Docs4dev
Docs
docker / 1.12 / engine / reference / commandline / save / index.html

docker save

Usage:  docker save [OPTIONS] IMAGE [IMAGE...]

Save one or more images to a tar archive (streamed to STDOUT by default)

Options:
      --help            Print usage
  -o, --output string   Write to a file, instead of STDOUT

Produces a tarred repository to the standard output stream. Contains all parent layers, and all tags + versions, or specified repo:tag, for each argument provided.

It is used to create a backup that can then be used with docker load

$ docker save busybox > busybox.tar
$ ls -sh busybox.tar
2.7M busybox.tar
$ docker save --output busybox.tar busybox
$ ls -sh busybox.tar
2.7M busybox.tar
$ docker save -o fedora-all.tar fedora
$ docker save -o fedora-latest.tar fedora:latest

It is even useful to cherry-pick particular tags of an image repository

$ docker save -o ubuntu.tar ubuntu:lucid ubuntu:saucy

© 2017 Docker, Inc.
Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0.
Docker and the Docker logo are trademarks or registered trademarks of Docker, Inc. in the United States and/or other countries.
Docker, Inc. and other parties may also have trademark rights in other terms used herein.
https://docs.docker.com/v1.12/engine/reference/commandline/save/