diff --git a/tripleo_common/image/builder/buildah.py b/tripleo_common/image/builder/buildah.py
index 4b28bdb82..b0ffd80df 100644
--- a/tripleo_common/image/builder/buildah.py
+++ b/tripleo_common/image/builder/buildah.py
@@ -122,7 +122,10 @@ class BuildahBuilder(base.BaseBuilder):
         # TODO(emilien): Stop ignoring TLS. The deployer should either secure
         # the registry or add it to insecure_registries.
         logfile = container_build_path + '/' + container_name + '-build.log'
-        args = self.buildah_cmd + ['bud', '--tls-verify=False', '--logfile',
+        # TODO(aschultz): drop --format docker when oci format is properly
+        # supported by the undercloud registry
+        args = self.buildah_cmd + ['bud', '--format', 'docker',
+                                   '--tls-verify=False', '--logfile',
                                    logfile, '-t', destination,
                                    container_build_path]
         print("Building %s image with: %s" % (container_name, ' '.join(args)))
diff --git a/tripleo_common/tests/image/builder/test_buildah.py b/tripleo_common/tests/image/builder/test_buildah.py
index 8de989478..9bf954180 100644
--- a/tripleo_common/tests/image/builder/test_buildah.py
+++ b/tripleo_common/tests/image/builder/test_buildah.py
@@ -86,7 +86,8 @@ class TestBuildahBuilder(base.TestCase):
         dest = '127.0.0.1:8787/master/fedora-binary-fedora-base:latest'
         container_build_path = WORK_DIR + '/' + 'fedora-base'
         logfile = '/tmp/kolla/fedora-base/fedora-base-build.log'
-        buildah_cmd_build = ['bud', '--tls-verify=False', '--logfile',
+        buildah_cmd_build = ['bud', '--format', 'docker',
+                             '--tls-verify=False', '--logfile',
                              logfile, '-t', dest, container_build_path]
         args.extend(buildah_cmd_build)
         bb(WORK_DIR, DEPS).build('fedora-base', container_build_path)