docker load Command Reference

Load images from a tar archive.

docker load reads a tar archive created by docker save and restores the images and their tags into the local store. It is the import side of the save/load pair used to ferry images between CI jobs.

Common flags

• -i, --input - read from a tar file instead of stdin
• -q, --quiet - suppress the load output

Example

gunzip image.tar.gz
docker load -i image.tar
docker images myorg/app

In CI

Download the artifact written by docker save in an earlier job, then docker load -i it before running or pushing. Unlike docker import (which loses image history and config), load preserves the original tags and layer structure.

Key takeaways

• load restores saved images with their tags and full history intact.
• It is the counterpart to docker save for cross-job image transfer.
• Unlike import, load keeps layer structure and image metadata.

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