podman-load(1) General Commands Manual podman-load(1)

# [NAME](#NAME)

podman-load - Load image(s) from tar archives, directories, or URLs into container storage

# [SYNOPSIS](#SYNOPSIS)

**podman load** \[*options*]

**podman image load** \[*options*]

# [DESCRIPTION](#DESCRIPTION)

**podman load** loads a saved image(s) into local container storage from tar archives, directories, or URLs pointing to an tar archive. By default, **podman load** reads from stdin, to load from any of the other input sources use the **--input** option.

**podman load** operates on *images*: it restores an archive created by **podman save** as the same image, preserving its layers, history and tags. This is different from **podman import**, which builds a *new* image from a root-filesystem tarball (such as one produced by **podman export**) with no image history. To import a container's filesystem instead, see [**podman-import(1)**](/man/enterprise-packages/podman-doc-6.1/podman-import.1).

The local client further supports loading an **oci-dir** or a **docker-dir** as created with **podman save** (1).

The **quiet** option suppresses the progress output when set.

Note: **:** is a restricted character and cannot be part of the file name.

# [OPTIONS](#OPTIONS)

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

Print usage statement

## **--input**, **-i**=*input*

Load the specified input file or URL instead of reading from stdin. The input can be one of:

- A local tar archive (uncompressed or compressed)
- A local OCI or Docker directory layout
- A URL to a tar archive (not available on macOS and Windows)

NOTE: Use the environment variable **TMPDIR** to change the temporary storage location of container images. Podman defaults to use **/var/tmp**.

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

Suppress the progress output

# [EXAMPLES](#EXAMPLES)

Create an image from a compressed tar file, without showing progress.

```
$ podman load --quiet -i fedora.tar.gz
```

Create an image from the archive.tar file pulled from a URL, without showing progress.

```
$ podman load -q -i https://server.com/archive.tar
```

Create an image from a directory created with either podman-save **--format oci-dir** or **--format docker-dir**

```
$ podman load -i fedora/
```

Create an image from stdin using bash redirection from a tar file.

```
$ podman load < fedora.tar
Getting image source signatures
Copying blob sha256:5bef08742407efd622d243692b79ba0055383bbce12900324f75e56f589aedb0


 0 B / 4.03 MB [---------------------------------------------------------------]
Copying config sha256:7328f6f8b41890597575cbaadc884e7386ae0acc53b747401ebce5cf0d624560


 0 B / 1.48 KB [---------------------------------------------------------------]
Writing manifest to image destination
Storing signatures
Loaded image:  registry.fedoraproject.org/fedora:latest
```

Create an image from stdin using a pipe.

```
$ cat fedora.tar | podman load
Getting image source signatures
Copying blob sha256:5bef08742407efd622d243692b79ba0055383bbce12900324f75e56f589aedb0


 0 B / 4.03 MB [---------------------------------------------------------------]
Copying config sha256:7328f6f8b41890597575cbaadc884e7386ae0acc53b747401ebce5cf0d624560


 0 B / 1.48 KB [---------------------------------------------------------------]
Writing manifest to image destination
Storing signatures
Loaded image:  registry.fedoraproject.org/fedora:latest
```

# [SEE ALSO](#SEE_ALSO)

[**podman(1)**](/man/enterprise-packages/podman-doc-6.1/podman.1), [**podman-save(1)**](/man/enterprise-packages/podman-doc-6.1/podman-save.1)

# [HISTORY](#HISTORY)

July 2017, Originally compiled by Urvashi Mohnani umohnani@redhat.com ⟨mailto:umohnani@redhat.com⟩

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Document: podman-image-load(1) from podman-doc-6.1 6.1.4-r2 (Chainguard OS)
Source: https://github.com/containers/podman