diff --git a/openstackclient/image/v1/image.py b/openstackclient/image/v1/image.py
index cf1d68171..64aa3fcda 100644
--- a/openstackclient/image/v1/image.py
+++ b/openstackclient/image/v1/image.py
@@ -478,7 +478,11 @@ class SaveImage(command.Command):
         image_client = self.app.client_manager.image
         image = image_client.find_image(parsed_args.image)
 
-        image_client.download_image(image.id, output=parsed_args.file)
+        output_file = parsed_args.file
+        if output_file is None:
+            output_file = getattr(sys.stdout, "buffer", sys.stdout)
+
+        image_client.download_image(image.id, stream=True, output=output_file)
 
 
 class SetImage(command.Command):
diff --git a/openstackclient/image/v2/image.py b/openstackclient/image/v2/image.py
index 4f3e9d0bc..58d92f516 100644
--- a/openstackclient/image/v2/image.py
+++ b/openstackclient/image/v2/image.py
@@ -803,7 +803,11 @@ class SaveImage(command.Command):
         image_client = self.app.client_manager.image
         image = image_client.find_image(parsed_args.image)
 
-        image_client.download_image(image.id, output=parsed_args.file)
+        output_file = parsed_args.file
+        if output_file is None:
+            output_file = getattr(sys.stdout, "buffer", sys.stdout)
+
+        image_client.download_image(image.id, stream=True, output=output_file)
 
 
 class SetImage(command.Command):
diff --git a/openstackclient/tests/unit/image/v2/test_image.py b/openstackclient/tests/unit/image/v2/test_image.py
index b094817ef..80e60ee81 100644
--- a/openstackclient/tests/unit/image/v2/test_image.py
+++ b/openstackclient/tests/unit/image/v2/test_image.py
@@ -1618,7 +1618,7 @@ class TestImageSave(TestImage):
 
         verifylist = [
             ('file', '/path/to/file'),
-            ('image', self.image.id)
+            ('image', self.image.id),
         ]
         parsed_args = self.check_parser(self.cmd, arglist, verifylist)
 
@@ -1626,6 +1626,7 @@ class TestImageSave(TestImage):
 
         self.client.download_image.assert_called_once_with(
             self.image.id,
+            stream=True,
             output='/path/to/file')
 
 
diff --git a/releasenotes/notes/fix-openstak-image-save-sdk-port-eb160e8ffc92e514.yaml b/releasenotes/notes/fix-openstak-image-save-sdk-port-eb160e8ffc92e514.yaml
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..857f3c507
--- /dev/null
+++ b/releasenotes/notes/fix-openstak-image-save-sdk-port-eb160e8ffc92e514.yaml
@@ -0,0 +1,7 @@
+---
+fixes:
+  - Stream image download to avoid buffering data in memory which rapidly
+    exhausts memory resulting in OOM kill or system crash for all but the
+    smallest of images. Fixes https://storyboard.openstack.org/#!/story/2007672
+  - Restore default behavior of 'openstack image save' to send data to stdout
+    Relates to https://storyboard.openstack.org/#!/story/2007672.
\ No newline at end of file