bin/kn-apply b/bin/kn-apply
index 8c21bbbc..3aeac451 100755
--- a/bin/kn-apply
+++ b/bin/kn-apply
@@ -11,6 +11,10 @@ image_name=$(grep -w "boot_image" terraform.tfvars |
   cut -d "=" -f 2- |
   awk -F\" '{print $(NF-1)}')
 
+disc_format=$(grep -w "disc_format" terraform.tfvars |
+  cut -d "=" -f 2- |
+  awk -F\" '{print $(NF-1)}')
+
 # Check for recognized cloud provider
 if ! grep -qw "$host_cloud" <<<"openstack gce azure aws"; then
   echo >&2 "Error: unrecognized host cloud '$host_cloud' in config file terraform.tfvars"
@@ -22,6 +26,7 @@ if [ "$host_cloud" = 'openstack' ] || [ "$host_cloud" = 'gce' ] || [ "$host_clou
   export KN_GCE_ACCOUNT_FILE_PATH="$PWD/service-account.json"
   export TF_VARS_FILE="$PWD/terraform.tfvars"
   export KN_IMAGE_NAME="$image_name"
+  export KN_DISC_FORMAT="$disc_format"
   /KubeNow_root/bin/image-create-"$host_cloud".sh
 fi
 
diff --git a/bin/openstack/functions.sh b/bin/openstack/functions.sh
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..b0a5ef5b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/bin/openstack/functions.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,247 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env bash
+
+function is_image_downloaded_already() {
+  local download_filepath=$1
+
+  if [[ -e ${download_filepath} ]]; then
+    echo "true"
+  else
+    echo "false"
+  fi
+}
+
+function is_image_already_uploaded() {
+  local image_name=$1
+  local disc_format=$2
+  local image_id
+  local upload_filename
+  upload_filename="${image_name}.${disc_format}"
+  image_id=$(get_image_id "${upload_filename}")
+
+  # If the image exists, return true, otherwise return false
+  if [[ "${image_id}" == "" ]]; then
+    echo "false"
+  else
+    echo "true"
+  fi
+}
+
+function wait_for_image_activation() {
+  local upload_filename=$1;
+  local wait_time
+  local max_wait
+  local sleep_time
+  local status
+  wait_time=0
+  max_wait=300
+  sleep_time=3
+  status="nothing"
+
+  # Wait until image status is "active"
+  while [[ "${status}" != "active" && ${wait_time} -lt ${max_wait} ]]; do
+    # allow for image to be ready
+    sleep ${sleep_time}
+    wait_time=$((wait_time + sleep_time))
+    status=$(get_image_status "${upload_filename}")
+  done
+
+  echo "${status}"
+}
+
+function get_image_status() {
+  local upload_filename=$1;
+  local image_id
+  local image_details
+  image_id=$(get_image_id "${upload_filename}")
+  image_details="$(glance image-show "${image_id}")"
+
+  printf '%s' "${image_details}" |
+    grep -w "status" |
+    awk -F "|" '{print $3;}' |
+    tr -d '[:space:]'
+}
+
+function get_image_id() {
+  local upload_filename=$1;
+  local image_list
+  image_list="$(glance image-list)"
+
+  printf '%s' "${image_list}" |
+    grep "${upload_filename}" |
+    awk -F "|" '{print $2;}' |
+    tr -d '[:space:]'
+}
+
+function get_image_checksum() {
+  local image_id=$1;
+  local image_details
+  image_details="$(glance image-show "${image_id}")"
+
+  printf '%s' "${image_details}" |
+    grep -w "checksum" |
+    awk -F "|" '{print $3;}' |
+    tr -d '[:space:]'
+}
+
+function verify_uploaded_image() {
+  local image_name=$1
+  local disc_format=$2
+  local image_url=$3
+  local upload_filename="${image_name}.${disc_format}"
+  local upload_filepath="/tmp/${image_name}.${disc_format}"
+  local image_list
+  local image_id
+  local image_details
+  local checksum
+  local md5only
+  image_id=$(get_image_id "${upload_filename}")
+  checksum=$(get_image_checksum "${image_id}")
+
+  if [[ ${#checksum} != 32 ]]; then
+    echo "No valid checksum field on server, skipping checksum verification"
+  else
+    # Get checksum of bucket image
+    echo "Download md5 sum file"
+    curl "${image_url}/${upload_filename}.md5" \
+      -o "${upload_filepath}.md5" \
+      --connect-timeout 30 \
+      --max-time 30
+
+    md5only=$(cut -f1 -d ' ' "${upload_filepath}.md5")
+    if [ "${md5only}" != "${checksum}" ]; then
+      echo >&2 "Wrong checksum of present/uploaded image."
+      echo >&2 "Something might have failed on file transfer."
+      echo >&2 "Please delete image ${image_name} from Openstack and try again."
+      exit 1
+    else
+      echo "Checksum OK"
+    fi
+  fi
+}
+
+function upload_image() {
+  local image_name=$1
+  local disc_format=$2
+  local image_url=$3
+  local upload_filename="${image_name}.${disc_format}"
+  local upload_filepath="/tmp/${image_name}.${disc_format}"
