diff --git a/client/deployments/client.go b/client/deployments/client.go
index 5ede3d9a..f5f36e0c 100644
--- a/client/deployments/client.go
+++ b/client/deployments/client.go
@@ -14,6 +14,7 @@
 package deployments
 
 import (
+	"archive/tar"
 	"bytes"
 	"encoding/json"
 	"fmt"
@@ -295,7 +296,9 @@ func (c *Client) DirectUpload(
 	if err != nil {
 		return errors.Wrap(err, "Cannot read artifact file stats")
 	}
-
+	if err = checkArtifactFormat(artifact); err != nil {
+		return err
+	}
 	var req *http.Request
 	if !noProgress {
 		// create progress bar
@@ -367,6 +370,9 @@ func (c *Client) UploadArtifact(
 		return errors.Wrap(err, "Cannot read artifact file stats")
 	}
 
+	if err = checkArtifactFormat(artifact); err != nil {
+		return err
+	}
 	// create pipe
 	pR, pW := io.Pipe()
 
@@ -680,3 +686,24 @@ func (c *Client) downloadFile(size int64, localFileName string, resp *http.Respo
 	}
 	return nil
 }
+func checkArtifactFormat(artifact *os.File) error {
+	tr := tar.NewReader(artifact)
+	versionH, err := tr.Next()
+	if err != nil {
+		return errors.Wrap(err, "error parsing artifact")
+	} else if versionH.Name != "version" {
+		return errors.New("Invalid artifact format")
+	}
+	v := struct {
+		Format string `json:"format"`
+	}{}
+	err = json.NewDecoder(tr).Decode(&v)
+	if err != nil || v.Format != "mender" {
+		return errors.New("Invalid artifact format")
+	}
+	_, err = artifact.Seek(0, io.SeekStart)
+	if err != nil || v.Format != "mender" {
+		return err
+	}
+	return nil
+}