diff --git a/meta/classes/image-container.bbclass b/meta/classes/image-container.bbclass
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..a10ee326ce
--- /dev/null
+++ b/meta/classes/image-container.bbclass
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+ROOTFS_BOOTSTRAP_INSTALL = ""
+IMAGE_TYPES_MASKED += "container"
+IMAGE_TYPEDEP_container = "tar.bz2"
diff --git a/meta/classes/image.bbclass b/meta/classes/image.bbclass
index 5c9dc62861..127e62d5d9 100644
--- a/meta/classes/image.bbclass
+++ b/meta/classes/image.bbclass
@@ -142,6 +142,9 @@ inherit ${IMAGE_TYPE_live}
 IMAGE_TYPE_vm = '${@bb.utils.contains_any("IMAGE_FSTYPES", ["vmdk", "vdi", "qcow2", "hdddirect"], "image-vm", "", d)}'
 inherit ${IMAGE_TYPE_vm}
 
+IMAGE_TYPE_container = '${@bb.utils.contains("IMAGE_FSTYPES", "container", "image-container", "", d)}'
+inherit ${IMAGE_TYPE_container}
+
 def build_uboot(d):
     if 'u-boot' in (d.getVar('IMAGE_FSTYPES') or ''):
         return "image_types_uboot"
diff --git a/meta/classes/image_types.bbclass b/meta/classes/image_types.bbclass
index fd19112a12..d2eb99dbb7 100644
--- a/meta/classes/image_types.bbclass
+++ b/meta/classes/image_types.bbclass
@@ -242,6 +242,7 @@ IMAGE_TYPES = " \
     hdddirect \
     elf \
     wic wic.gz wic.bz2 wic.lzma \
+    container \
 "
 
 # Compression is a special case of conversion. The old variable