+  local min_disc=20
+  local image_size
+  local image_size_number
+  image_size=$(du -sh --block-size=G --apparent-size LICENSE  | awk '{print $1}')
+  image_size_number=$(echo "${image_size::-1}")
+
+  if [[ "${disc_format}" == "raw" ]]; then
+    min_disc=${image_size_number};
+  fi
+
+  # Upload image
+  echo "Uploading ${upload_filename} with size ${image_size}B"
+  glance image-create \
+    --file "${upload_filepath}" \
+    --disk-format "${disc_format}" \
+    --min-disk ${min_disc} \
+    --container-format bare \
+    --name "${image_name}" \
+    --progress
+
+  verify_uploaded_image "${image_name}" "${disc_format}" "${image_url}"
+}
+
+function verify_downloaded_image() {
+  local download_filename=$1
+  local download_url=$2
+  local download_filepath="/tmp/${download_filename}"
+
+  echo "Download md5 sum file"
+  curl "${download_url}/${download_filename}.md5" \
+    -o "${download_filepath}.md5" \
+    --connect-timeout 30 \
+    --max-time 30
+
+  # Verify md5sum of downloaded file
+  echo "Check md5 sum"
+  md5result=$(
+    cd /tmp || exit;
+    md5sum -c "${download_filename}.md5"
+  )
+  if [[ "${md5result}" != *": OK"* ]]; then
+    echo >&2 "Wrong checksum of downloaded image."
+    echo >&2 "Something might have failed on file transfer."
+    echo >&2 "Please try again."
+    exit 1
+  else
+    echo "Checksum of downloaded image OK"
+  fi
+}
+
+function download_image() {
+  local download_filename=$1
+  local download_url=$2
+  local download_filepath="/tmp/${download_filename}"
+
+  echo "Downloading image to local /tmp/"
+  curl "${download_url}/${download_filename}" \
+    -o "${download_filepath}" \
+    --connect-timeout 30 \
+    --max-time 1800
+
+  verify_downloaded_image "${download_filename}" "${download_url}"
+}
+
+function maybe_download_image(){
+  local image_name=$1
+  local disc_format=$2
+  local download_url=$3
+  local download_filename="${image_name}.qcow2"
+  local download_filepath="/tmp/${image_name}.qcow2"
+  local is_image_downloaded_already
+  is_image_downloaded_already=$(is_image_downloaded_already "${download_filepath}")
+
+  if [[ "${is_image_downloaded_already}" == "false" ]]; then
+    download_image "${download_filename}" "${download_url}"
+  else
+    echo "${download_filename} is already downloaded"
+
+    verify_downloaded_image "${download_filename}" "${download_url}"
+  fi
+}
+
+function maybe_convert_image(){
+  local image_name=$1
+  local disc_format=$2
+  local download_filename="${image_name}.qcow2"
+  local download_filepath="/tmp/${image_name}.qcow2"
+  local upload_filename="${image_name}.${disc_format}"
+  local upload_filepath="/tmp/${upload_filename}"
+  local qemu_installed
+  qemu_installed=$(which qemu-img)
+
+  if [[ ! -e ${upload_filepath} ]]; then
+    if [[ "${qemu_installed}" == "" ]]; then
+      echo >&2 "qemu-utils package is missing - image cannot be converted"
+      echo >&2 "Please ensure that qemu-img is available."
+      exit 1
+    else
+      qemu-img convert -q -f qcow2 -O "${disc_format}" "${download_filepath}" "${upload_filepath}"
+    fi
+  else
+    echo "${upload_filepath} already exists and so does not require conversion, moving onto upload step"
+  fi
+}
+
+function maybe_upload_image() {
+  local image_name=$1
+  local disc_format=$2
+  local image_url=$3
+  local upload_filename="${image_name}.${disc_format}"
+  local is_image_uploaded
+  is_image_uploaded=$(is_image_already_uploaded "${image_name}" "${disc_format}")
+
+  if [[ "${is_image_uploaded}" == "false" ]]; then
+    maybe_convert_image "${image_name}" "${disc_format}"
+    upload_image "${image_name}" "${disc_format}" "${image_url}"
+  else
+    echo "${upload_filename} is already uploaded"
+  fi
+}
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/templates/terraform.tfvars.openstack-template b/templates/terraform.tfvars.openstack-template
index 33d8744d..259ad284 100644
--- a/templates/terraform.tfvars.openstack-template
+++ b/templates/terraform.tfvars.openstack-template
@@ -5,6 +5,7 @@ kubeadm_token = "your-kubeadm-token" # Autogenerated kubeadm token (don't change
 floating_ip_pool = "your-pool-name"
 external_network_uuid = "external-net-uuid" # The uuid of the external network in the OpenStack tenancy
 boot_image = "kubenow-v050"
+disc_format = "raw"
 
 # Master configuration
 # obs: too small flavors might cause diffuse errors on your installation