diff --git a/core/commands/get.go b/core/commands/get.go
index 08e64975b..9aca5750f 100644
--- a/core/commands/get.go
+++ b/core/commands/get.go
@@ -6,6 +6,7 @@ import (
 	"fmt"
 	"io"
 	"os"
+	p "path"
 	"strings"
 
 	cmds "github.com/jbenet/go-ipfs/commands"
@@ -76,7 +77,7 @@ may also specify the level of compression by specifying '-l=<1-9>'.
 
 		outPath, _, _ := req.Option("output").String()
 		if len(outPath) == 0 {
-			outPath = req.Arguments()[0]
+			_, outPath = p.Split(req.Arguments()[0])
 		}
 
 		cmplvl, err := getCompressOptions(req)
diff --git a/unixfs/tar/reader.go b/unixfs/tar/reader.go
index 081d816a2..6ec333928 100644
--- a/unixfs/tar/reader.go
+++ b/unixfs/tar/reader.go
@@ -51,7 +51,8 @@ func NewReader(path string, dag mdag.DAGService, resolver *path.Resolver, compre
 
 	// writeToBuf will write the data to the buffer, and will signal when there
 	// is new data to read
-	go reader.writeToBuf(dagnode, path, 0)
+	_, filename := p.Split(path)
+	go reader.writeToBuf(dagnode, filename, 0)
 
 	return reader, nil
 }