% podman-save 1

## NAME
podman\-save - Save image(s) to an archive

## SYNOPSIS
**podman save** [*options*] *name*[:*tag*]

**podman image save** [*options*] *name*[:*tag*]

## DESCRIPTION
**podman save** saves an image to a local file or directory.
**podman save** writes to STDOUT by default and can be redirected to a
file using the **output** flag. The **quiet** flag suppresses the output when set.
**podman save** saves parent layers of the image(s) and the image(s) can be loaded using **podman load**.
To export the containers, use the **podman export**.
Note: `:` is a restricted character and cannot be part of the file name.

## OPTIONS

@@option dir-compress

Note: This flag can only be set with **--format=docker-dir**.

#### **--format**=*format*

An image format to produce, one of:

| Format             | Description                                                                  |
| ------------------ | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| **docker-archive** | A tar archive interoperable with **docker load(1)** (the default)            |
| **oci-archive**    | A tar archive using the OCI Image Format                                     |
| **oci-dir**        | A directory using the OCI Image Format                                       |
| **docker-dir**     | **dir** transport (see **containers-transports(5)**) with v2s2 manifest type |

#### **--help**, **-h**

Print usage statement

#### **--multi-image-archive**, **-m**

Allow for creating archives with more than one image.  Additional names are interpreted as images instead of tags.  Only supported for **--format=docker-archive**.
The default for this option can be modified via the `multi_image_archive="true"|"false"` flag in containers.conf.

#### **--output**, **-o**=*file*

Write to a file, default is STDOUT

#### **--quiet**, **-q**

Suppress the output

#### **--uncompressed**

Accept uncompressed layers when using one of the OCI formats.

## EXAMPLES

Save image to a local file without displaying progress.
```
$ podman save --quiet -o alpine.tar alpine:2.6
```

Save image to stdout and redirect content via shell.
```
$ podman save alpine > alpine-all.tar
```

Save image in oci-archive format to the local file.
```
$ podman save -o oci-alpine.tar --format oci-archive alpine
```

Save image compressed in docker-dir format.
```
$ podman save --compress --format docker-dir -o alp-dir alpine
Getting image source signatures
Copying blob sha256:2fdfe1cd78c20d05774f0919be19bc1a3e4729bce219968e4188e7e0f1af679d
 1.97 MB / 1.97 MB [========================================================] 0s
Copying config sha256:501d1a8f0487e93128df34ea349795bc324d5e0c0d5112e08386a9dfaff620be
 584 B / 584 B [============================================================] 0s
Writing manifest to image destination
Storing signatures
```

## SEE ALSO
**[podman(1)](podman.1.md)**, **[podman-load(1)](podman-load.1.md)**, **[containers.conf(5)](https://github.com/containers/common/blob/main/docs/containers.conf.5.md)**, **[containers-transports(5)](https://github.com/containers/image/blob/main/docs/containers-transports.5.md)**

## HISTORY
July 2017, Originally compiled by Urvashi Mohnani <umohnani@redhat.com>
