diff --git a/distroless/private/flatten.sh b/distroless/private/flatten.sh
index 25b6762..678c2b5 100755
--- a/distroless/private/flatten.sh
+++ b/distroless/private/flatten.sh
@@ -37,9 +37,11 @@ if [[ "$deduplicate" == "True" ]]; then
 
     $bsdtar --confirmation "$@" 2< <("${awk}" '
     function normalize(p) {
-        # Strip leading "./" and trailing "/" so that "./etc/" and "etc/" are treated as the same path.
-        sub(/^\.\//, "", p)
+        # Strip trailing "/" and add leading "./" so that "./etc/" and "etc/" are treated as the same path.
         sub(/\/$/, "", p)
+        if (p !~ /^\.\// && p !~ /^\//) {
+            p = "./" p
+        }
         return p
     }
     {
diff --git a/examples/flatten/BUILD.bazel b/examples/flatten/BUILD.bazel
index a4dbfca..4a0eae0 100644
--- a/examples/flatten/BUILD.bazel
+++ b/examples/flatten/BUILD.bazel
@@ -146,8 +146,8 @@ flatten(
     name = "flatten_dedup_normalize",
     deduplicate = True,
     tars = [
-        ":dotslash_tar",
         ":nodotslash_tar",
+        ":dotslash_tar",
     ],
 )
 
@@ -155,7 +155,7 @@ assert_tar_listing(
     name = "test_flatten_dedup_normalize",
     actual = "flatten_dedup_normalize",
     expected = """\
-etc/
-etc/sub/
+./etc/
+./etc/sub/
 """,
 )