diff --git a/docker/api/build.py b/docker/api/build.py
index 439f4dc3..1f6a6e2d 100644
--- a/docker/api/build.py
+++ b/docker/api/build.py
@@ -129,6 +129,9 @@ class BuildApiMixin:
             raise errors.DockerException(
                 'Can not use custom encoding if gzip is enabled'
             )
+        if tag is not None:
+            if not utils.match_tag(tag):
+                raise errors.DockerException(f"invalid tag '{tag}': invalid reference format")
 
         for key in container_limits.keys():
             if key not in constants.CONTAINER_LIMITS_KEYS:
diff --git a/docker/utils/__init__.py b/docker/utils/__init__.py
index 944c6e65..b4bef7d4 100644
--- a/docker/utils/__init__.py
+++ b/docker/utils/__init__.py
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 
-from .build import create_archive, exclude_paths, mkbuildcontext, tar
+from .build import match_tag, create_archive, exclude_paths, mkbuildcontext, tar
 from .decorators import check_resource, minimum_version, update_headers
 from .utils import (
     compare_version, convert_port_bindings, convert_volume_binds,
diff --git a/docker/utils/build.py b/docker/utils/build.py
index 8d18c2be..a5c4b0c2 100644
--- a/docker/utils/build.py
+++ b/docker/utils/build.py
@@ -9,6 +9,14 @@ from ..constants import IS_WINDOWS_PLATFORM
 
 
 _SEP = re.compile('/|\\\\') if IS_WINDOWS_PLATFORM else re.compile('/')
+_TAG = re.compile(
+    r"^[a-z0-9]+((\.|_|__|-+)[a-z0-9]+)*(\/[a-z0-9]+((\.|_|__|-+)[a-z0-9]+)*)*" \
+        + "(:[a-zA-Z0-9_][a-zA-Z0-9._-]{0,127})?$"
+)
+
+
+def match_tag(tag: str) -> bool:
+    return bool(_TAG.match(tag))
 
 
 def tar(path, exclude=None, dockerfile=None, fileobj=None, gzip=False):
diff --git a/tests/unit/api_build_test.py b/tests/unit/api_build_test.py
index cbecd1e5..7ea8fddf 100644
--- a/tests/unit/api_build_test.py
+++ b/tests/unit/api_build_test.py
@@ -100,6 +100,12 @@ class BuildTest(BaseAPIClientTest):
     def test_build_container_with_named_dockerfile(self):
         self.client.build('.', dockerfile='nameddockerfile')
 
+    def test_build_with_invalid_tag(self):
+        with pytest.raises(TypeError):
+            self.client.build(
+                ".", dockerfile="nameddockerfile", tag="https://example.com"
+            )
+
     def test_build_container_with_container_limits(self):
         self.client.build('.', container_limits={
             'memory': 1024 * 1024,