diff --git a/builtin/ls-files.c b/builtin/ls-files.c
index a03b559eca..26e309f533 100644
--- a/builtin/ls-files.c
+++ b/builtin/ls-files.c
@@ -89,12 +89,15 @@ static void write_name(const char *name)
 
 static void write_name_to_buf(struct strbuf *sb, const char *name)
 {
-	const char *rel = relative_path(name, prefix_len ? prefix : NULL, sb);
+	struct strbuf buf = STRBUF_INIT;
+	const char *rel = relative_path(name, prefix_len ? prefix : NULL, &buf);
 
 	if (line_terminator)
 		quote_c_style(rel, sb, NULL, 0);
 	else
 		strbuf_addstr(sb, rel);
+
+	strbuf_release(&buf);
 }
 
 static const char *get_tag(const struct cache_entry *ce, const char *tag)
diff --git a/t/t3013-ls-files-format.sh b/t/t3013-ls-files-format.sh
index efb7450bf1..ef6fb53f7f 100755
--- a/t/t3013-ls-files-format.sh
+++ b/t/t3013-ls-files-format.sh
@@ -54,6 +54,22 @@ test_expect_success 'git ls-files --format path v.s. -s' '
 	test_cmp expect actual
 '
 
+test_expect_success 'git ls-files --format with relative path' '
+	cat >expect <<-\EOF &&
+	../o1.txt
+	../o2.txt
+	../o3.txt
+	../o4.txt
+	../o5.txt
+	../o6.txt
+	EOF
+	mkdir sub &&
+	cd sub &&
+	git ls-files --format="%(path)" ":/" >../actual &&
+	cd .. &&
+	test_cmp expect actual
+'
+
 test_expect_success 'git ls-files --format with -m' '
 	echo change >o1.txt &&
 	cat >expect <<-\EOF &&