diff --git a/src/borg/archiver/tar_cmds.py b/src/borg/archiver/tar_cmds.py
index 6ede4b348d..d8df714752 100644
--- a/src/borg/archiver/tar_cmds.py
+++ b/src/borg/archiver/tar_cmds.py
@@ -396,7 +396,7 @@ def build_parser_tar(self, subparsers, common_parser, mid_common_parser):
             "--tar-format",
             metavar="FMT",
             dest="tar_format",
-            default="GNU",
+            default="PAX",
             choices=("BORG", "PAX", "GNU"),
             action=Highlander,
             help="select tar format: BORG, PAX or GNU",