diff --git a/Doc/library/tarfile.rst b/Doc/library/tarfile.rst
index 891af1bcf7e..2f330f018a4 100644
--- a/Doc/library/tarfile.rst
+++ b/Doc/library/tarfile.rst
@@ -318,7 +318,7 @@ be finalized; only the internally used file object will be closed. See the
 .. versionadded:: 3.2
    Added support for the context management protocol.
 
-.. class:: TarFile(name=None, mode='r', fileobj=None, format=DEFAULT_FORMAT, tarinfo=TarInfo, dereference=False, ignore_zeros=False, encoding=ENCODING, errors='surrogateescape', pax_headers=None, debug=0, errorlevel=1)
+.. class:: TarFile(name=None, mode='r', fileobj=None, format=DEFAULT_FORMAT, tarinfo=TarInfo, dereference=False, ignore_zeros=False, encoding=ENCODING, errors='surrogateescape', pax_headers=None, debug=0, errorlevel=1, stream=False)
 
    All following arguments are optional and can be accessed as instance attributes
    as well.
@@ -369,6 +369,9 @@ be finalized; only the internally used file object will be closed. See the
    The *pax_headers* argument is an optional dictionary of strings which
    will be added as a pax global header if *format* is :const:`PAX_FORMAT`.
 
+   If *stream* is set to :const:`True` then while reading the archive info about files
+   in the archive are not cached, saving memory.
+
    .. versionchanged:: 3.2
       Use ``'surrogateescape'`` as the default for the *errors* argument.
 
@@ -378,6 +381,8 @@ be finalized; only the internally used file object will be closed. See the
    .. versionchanged:: 3.6
       The *name* parameter accepts a :term:`path-like object`.
 
+   .. versionchanged:: 3.13
+      Add the *stream* parameter.
 
 .. classmethod:: TarFile.open(...)
 
diff --git a/Lib/tarfile.py b/Lib/tarfile.py
index 7781a430839..df4e41f7a0d 100755
--- a/Lib/tarfile.py
+++ b/Lib/tarfile.py
@@ -1633,7 +1633,7 @@ class TarFile(object):
     def __init__(self, name=None, mode="r", fileobj=None, format=None,
             tarinfo=None, dereference=None, ignore_zeros=None, encoding=None,
             errors="surrogateescape", pax_headers=None, debug=None,
-            errorlevel=None, copybufsize=None):
+            errorlevel=None, copybufsize=None, stream=False):
         """Open an (uncompressed) tar archive `name'. `mode' is either 'r' to
            read from an existing archive, 'a' to append data to an existing
            file or 'w' to create a new file overwriting an existing one. `mode'
@@ -1665,6 +1665,8 @@ class TarFile(object):
         self.name = os.path.abspath(name) if name else None
         self.fileobj = fileobj
 
+        self.stream = stream
+
         # Init attributes.
         if format is not None:
             self.format = format
@@ -2631,7 +2633,9 @@ class TarFile(object):
             break
 
         if tarinfo is not None:
-            self.members.append(tarinfo)
+            # if streaming the file we do not want to cache the tarinfo
+            if not self.stream:
+                self.members.append(tarinfo)
         else:
             self._loaded = True
 
@@ -2682,11 +2686,12 @@ class TarFile(object):
 
     def _load(self):
         """Read through the entire archive file and look for readable
-           members.
+           members. This should not run if the file is set to stream.
         """
-        while self.next() is not None:
-            pass
-        self._loaded = True
+        if not self.stream:
+            while self.next() is not None:
+                pass
+            self._loaded = True
 
     def _check(self, mode=None):
         """Check if TarFile is still open, and if the operation's mode
diff --git a/Lib/test/test_tarfile.py b/Lib/test/test_tarfile.py
index e8d322d20a5..2eda7fc4cea 100644
--- a/Lib/test/test_tarfile.py
+++ b/Lib/test/test_tarfile.py
@@ -100,6 +100,14 @@ class ReadTest(TarTest):
     def tearDown(self):
         self.tar.close()
 
+class StreamModeTest(ReadTest):
+
+    # Only needs to change how the tarfile is opened to set
+    # stream mode
+    def setUp(self):
+        self.tar = tarfile.open(self.tarname, mode=self.mode,
+                                encoding="iso8859-1",
+                                stream=True)
 
 class UstarReadTest(ReadTest, unittest.TestCase):
 
@@ -852,6 +860,21 @@ class Bz2StreamReadTest(Bz2Test, StreamReadTest):
 class LzmaStreamReadTest(LzmaTest, StreamReadTest):
     pass
 
+class TarStreamModeReadTest(StreamModeTest, unittest.TestCase):
+
+    def test_stream_mode_no_cache(self):
+        for _ in self.tar:
+            pass
+        self.assertEqual(self.tar.members, [])
+
+class GzipStreamModeReadTest(GzipTest, TarStreamModeReadTest):
+    pass
+
+class Bz2StreamModeReadTest(Bz2Test, TarStreamModeReadTest):
+    pass
+
+class LzmaStreamModeReadTest(LzmaTest, TarStreamModeReadTest):
+    pass
 
 class DetectReadTest(TarTest, unittest.TestCase):
     def _testfunc_file(self, name, mode):
diff --git a/Misc/NEWS.d/next/Library/2023-03-08-19-30-53.gh-issue-102120.xkQ5Wr.rst b/Misc/NEWS.d/next/Library/2023-03-08-19-30-53.gh-issue-102120.xkQ5Wr.rst
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..ca50242fdbe
--- /dev/null
+++ b/Misc/NEWS.d/next/Library/2023-03-08-19-30-53.gh-issue-102120.xkQ5Wr.rst
@@ -0,0 +1,2 @@
+Added a stream mode to ``tarfile`` that allows for reading
+archives without caching info about the inner files.