diff --git a/programs/util.c b/programs/util.c
index 116f88e10..7f65f9373 100644
--- a/programs/util.c
+++ b/programs/util.c
@@ -1135,9 +1135,6 @@ static char* mallocAndJoin2Dir(const char *dir1, const char *dir2)
         memcpy(outDirBuffer, dir1, dir1Size);
         outDirBuffer[dir1Size] = '\0';
 
-        if (dir2[0] == '.')
-            return outDirBuffer;
-
         buffer = outDirBuffer + dir1Size;
         if (dir1Size > 0 && *(buffer - 1) != PATH_SEP) {
             *buffer = PATH_SEP;
diff --git a/tests/cli-tests/file-handling/directory-mirror.sh b/tests/cli-tests/file-handling/directory-mirror.sh
new file mode 100755
index 000000000..b2f70b591
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/cli-tests/file-handling/directory-mirror.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,49 @@
+#!/bin/sh
+set -e
+
+# setup
+mkdir -p src/.hidden src/dir
+mkdir mid dst
+
+echo "file1" > src/file1
+echo "file2" > src/.file2
+echo "file3" > src/.hidden/.file3
+echo "file4" > src/dir/.file4
+
+# relative paths
+zstd -q -r --output-dir-mirror mid/ src/
+zstd -q -d -r --output-dir-mirror dst/ mid/src/
+
+diff --brief --recursive --new-file src/ dst/mid/src/
+
+# reset
+rm -rf mid dst
+mkdir mid dst
+
+# from inside the directory
+(cd src; zstd -q -r --output-dir-mirror ../mid/ ./)
+(cd mid; zstd -q -d -r --output-dir-mirror ../dst/ ./)
+
+diff --brief --recursive --new-file src/ dst/
+
+# reset
+rm -rf mid dst
+mkdir mid dst
+
+# absolute paths
+export BASE_PATH="$(pwd)"
+
+zstd -q -r --output-dir-mirror mid/ "${BASE_PATH}/src/"
+zstd -q -d -r --output-dir-mirror  dst/ "${BASE_PATH}/mid/${BASE_PATH}/src/"
+
+diff --brief --recursive --new-file src/ "dst/${BASE_PATH}/mid/${BASE_PATH}/src/"
+
+# reset
+rm -rf mid dst
+mkdir mid dst
+
+# dots
+zstd -q -r --output-dir-mirror mid/ ./src/./
+zstd -q -d -r --output-dir-mirror  dst/ ./mid/./src/./
+
+diff --brief --recursive --new-file src/ dst/mid/src/
diff --git a/tests/cli-tests/file-handling/directory-mirror.sh.stderr.exact b/tests/cli-tests/file-handling/directory-mirror.sh.stderr.exact
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..e69de29bb
diff --git a/tests/cli-tests/file-handling/directory-mirror.sh.stdout.exact b/tests/cli-tests/file-handling/directory-mirror.sh.stdout.exact
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..e69de29bb