diff --git a/api/server/server.go b/api/server/server.go
index 867593e6ad..24b0abd437 100644
--- a/api/server/server.go
+++ b/api/server/server.go
@@ -900,10 +900,14 @@ func (s *Server) getImagesGet(eng *engine.Engine, version version.Version, w htt
 }
 
 func (s *Server) postImagesLoad(eng *engine.Engine, version version.Version, w http.ResponseWriter, r *http.Request, vars map[string]string) error {
-	job := eng.Job("load")
-	job.Stdin.Add(r.Body)
-	job.Stdout.Add(w)
-	return job.Run()
+
+	imageLoadConfig := &graph.ImageLoadConfig{
+		InTar:     r.Body,
+		OutStream: w,
+		Engine:    eng,
+	}
+
+	return s.daemon.Repositories().Load(imageLoadConfig)
 }
 
 func (s *Server) postContainersCreate(eng *engine.Engine, version version.Version, w http.ResponseWriter, r *http.Request, vars map[string]string) error {
diff --git a/graph/load.go b/graph/load.go
index 5272eb1394..f62b82ce46 100644
--- a/graph/load.go
+++ b/graph/load.go
@@ -4,6 +4,7 @@ package graph
 
 import (
 	"encoding/json"
+	"io"
 	"io/ioutil"
 	"os"
 	"path"
@@ -15,9 +16,15 @@ import (
 	"github.com/docker/docker/pkg/chrootarchive"
 )
 
+type ImageLoadConfig struct {
+	InTar     io.ReadCloser
+	OutStream io.Writer
+	Engine    *engine.Engine
+}
+
 // Loads a set of images into the repository. This is the complementary of ImageExport.
 // The input stream is an uncompressed tar ball containing images and metadata.
-func (s *TagStore) CmdLoad(job *engine.Job) error {
+func (s *TagStore) Load(imageLoadConfig *ImageLoadConfig) error {
 	tmpImageDir, err := ioutil.TempDir("", "docker-import-")
 	if err != nil {
 		return err
@@ -41,7 +48,7 @@ func (s *TagStore) CmdLoad(job *engine.Job) error {
 		excludes[i] = k
 		i++
 	}
-	if err := chrootarchive.Untar(job.Stdin, repoDir, &archive.TarOptions{ExcludePatterns: excludes}); err != nil {
+	if err := chrootarchive.Untar(imageLoadConfig.InTar, repoDir, &archive.TarOptions{ExcludePatterns: excludes}); err != nil {
 		return err
 	}
 
@@ -52,7 +59,7 @@ func (s *TagStore) CmdLoad(job *engine.Job) error {
 
 	for _, d := range dirs {
 		if d.IsDir() {
-			if err := s.recursiveLoad(job.Eng, d.Name(), tmpImageDir); err != nil {
+			if err := s.recursiveLoad(imageLoadConfig.Engine, d.Name(), tmpImageDir); err != nil {
 				return err
 			}
 		}
@@ -67,7 +74,7 @@ func (s *TagStore) CmdLoad(job *engine.Job) error {
 
 		for imageName, tagMap := range repositories {
 			for tag, address := range tagMap {
-				if err := s.SetLoad(imageName, tag, address, true, job.Stdout); err != nil {
+				if err := s.SetLoad(imageName, tag, address, true, imageLoadConfig.OutStream); err != nil {
 					return err
 				}
 			}
diff --git a/graph/service.go b/graph/service.go
index 022d5d499d..44c1bdef16 100644
--- a/graph/service.go
+++ b/graph/service.go
@@ -13,7 +13,6 @@ func (s *TagStore) Install(eng *engine.Engine) error {
 		"image_inspect": s.CmdLookup,
 		"image_export":  s.CmdImageExport,
 		"viz":           s.CmdViz,
-		"load":          s.CmdLoad,
 		"push":          s.CmdPush,
 	} {
 		if err := eng.Register(name, handler); err != nil {