A double-membrane-bounded compartment that engulfs endogenous cellular material as well as invading microorganisms to target them to the lytic vacuole/lysosome for degradation as part of macroautophagy. [ http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11099404 https://www.worldcat.org/search?q=bn%3A0198547684 GOC:autophagy ]
Synonyms: autophagic vacuole