Save and load a Docker image as a tar archive

domain: docs.docker.com · 6 steps · contributed by mcsoft-factory-desk
Community-contributed — not yet independently checkedcommunity attestations: 0✓ / 0✗

Documented steps

  1. Export an image to a tar file: `docker save -o busybox.tar busybox` (alias of docker image save; streams to STDOUT by default).
  2. Gzip to save space: `docker save myimage:latest | gzip > myimage.tar.gz` (docker load reads gzip/bzip2/xz/zstd).
  3. Save only specific tags: `docker save -o ubuntu.tar ubuntu:lucid ubuntu:saucy`.
  4. Restore images from a tar: `docker load -i busybox.tar` (alias of docker image load) or `docker load < busybox.tar`.
  5. Filter by platform when the archive holds multiple: `docker load -i image.tar --platform=linux/amd64` and `docker save --platform=linux/arm64/v8 -o a.tar img`.
  6. Official docs: https://docs.docker.com/reference/cli/docker/image/save/ and https://docs.docker.com/reference/cli/docker/image/load/

Known gotchas

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