diff --git a/jax/experimental/array_serialization/serialization.py b/jax/experimental/array_serialization/serialization.py
index 331c59ce95da..4cdb880ef373 100644
--- a/jax/experimental/array_serialization/serialization.py
+++ b/jax/experimental/array_serialization/serialization.py
@@ -90,16 +90,18 @@ def _get_kvstore_for_gcs(ckpt_path: str):
   return {'driver': 'gcs', 'bucket': gcs_bucket, 'path': path_without_bucket}
 
 def get_tensorstore_spec(ckpt_path: str, ocdbt: bool = False):
-  is_gcs_path = ckpt_path.startswith('gs://')
   # Normalize path to exclude trailing '/'. In GCS path case, we will need to
   # fix the path prefix to add back the stripped '/'.
   ckpt_path = os.path.normpath(ckpt_path).replace('gs:/', 'gs://')
+  is_gcs_path = ckpt_path.startswith('gs://')
   spec = {'driver': 'zarr', 'kvstore': {}}
   if ocdbt:
-    prefix = 'gs' if is_gcs_path else 'file'
+    if not is_gcs_path and not os.path.isabs(ckpt_path):
+      raise ValueError(f'Checkpoint path should be absolute. Got {ckpt_path}')
+    base_path = os.path.dirname(ckpt_path)
     spec['kvstore'] = {
         'driver': 'ocdbt',
-        'base': f'{prefix}://{os.path.dirname(ckpt_path)}',
+        'base': base_path if is_gcs_path else f'file://{base_path}',
         'path': os.path.basename(ckpt_path),
     }
   else:
diff --git a/jax/experimental/array_serialization/serialization_test.py b/jax/experimental/array_serialization/serialization_test.py
index e260b57d05e4..e90e771659ec 100644
--- a/jax/experimental/array_serialization/serialization_test.py
+++ b/jax/experimental/array_serialization/serialization_test.py
@@ -21,6 +21,7 @@
 import tracemalloc as tm
 
 from absl.testing import absltest
+from absl.testing import parameterized
 import jax
 from jax._src import test_util as jtu
 from jax import config
@@ -291,5 +292,26 @@ def test_empty_spec_has_no_metadata(self):
     spec = {}
     self.assertFalse(serialization._spec_has_metadata(spec))
 
+  @parameterized.named_parameters(
+      ('gcs', 'gs://my/ckpt/dir/path'),
+      ('file', '/my/ckpt/dir/path')
+  )
+  def test_get_tensorstore_spec_ocdbt(self, path):
+    spec = serialization.get_tensorstore_spec(path, ocdbt=True)
+    is_gcs_path = path.startswith('gs://')
+    if is_gcs_path:
+      self.assertEqual(spec['kvstore']['base'], os.path.dirname(path))
+    else:
+      self.assertEqual(spec['kvstore']['base'],
+                       f'file://{os.path.dirname(path)}')
+    self.assertEqual(spec['kvstore']['path'], 'path')
+
+  def test_get_tensorstore_spec_not_absolute_path(self):
+    path = 'my/ckpt/path'
+    with self.assertRaisesRegex(ValueError,
+                                "Checkpoint path should be absolute"):
+      serialization.get_tensorstore_spec(path, ocdbt=True)
+
+
 if __name__ == '__main__':
   absltest.main(testLoader=jtu.JaxTestLoader())