diff --git a/go.mod b/go.mod
index 61e615e088..0ef21a7016 100644
--- a/go.mod
+++ b/go.mod
@@ -134,3 +134,9 @@ require (
 	sigs.k8s.io/yaml v1.6.0 // indirect
 	tags.cncf.io/container-device-interface/specs-go v1.1.0 // indirect
 )
+
+replace go.podman.io/common => github.com/TrevorBurnham/container-libs/common v0.0.0-20260225192346-ebad6b016844
+
+replace go.podman.io/image/v5 => github.com/TrevorBurnham/container-libs/image/v5 v5.0.0-20260225192346-ebad6b016844
+
+replace go.podman.io/storage => github.com/TrevorBurnham/container-libs/storage v0.0.0-20260225192346-ebad6b016844
diff --git a/go.sum b/go.sum
index 10cf022e67..3ac160f2bc 100644
--- a/go.sum
+++ b/go.sum
@@ -12,6 +12,12 @@ github.com/Masterminds/semver/v3 v3.4.0 h1:Zog+i5UMtVoCU8oKka5P7i9q9HgrJeGzI9SA1
 github.com/Masterminds/semver/v3 v3.4.0/go.mod h1:4V+yj/TJE1HU9XfppCwVMZq3I84lprf4nC11bSS5beM=
 github.com/Microsoft/go-winio v0.6.2 h1:F2VQgta7ecxGYO8k3ZZz3RS8fVIXVxONVUPlNERoyfY=
 github.com/Microsoft/go-winio v0.6.2/go.mod h1:yd8OoFMLzJbo9gZq8j5qaps8bJ9aShtEA8Ipt1oGCvU=
+github.com/TrevorBurnham/container-libs/common v0.0.0-20260225192346-ebad6b016844 h1:QmZVSHJsbBqCfkPoW1yVQ2tWCb3MEGXPGaBBaGqGNmM=
+github.com/TrevorBurnham/container-libs/common v0.0.0-20260225192346-ebad6b016844/go.mod h1:0DeDsVv70xdub5XMurYkseMEwQQ2NdwtG1+Es24VzX4=
+github.com/TrevorBurnham/container-libs/image/v5 v5.0.0-20260225192346-ebad6b016844 h1:wTuMtjFpbFLFhkxsrzLrfhvagYPcIssZFWJN3+LRGic=
+github.com/TrevorBurnham/container-libs/image/v5 v5.0.0-20260225192346-ebad6b016844/go.mod h1:aOKcsA9y3xfvAW5jGk8evBoQyJGJzhOIrXjwc4iRXcw=
+github.com/TrevorBurnham/container-libs/storage v0.0.0-20260225192346-ebad6b016844 h1:bYgfHmfH4oQ3K/jKtbLeicAQBASMhEyjRBPFJRXVZV0=
+github.com/TrevorBurnham/container-libs/storage v0.0.0-20260225192346-ebad6b016844/go.mod h1:B83Ad8mtO0GZs7rEwb66f0Ed5G57NyKI/iJZHoJrpUE=
 github.com/VividCortex/ewma v1.2.0 h1:f58SaIzcDXrSy3kWaHNvuJgJ3Nmz59Zji6XoJR/q1ow=
 github.com/VividCortex/ewma v1.2.0/go.mod h1:nz4BbCtbLyFDeC9SUHbtcT5644juEuWfUAUnGx7j5l4=
 github.com/acarl005/stripansi v0.0.0-20180116102854-5a71ef0e047d h1:licZJFw2RwpHMqeKTCYkitsPqHNxTmd4SNR5r94FGM8=
diff --git a/pkg/parse/parse.go b/pkg/parse/parse.go
index 9ba17e1b00..7aa82642a5 100644
--- a/pkg/parse/parse.go
+++ b/pkg/parse/parse.go
@@ -522,6 +522,20 @@ func SystemContextFromFlagSet(flags *pflag.FlagSet, findFlagFunc func(name strin
 		ctx.VariantChoice = variant
 	}
 
