diff --git a/src/libostree/ostree-repo-libarchive.c b/src/libostree/ostree-repo-libarchive.c
index 1839a088..8d9e8969 100644
--- a/src/libostree/ostree-repo-libarchive.c
+++ b/src/libostree/ostree-repo-libarchive.c
@@ -861,7 +861,11 @@ ostree_repo_import_archive_to_mtree (OstreeRepo                   *self,
       g_file_info_set_attribute_uint32 (fi, "unix::gid", 0);
       g_file_info_set_attribute_uint32 (fi, "unix::mode", DEFAULT_DIRMODE);
 
-      if (!aic_ensure_parent_dir_with_file_info (&aictx, mtree, "/", fi, NULL,
+      g_autoptr(GFileInfo) mfi = NULL;
+      (void)_ostree_repo_commit_modifier_apply (self, modifier, "/",
+                                                fi, &mfi);
+
+      if (!aic_ensure_parent_dir_with_file_info (&aictx, mtree, "/", mfi, NULL,
                                                  cancellable, error))
         goto out;
     }
diff --git a/tests/test-libarchive.sh b/tests/test-libarchive.sh
index 6540b94b..6653fa6a 100755
--- a/tests/test-libarchive.sh
+++ b/tests/test-libarchive.sh
@@ -26,7 +26,7 @@ fi
 
 . $(dirname $0)/libtest.sh
 
-echo "1..20"
+echo "1..21"
 
 setup_test_repository "bare"
 
@@ -154,3 +154,13 @@ $OSTREE checkout partial partial-checkout
 cd partial-checkout
 assert_file_has_content subdir/original "original"
 echo "ok tar partial commit contents"
+
+cd ${test_tmpdir}
+tar -cf empty.tar.gz -T /dev/null
+uid=$(id -u)
+gid=$(id -g)
+$OSTREE commit -b tar-empty --tar-autocreate-parents \
+        --owner-uid=${uid} --owner-gid=${gid} --tree=tar=empty.tar.gz
+$OSTREE ls tar-empty > ls.txt
+assert_file_has_content ls.txt "d00755 ${uid} ${gid}      0 /"
+echo "ok tar autocreate with owner uid/gid"