+@smallexample
+GNU tar-@value{VERSION}-2
+@end smallexample
+
+ This line is followed by newline. Rest of file consists of
+records, separated by null (@acronym{ASCII} 0)
+characters. Thus, in contrast to the previous formats, format 2
+snapshot is a binary file.
+
+ First two records are decimal integers, representing the
+time of the last backup. First number is the number of seconds, the
+second one is the number of nanoseconds, since the beginning of the
+epoch. These are followed by arbitrary number of directory records.
+
+ Each @dfn{directory record} contains a set of metadata describing a
+particular directory. Parts of a directory record are delimited with
+@acronym{ASCII} 0 characters. The following table describes each
+part. The @dfn{Number} type in this table stands for a decimal integer
+in @acronym{ASCII} notation. (Negative values are preceeded with a "-"
+character, while positive values have no leading punctuation.)
+
+@multitable @columnfractions 0.25 0.15 0.6
+@headitem Field @tab Type @tab Description
+@item nfs @tab Character @tab @samp{1} if the directory is located on
+an @acronym{NFS}-mounted partition, or @samp{0} otherwise;
+@item timestamp_sec @tab Number @tab Modification time, seconds;
+@item timestamp_nsec @tab Number @tab Modification time, nanoseconds;
+@item dev @tab Number @tab Device number;
+@item ino @tab Number @tab I-node number;
+@item name @tab String @tab Directory name; in contrast to the
+previous versions it is not quoted;
+@item contents @tab Dumpdir @tab Contents of the directory;
+@xref{Dumpdir}, for a description of its format.
+@item
+@end multitable
+
+ Dumpdirs stored in snapshot files contain only records of types
+@samp{Y}, @samp{N} and @samp{D}.
+
+@cindex snapshot file field ranges
+@opindex show-snapshot-field-ranges
+The specific range of values allowed in each of the @dfn{Number} fields
+depends on the underlying C datatypes as determined when @command{tar}
+is compiled. To see the specific ranges allowed for a particular
+@command{tar} binary, you can use the
+@option{--show-snapshot-field-ranges} option:
+
+@smallexample
+$ @kbd{tar --show-shapshot-field-ranges}
+This tar's snapshot file field ranges are
+ (field name => [ min, max ]):
+
+ nfs => [ 0, 1 ],
+ timestamp_sec => [ -9223372036854775808, 9223372036854775807 ],
+ timestamp_nsec => [ 0, 999999999 ],
+ dev => [ 0, 18446744073709551615 ],
+ ino => [ 0, 18446744073709551615 ],
+@end smallexample