+	// If no platform-related flags were explicitly set, fall back to the
+	// default platform from containers.conf [engine] platform.
+	if ctx.OSChoice == "" && ctx.ArchitectureChoice == "" && ctx.VariantChoice == "" {
+		if defaultPlatform, err := defaultPlatformFromConfig(); err == nil && defaultPlatform != "" {
+			os, arch, variant, err := Platform(defaultPlatform)
+			if err != nil {
+				return nil, fmt.Errorf("parsing containers.conf platform %q: %w", defaultPlatform, err)
+			}
+			ctx.OSChoice = os
+			ctx.ArchitectureChoice = arch
+			ctx.VariantChoice = variant
+		}
+	}
+
 	ctx.BigFilesTemporaryDir = GetTempDir()
 	return ctx, nil
 }
@@ -671,6 +685,17 @@ func PlatformsFromOptions(c *cobra.Command) (platforms []struct{ OS, Arch, Varia
 			platforms = append(platforms, struct{ OS, Arch, Variant string }{os, arch, variant})
 		}
 	}
+	// If no platform-related flags were explicitly set, fall back to the
+	// default platform from containers.conf [engine] platform.
+	if len(platforms) == 1 && platforms[0].OS == "" && platforms[0].Arch == "" && platforms[0].Variant == "" {
+		if defaultPlatform, err := defaultPlatformFromConfig(); err == nil && defaultPlatform != "" {
+			os, arch, variant, err := Platform(defaultPlatform)
+			if err != nil {
+				return nil, fmt.Errorf("parsing containers.conf platform %q: %w", defaultPlatform, err)
+			}
+			platforms = []struct{ OS, Arch, Variant string }{{os, arch, variant}}
+		}
+	}
 	return platforms, nil
 }
 
@@ -679,6 +704,16 @@ func DefaultPlatform() string {
 	return platforms.DefaultString()
 }
 
+// defaultPlatformFromConfig returns the default platform from
+// containers.conf [engine] platform, if set.
+func defaultPlatformFromConfig() (string, error) {
+	cfg, err := config.Default()
+	if err != nil {
+		return "", err
+	}
+	return cfg.Engine.Platform, nil
+}
+
 // Platform separates the platform string into os, arch and variant,
 // accepting any of $arch, $os/$arch, or $os/$arch/$variant.
 func Platform(platform string) (os, arch, variant string, err error) {
diff --git a/tests/containers_conf.bats b/tests/containers_conf.bats
index 1e8e16dffa..d59ee97ddc 100644
--- a/tests/containers_conf.bats
+++ b/tests/containers_conf.bats
@@ -173,3 +173,31 @@ EOF
     expect_output --substring "retry.*\(default 10\)"
     expect_output --substring "retry-delay.*\(default \"5s\"\)"
 }
+
+
+@test "containers.conf engine.platform" {
+    cat >${TEST_SCRATCH_DIR}/containers.conf << EOF
+[engine]
+platform = "linux/arm64"
+EOF
+    local context="$TEST_SCRATCH_DIR"/context
+    mkdir -p "$context"
+    cat > "$context"/Containerfile << _EOF
+FROM scratch
+COPY . .
+_EOF
+
+    # Build with the custom containers.conf and push to an OCI layout
+    CONTAINERS_CONF=${TEST_SCRATCH_DIR}/containers.conf run_buildah build \
+        $WITH_POLICY_JSON -t localhost/testplatform \
+        -f "$context"/Containerfile "$context"
+    CONTAINERS_CONF=${TEST_SCRATCH_DIR}/containers.conf run_buildah push \
+        $WITH_POLICY_JSON localhost/testplatform oci:"$TEST_SCRATCH_DIR"/output
+
+    # Verify the image platform matches what we set in containers.conf
+    local config="$TEST_SCRATCH_DIR"/output/$(oci_image_config "$TEST_SCRATCH_DIR"/output)
+    run jq -r '.os' "$config"
+    assert "$output" = "linux" "os should be linux"
+    run jq -r '.architecture' "$config"
+    assert "$output" = "arm64" "architecture should be arm64"
+}
diff --git a/vendor/go.podman.io/common/pkg/config/config.go b/vendor/go.podman.io/common/pkg/config/config.go
index 7864f9f381..d4eff65047 100644
--- a/vendor/go.podman.io/common/pkg/config/config.go
+++ b/vendor/go.podman.io/common/pkg/config/config.go
@@ -422,6 +422,12 @@ type EngineConfig struct {
 	// OCIRuntimesFlags are the set of configured OCI runtimes' flags
 	OCIRuntimesFlags map[string][]string `toml:"runtimes_flags,omitempty"`
 
