diff --git a/cmd/restore/restore.go b/cmd/restore/restore.go
index 4ef1681b..7b6f7701 100644
--- a/cmd/restore/restore.go
+++ b/cmd/restore/restore.go
@@ -3,21 +3,29 @@ package restore
 import (
 	"bufio"
 	"compress/gzip"
+	"errors"
 	"github.com/clevyr/kubedb/internal/kubernetes"
 	"github.com/clevyr/kubedb/internal/postgres"
 	"github.com/spf13/cobra"
 	"io"
 	_ "k8s.io/client-go/plugin/pkg/client/auth"
 	"log"
-	"net/http"
 	"os"
 	"strings"
 )
 
+const (
+	GzipContentType = iota
+	CustomContentType
+	PlainContentType
+)
+
 var Command = &cobra.Command{
 	Use:     "restore",
 	Aliases: []string{"r"},
 	Short:   "Restore a database",
+	Args:    cobra.ExactArgs(1),
+	PreRunE: preRun,
 	RunE:    run,
 }
 
@@ -25,7 +33,10 @@ var (
 	dbname            string
 	username          string
 	password          string
+	inputFormat       uint8
 	singleTransaction bool
+	clean             bool
+	noOwner           bool
 )
 
 func init() {
@@ -33,7 +44,36 @@ func init() {
 	Command.Flags().StringVarP(&username, "username", "U", "postgres", "database username")
 	Command.Flags().StringVarP(&password, "password", "p", "", "database password")
 
-	Command.Flags().BoolVar(&singleTransaction, "single-transaction", true, "execute as a single transaction")
+	Command.Flags().StringP("format", "F", "", "input format. inferred by default ([g]zip, [c]ustom, [p]lain text)")
+
+	Command.Flags().BoolVarP(&singleTransaction, "single-transaction", "1", true, "restore as a single transaction")
+	Command.Flags().BoolVarP(&clean, "clean", "c", true, "clean (drop) database objects before recreating")
+	Command.Flags().BoolVarP(&noOwner, "no-owner", "O", true, "skip restoration of object ownership in plain-text format")
+}
+
+func preRun(cmd *cobra.Command, args []string) error {
+	format, _ := cmd.Flags().GetString("format")
+	switch format {
+	case "gzip", "gz", "g":
+		inputFormat = GzipContentType
+	case "plain", "sql", "p":
+		inputFormat = PlainContentType
+	case "custom", "c":
+		inputFormat = CustomContentType
+	default:
+		lower := strings.ToLower(args[0])
+		switch {
+		case strings.HasSuffix(lower, ".sql.gz"):
+			inputFormat = GzipContentType
+		case strings.HasSuffix(lower, ".dmp"):
+			inputFormat = CustomContentType
+		case strings.HasSuffix(lower, ".sql"):
+			inputFormat = PlainContentType
+		default:
+			return errors.New("invalid input file type")
+		}
+	}
+	return nil
 }
 
 func run(cmd *cobra.Command, args []string) (err error) {
@@ -69,26 +109,25 @@ func run(cmd *cobra.Command, args []string) (err error) {
 
 	ch := make(chan error)
 	go func() {
-		resetReader := strings.NewReader("drop schema public cascade; create schema public;")
-		err := kubernetes.Exec(client, postgresPod, buildCommand(false), resetReader, os.Stdout, false)
-		if err != nil {
-			ch <- err
-			return
+		if clean {
+			resetReader := strings.NewReader("drop schema public cascade; create schema public;")
+			err := kubernetes.Exec(client, postgresPod, buildCommand(PlainContentType, false), resetReader, os.Stdout, false)
+			if err != nil {
+				pw.Close()
+				ch <- err
+				return
+			}
 		}
 
-		err = kubernetes.Exec(client, postgresPod, buildCommand(true), pr, os.Stdout, false)
+		err := kubernetes.Exec(client, postgresPod, buildCommand(inputFormat, true), pr, os.Stdout, false)
+		pw.Close()
 		ch <- err
 	}()
 
-	contentType, err := getFileContentType(infile)
-	if err != nil {
-		return err
-	}
-
-	switch contentType {
-	case "application/x-gzip":
+	switch inputFormat {
+	case GzipContentType, CustomContentType:
 		_, err = io.Copy(pw, fileReader)
-	default:
+	case PlainContentType:
 		gzw := gzip.NewWriter(pw)
 		_, err = io.Copy(gzw, fileReader)
 		gzw.Close()
@@ -105,31 +144,23 @@ func run(cmd *cobra.Command, args []string) (err error) {
 	return err
 }
 
-func buildCommand(gunzip bool) []string {
-	var cmd []string
-	if gunzip {
-		cmd = []string{"gunzip", "|"}
+func buildCommand(inputFormat uint8, gunzip bool) []string {
+	cmd := []string{"PGPASSWORD=" + password}
+	switch inputFormat {
+	case GzipContentType, PlainContentType:
+		if gunzip {
+			cmd = append([]string{"gunzip", "--force", "|"}, cmd...)
+		}
+		cmd = append(cmd, "psql")
+	case CustomContentType:
+		cmd = append(cmd, "pg_restore", "--format=custom", "--verbose")
+		if noOwner {
+			cmd = append(cmd, "--no-owner")
+		}
 	}
-	cmd = append(cmd, "PGPASSWORD="+password, "psql", "--username="+username, "--dbname="+dbname)
+	cmd = append(cmd, "--username="+username, "--dbname="+dbname)
 	if singleTransaction {
 		cmd = append(cmd, "--single-transaction")
 	}
 	return []string{"sh", "-c", strings.Join(cmd, " ")}
 }
-
-func getFileContentType(infile *os.File) (string, error) {
-	// Only the first 512 bytes are used to sniff the content type.
-	buffer := make([]byte, 512)
-
-	_, err := infile.Read(buffer)
-	if err != nil {
-		return "", err
-	}
-
-	// Use the net/http package's handy DectectContentType function. Always returns a valid
-	// content-type by returning "application/octet-stream" if no others seemed to match.
-	contentType := http.DetectContentType(buffer)
-
-	_, err = infile.Seek(0, 0)
-	return contentType, err
-}