% DOCKER(1) Docker User Manuals % Docker Community % JUNE 2014 # NAME docker-export - Export the contents of a container's filesystem as a tar archive # SYNOPSIS **docker export** [**--help**] CONTAINER # DESCRIPTION Export the contents of a container's filesystem using the full or shortened container ID or container name. The output is exported to STDOUT and can be redirected to a tar file. Stream to a file instead of STDOUT by using **-o**. # OPTIONS **--help** Print usage statement **-o**, **--output**="" Write to a file, instead of STDOUT # EXAMPLES Export the contents of the container called angry_bell to a tar file called angry_bell.tar: # docker export angry_bell > angry_bell.tar # docker export --output=angry_bell-latest.tar angry_bell # ls -sh angry_bell.tar 321M angry_bell.tar # ls -sh angry_bell-latest.tar 321M angry_bell-latest.tar # See also **docker-import(1)** to create an empty filesystem image and import the contents of the tarball into it, then optionally tag it. # HISTORY April 2014, Originally compiled by William Henry (whenry at redhat dot com) based on docker.com source material and internal work. June 2014, updated by Sven Dowideit January 2015, updated by Joseph Kern (josephakern at gmail dot com)