+	// Platform specifies the default platform (os/arch[/variant]) for image
+	// operations such as pull, build, run, and create. If empty, the host's
+	// platform is used. Format: "os/arch" or "os/arch/variant" (e.g.,
+	// "linux/amd64", "linux/arm64/v8").
+	Platform string `toml:"platform,omitempty"`
+
 	// PlatformToOCIRuntime requests specific OCI runtime for a specified platform of image.
 	PlatformToOCIRuntime map[string]string `toml:"platform_to_oci_runtime,omitempty"`
 
diff --git a/vendor/go.podman.io/common/pkg/config/containers.conf b/vendor/go.podman.io/common/pkg/config/containers.conf
index 49fd38390b..8496c0d528 100644
--- a/vendor/go.podman.io/common/pkg/config/containers.conf
+++ b/vendor/go.podman.io/common/pkg/config/containers.conf
@@ -696,6 +696,11 @@ default_sysctls = [
 #
 #num_locks = 2048
 
+# Default platform (os/arch[/variant]) for image operations such as pull,
+# build, run, and create. If empty, the host's platform is used.
+#
+#platform = ""
+
 # Set the exit policy of the pod when the last container exits.
 #pod_exit_policy = "continue"
 
diff --git a/vendor/go.podman.io/common/pkg/config/containers.conf-freebsd b/vendor/go.podman.io/common/pkg/config/containers.conf-freebsd
index 620bd0ca4f..4a68e9a3d7 100644
--- a/vendor/go.podman.io/common/pkg/config/containers.conf-freebsd
+++ b/vendor/go.podman.io/common/pkg/config/containers.conf-freebsd
@@ -528,6 +528,11 @@ default_sysctls = [
 #
 #num_locks = 2048
 
+# Default platform (os/arch[/variant]) for image operations such as pull,
+# build, run, and create. If empty, the host's platform is used.
+#
+#platform = ""
+
 # Whether to pull new image before running a container
 #
 #pull_policy = "missing"
diff --git a/vendor/modules.txt b/vendor/modules.txt
index df263cccbe..693df16abd 100644
--- a/vendor/modules.txt
+++ b/vendor/modules.txt
@@ -454,8 +454,8 @@ go.opentelemetry.io/otel/trace
 go.opentelemetry.io/otel/trace/embedded
 go.opentelemetry.io/otel/trace/internal/telemetry
 go.opentelemetry.io/otel/trace/noop
-# go.podman.io/common v0.67.1-0.20260325203629-8af78737e8bb
-## explicit; go 1.25.6
+# go.podman.io/common v0.67.1-0.20260325203629-8af78737e8bb => github.com/TrevorBurnham/container-libs/common v0.0.0-20260225192346-ebad6b016844
+## explicit; go 1.24.6
 go.podman.io/common/internal
 go.podman.io/common/libimage
 go.podman.io/common/libimage/define
@@ -505,8 +505,8 @@ go.podman.io/common/pkg/umask
 go.podman.io/common/pkg/util
 go.podman.io/common/pkg/version
 go.podman.io/common/version
-# go.podman.io/image/v5 v5.39.2-0.20260325203629-8af78737e8bb
-## explicit; go 1.25.6
+# go.podman.io/image/v5 v5.39.2-0.20260325203629-8af78737e8bb => github.com/TrevorBurnham/container-libs/image/v5 v5.0.0-20260225192346-ebad6b016844
+## explicit; go 1.24.6
 go.podman.io/image/v5/copy
 go.podman.io/image/v5/directory
 go.podman.io/image/v5/directory/explicitfilepath
@@ -574,8 +574,8 @@ go.podman.io/image/v5/transports
 go.podman.io/image/v5/transports/alltransports
 go.podman.io/image/v5/types
 go.podman.io/image/v5/version
-# go.podman.io/storage v1.62.1-0.20260325203629-8af78737e8bb
-## explicit; go 1.25.0
+# go.podman.io/storage v1.62.1-0.20260325203629-8af78737e8bb => github.com/TrevorBurnham/container-libs/storage v0.0.0-20260225192346-ebad6b016844
+## explicit; go 1.24.0
 go.podman.io/storage
 go.podman.io/storage/drivers
 go.podman.io/storage/drivers/btrfs
@@ -821,3 +821,6 @@ tags.cncf.io/container-device-interface/pkg/parser
 # tags.cncf.io/container-device-interface/specs-go v1.1.0
 ## explicit; go 1.19
 tags.cncf.io/container-device-interface/specs-go
+# go.podman.io/common => github.com/TrevorBurnham/container-libs/common v0.0.0-20260225192346-ebad6b016844
+# go.podman.io/image/v5 => github.com/TrevorBurnham/container-libs/image/v5 v5.0.0-20260225192346-ebad6b016844
+# go.podman.io/storage => github.com/TrevorBurnham/container-libs/storage v0.0.0-20260225192346-ebad6b016844