diff --git a/frontend/ui/widget/filechooser.lua b/frontend/ui/widget/filechooser.lua
index fc17fd1fd..fe72d891c 100644
--- a/frontend/ui/widget/filechooser.lua
+++ b/frontend/ui/widget/filechooser.lua
@@ -16,6 +16,11 @@ function FileChooser:init()
 end
 
 function FileChooser:compressPath(item_path)
+	if (item_path:sub(1, 1) == ".") then
+		-- ignore relative path
+		return item_path
+	end
+
 	-- compress paths like "test/pdf/../epub" into "test/epub"
 	local path = item_path
 	while path:match("/[^/]+[/][\\.][\\.]") do