How to fix Error processing tar file(exit status 1): unexpected EOF in Docker

First, verify you have sufficient disk space on your Docker host:

# On Linux/macOS
df -h /var/lib/docker

# Check Docker's disk usage
docker system df

If disk space is low, clean up unused Docker resources:

# Remove unused containers, networks, images, and build cache
docker system prune -a

# Remove all unused volumes (use with caution)
docker volume prune

If you're using Docker Desktop (Windows/macOS), the default memory allocation may be insufficient for large images:

1. Open Docker Desktop Settings/Preferences
2. Go to Resources > Advanced
3. Increase Memory to at least 4GB (or more for large images)
4. Increase Swap if available
5. Click Apply & Restart

For Docker on Linux with systemd, you can adjust limits in the service file or use cgroups.

Large or problematic files in your build context can cause this error. Create a .dockerignore file to exclude unnecessary files:

# .dockerignore
node_modules
.git
*.log
*.dump
*.tar
*.tar.gz
__pycache__
.pytest_cache
.venv
venv
dist
build
*.db
*.sqlite

This reduces the build context size and prevents nested tar files from causing issues.

Other applications may be locking files that Docker needs to read:

1. Close your IDE (VS Code, IntelliJ, Visual Studio)
2. Temporarily disable antivirus real-time scanning for the project directory
3. Close any file browsers or terminals with the directory open
4. On Windows, use Resource Monitor to identify processes locking files

Then retry your Docker build.

Ensure Docker can read all files in the build context:

# Check for permission issues
find . -type f ! -readable 2>/dev/null

# Fix permissions (Linux/macOS)
chmod -R a+r .

# If files are owned by root, you may need:
sudo chown -R $(whoami):$(whoami) .

Note: Docker needs read access to everything in the build context, even files not explicitly copied.

Docker 18.06 had known bugs with tar processing. Upgrade to the latest stable version:

# On Ubuntu/Debian
sudo apt update
sudo apt upgrade docker-ce docker-ce-cli containerd.io

# On macOS/Windows, download the latest Docker Desktop from docker.com

# Verify version
docker version

Docker 18.09+ includes fixes for many tar-related issues.

A corrupted cache or daemon state can cause this error:

# Restart Docker (Linux with systemd)
sudo systemctl restart docker

# On Docker Desktop, right-click the tray icon and select Restart

# Clear the build cache
docker builder prune -a

# If issues persist, try a clean rebuild
docker build --no-cache -t your-image .

Traditional tar headers limit individual files to 8GB. If you must include large files:

1. Split large files before adding them:

split -b 4G largefile.bin largefile.part.

2. Use multi-stage builds to download large files inside the container instead of copying them

3. Mount volumes at runtime instead of baking large files into images:

docker run -v /path/to/large/files:/data your-image

Avoid copying files larger than 8GB directly with COPY/ADD instructions.