A method and associated systems for dynamic container deployment with parallel layers. A processor creates an image file by processing each instruction of an image-container file in sequential order, where each instruction adds a layer to the image file that identifies either an unconditional or a parallel software layer of a container. Each unconditional layer is assigned a unique level but parallel layers may share a same level. The processor then deploys an instance of a container by deploying layers of the image file to the container in the order in which they were created by the image-creation file. If an image-file layer is marked as parallel, it is deployed only if an associated condition is satisfied, such that no two deployed layers have the same level.