diff --git a/configs/restic/ana-docker/pre-backup.sh b/configs/restic/ana-docker/pre-backup.sh
index 4a7542b..66bfda3 100755
--- a/configs/restic/ana-docker/pre-backup.sh
+++ b/configs/restic/ana-docker/pre-backup.sh
@@ -91,19 +91,30 @@ else
 fi
 
 # ---------- gitea (native `gitea dump`) ---------------------------------------
-# `gitea dump` produces a single ZIP with the DB dump, repo trees, config,
-# LFS objects and attachments. The in-container command knows its own DB
-# creds (from GITEA__database__* env vars), so no creds needed here.
+# `gitea dump` produces a single archive with the DB dump, repo trees,
+# config, LFS objects and attachments. The in-container command reads
+# its own DB creds (from GITEA__database__* env vars) — no external
+# creds needed.
 #
-# Size scales with the repo tree. Trim with --skip-lfs-data,
-# --skip-repository, --skip-attachment-data if the dump gets too large.
+# `--type tar` produces an UNCOMPRESSED tarball. Compressed formats
+# (zip/tar.gz) defeat restic's content-defined chunking: each day's
+# dump looks completely different to restic even when the underlying
+# data barely changed, so repo grows by ~full dump size every day.
+# Uncompressed tar lets restic dedup aggressively — after the first
+# snapshot, daily incrementals only cost the actual new-data delta.
+#
+# Tradeoff: on-disk stage file is larger (~2-3x the zip size) but that's
+# transient (deleted next run). Repo-side storage is much smaller.
+#
+# Size trimming flags if the tar becomes excessive: --skip-lfs-data,
+# --skip-repository, --skip-attachment-data.
 if docker inspect gitea >/dev/null 2>&1; then
-  log "dumping gitea (gitea dump, zip)"
+  log "dumping gitea (gitea dump, uncompressed tar)"
   if docker exec -u git gitea sh -c \
-       'rm -f /tmp/gitea-dump.zip && gitea dump -c /data/gitea/conf/app.ini -f /tmp/gitea-dump.zip' \
+       'rm -f /tmp/gitea-dump.tar && gitea dump -c /data/gitea/conf/app.ini -f /tmp/gitea-dump.tar --type tar' \
        >/dev/null 2>&1; then
-    docker cp gitea:/tmp/gitea-dump.zip "$STAGE/gitea-dump.zip" \
-      && docker exec -u git gitea rm -f /tmp/gitea-dump.zip \
+    docker cp gitea:/tmp/gitea-dump.tar "$STAGE/gitea-dump.tar" \
+      && docker exec -u git gitea rm -f /tmp/gitea-dump.tar \
       || warn "gitea dump copy/cleanup failed"
   else
     warn "gitea dump command failed"