diff --git a/archive.c b/archive.c
index 73b8e8a56d..0cc79d2a24 100644
--- a/archive.c
+++ b/archive.c
@@ -115,6 +115,7 @@ static int write_archive_entry(const unsigned char *sha1, const char *base,
 
 	strbuf_reset(&path);
 	strbuf_grow(&path, PATH_MAX);
+	strbuf_add(&path, args->base, args->baselen);
 	strbuf_add(&path, base, baselen);
 	strbuf_addstr(&path, filename);
 	path_without_prefix = path.buf + args->baselen;
@@ -187,8 +188,8 @@ int write_archive_entries(struct archiver_args *args,
 		git_attr_set_direction(GIT_ATTR_INDEX, &the_index);
 	}
 
-	err =  read_tree_recursive(args->tree, args->base, args->baselen, 0,
-			args->pathspec, write_archive_entry, &context);
+	err = read_tree_recursive(args->tree, "", 0, 0, args->pathspec,
+				  write_archive_entry, &context);
 	if (err == READ_TREE_RECURSIVE)
 		err = 0;
 	return err;
@@ -211,7 +212,7 @@ static const struct archiver *lookup_archiver(const char *name)
 static void parse_pathspec_arg(const char **pathspec,
 		struct archiver_args *ar_args)
 {
-	ar_args->pathspec = get_pathspec(ar_args->base, pathspec);
+	ar_args->pathspec = get_pathspec("", pathspec);
 }
 
 static void parse_treeish_arg(const char **argv,
diff --git a/t/t5000-tar-tree.sh b/t/t5000-tar-tree.sh
index 5f84b18fa5..0037f63d91 100755
--- a/t/t5000-tar-tree.sh
+++ b/t/t5000-tar-tree.sh
@@ -230,4 +230,16 @@ test_expect_success \
     'git archive --list outside of a git repo' \
     'GIT_DIR=some/non-existing/directory git archive --list'
 
+test_expect_success 'git-archive --prefix=olde-' '
+	git archive --prefix=olde- >h.tar HEAD &&
+	(
+		mkdir h &&
+		cd h &&
+		"$TAR" xf - <../h.tar
+	) &&
+	test -d h/olde-a &&
+	test -d h/olde-a/bin &&
+	test -f h/olde-a/bin/sh
+'
+
 test_done