diff --git a/misc/path_utils.c b/misc/path_utils.c
index 8c0f3c6e39644..ec6ec40a9eefc 100644
--- a/misc/path_utils.c
+++ b/misc/path_utils.c
@@ -85,15 +85,26 @@ void mp_path_strip_trailing_separator(char *path)
 char *mp_splitext(const char *path, bstr *root)
 {
     mp_assert(path);
-    int skip = (*path == '.'); // skip leading dot for "hidden" unix files
-    const char *split = strrchr(path + skip, '.');
-    if (!split || !split[1] || strchr(split, '/'))
+    char *bn = mp_basename(path);
+
+    // Skip all leading dots, not just for "hidden" unix files, otherwise we
+    // end up splitting a part of the filename sans leading dot.
+    bn += strspn(bn, ".");
+
+    const char *split = strrchr(bn, '.');
+    if (!split || !split[1])
         return NULL;
     if (root)
         *root = (bstr){(char *)path, split - path};
     return (char *)split + 1;
 }
 
+char *mp_strip_ext(void *talloc_ctx, const char *s)
+{
+    bstr root;
+    return mp_splitext(s, &root) ? bstrto0(talloc_ctx, root) : talloc_strdup(talloc_ctx, s);
+}
+
 bool mp_path_is_absolute(struct bstr path)
 {
     if (path.len && strchr(mp_path_separators, path.start[0]))
diff --git a/misc/path_utils.h b/misc/path_utils.h
index 1e6c16ac66e99..530e535d1144e 100644
--- a/misc/path_utils.h
+++ b/misc/path_utils.h
@@ -33,6 +33,9 @@ char *mp_basename(const char *path);
  */
 char *mp_splitext(const char *path, bstr *root);
 
+// This is a shorthand to remove the extension
+char *mp_strip_ext(void *talloc_ctx, const char *s);
+
 /* Return struct bstr referencing directory part of path, or if that
  * would be empty, ".".
  */
diff --git a/player/command.c b/player/command.c
index 2761d70750a61..b5d28bafe9f13 100644
--- a/player/command.c
+++ b/player/command.c
@@ -536,9 +536,7 @@ static int mp_property_filename(void *ctx, struct m_property *prop,
         if (strcmp(ka->key, "no-ext") == 0) {
             action = ka->action;
             arg = ka->arg;
-            bstr root;
-            if (mp_splitext(f, &root))
-                f = bstrto0(filename, root);
+            f = mp_strip_ext(filename, f);
         }
     }
     int r = m_property_strdup_ro(action, arg, f);
diff --git a/player/screenshot.c b/player/screenshot.c
index 665b41d6a94f0..9f87244e6d5d4 100644
--- a/player/screenshot.c
+++ b/player/screenshot.c
@@ -69,14 +69,6 @@ void screenshot_init(struct MPContext *mpctx)
     };
 }
 
-static char *stripext(void *talloc_ctx, const char *s)
-{
-    const char *end = strrchr(s, '.');
-    if (!end)
-        end = s + strlen(s);
-    return talloc_asprintf(talloc_ctx, "%.*s", (int)(end - s), s);
-}
-
 static bool write_screenshot(struct mp_cmd_ctx *cmd, struct mp_image *img,
                              const char *filename, struct image_writer_opts *opts,
                              bool overwrite)
@@ -176,20 +168,20 @@ static char *create_fname(struct MPContext *mpctx, char *template,
         }
         case 'f':
         case 'F': {
-            char *video_file = NULL;
-            if (mpctx->filename) {
-                if (mp_is_url(bstr0(mpctx->filename)))
-                    video_file = mp_basename(mp_url_unescape(res, mpctx->filename));
-                else
-                    video_file = mp_basename(mpctx->filename);
+            char *name;
+            if (!mpctx->filename) {
+                name = "NO_FILE";
+            } else if (bstr_endswith0(bstr0(mpctx->filename), "/")) {
+                name = mpctx->filename;
+            } else {
+                name = mp_basename(mpctx->filename);
             }
 
-            if (!video_file)
-                video_file = "NO_FILE";
+            if (mp_is_url(bstr0(mpctx->filename)))
+                name = mp_url_unescape(res, name);
 
-            char *name = video_file;
             if (fmt == 'F')
-                name = stripext(res, video_file);
+                name = mp_strip_ext(res, name);
             append_filename(&res, name);
             break;
         }
@@ -305,9 +297,6 @@ static char *gen_fname(struct mp_cmd_ctx *cmd, const char *file_ext)
             void *t = fname;
             dir = mp_get_user_path(t, ctx->mpctx->global, dir);
             fname = mp_path_join(NULL, dir, fname);
-
-            mp_mkdirp(dir);
-
             talloc_free(t);
         }