The adenosine triphosphatase associated with frog virus 3 shows high specificity for ATP or deoxyadenosine triphosphate and appears to be distinct from the corresponding activity in host cells, poxvirus, or reovirus. The enzyme activity is probably integrated into virus particles since it is firmly associated with subviral particles produced when approximately 50 to 60% of the outer viral protein is removed by detergent treatment. The occurrence of adenosine triphosphatase activity within three unrelated viruses suggests that adenosine tryphosphatase might be a necessary function for most viruses that replicate in the cell cytoplasm.