podman-export

Export a container's filesystem to a tar file

$ podman export [[-o|--output]] [path/to/file.tar] [container_name_or_id]

$ podman export [container_name_or_id] > [path/to/file.tar]

podman export [options] CONTAINER [dest]

--compress, -c
    Compress tarball using gzip. Default is true.

--format, -f string
    Manifest type: oci or docker. Default is oci.

--iidfile file
    Write container ID to the specified file.

--output, -o string
    Write tar to file or - for stdout. Default is -.

The podman export command saves the filesystem contents of a running or stopped container as a tarball archive, similar to Docker's export functionality. It captures the container's root filesystem at the time of export, excluding any container metadata, layers, or runtime state. This makes it useful for creating backups, migrating filesystem data, or inspecting container contents offline.

Unlike podman save, which exports full images with layers and configuration, podman export focuses solely on the filesystem snapshot. The output defaults to stdout as a gzipped tar by default, but can be directed to a file or uncompressed. It's particularly handy in rootless environments where Podman excels, avoiding daemon dependencies.

Specify a container by name or ID obtained from podman ps -a. The command works on OCI-compliant containers and supports formats like OCI or Docker manifests for compatibility. Use cases include debugging persistent data volumes, creating distributable filesystem images, or archiving container states before deletion. Note that changes made after export aren't included unless re-run.

Exports only filesystem, not metadata or layers. Container must exist; does not support multi-container exports. Rootless mode may have permission limits on output paths.

podman export mycontainer -o mycontainer.tar
Exports filesystem of mycontainer to mycontainer.tar.

Use podman import to create a new image from exported tar: podman import mycontainer.tar newimage.

Introduced in Podman 1.0 (2019) as part of libpod project by Red Hat. Evolved with OCI standards; now in containers/common library since Podman 4.0+. Mimics Docker export for compatibility.

podman-save(1), podman-ps(1), podman-save(1)