diff --git a/libpod/image/docker_registry_options.go b/libpod/image/docker_registry_options.go
index 62a4af4653..b1eb31e2db 100644
--- a/libpod/image/docker_registry_options.go
+++ b/libpod/image/docker_registry_options.go
@@ -2,10 +2,10 @@ package image
 
 import (
 	"fmt"
+	"os"
 
 	"github.com/containers/image/v5/docker/reference"
 	"github.com/containers/image/v5/types"
-
 	podmanVersion "github.com/containers/libpod/version"
 )
 
@@ -41,6 +41,7 @@ func (o DockerRegistryOptions) GetSystemContext(parent *types.SystemContext, add
 		DockerArchiveAdditionalTags: additionalDockerArchiveTags,
 		OSChoice:                    o.OSChoice,
 		ArchitectureChoice:          o.ArchitectureChoice,
+		BigFilesTemporaryDir:        GetTempDir(),
 	}
 	if parent != nil {
 		sc.SignaturePolicyPath = parent.SignaturePolicyPath
@@ -65,3 +66,11 @@ func GetSystemContext(signaturePolicyPath, authFilePath string, forceCompress bo
 
 	return sc
 }
+
+// Retrieve the temporary directory for storing large files.
+func GetTempDir() string {
+	if tmpdir, ok := os.LookupEnv("TMPDIR"); ok {
+		return tmpdir
+	}
+	return "/var/tmp"
+}