diff --git a/internal/chezmoi/sourcestate.go b/internal/chezmoi/sourcestate.go
index 343086e22e2..0e2b905b99c 100644
--- a/internal/chezmoi/sourcestate.go
+++ b/internal/chezmoi/sourcestate.go
@@ -2310,6 +2310,9 @@ func (s *SourceState) readExternalArchive(
 		targetRelPath := externalRelPath.JoinString(name)
 
 		if s.Ignore(targetRelPath) {
+			if fileInfo.IsDir() {
+				return fs.SkipDir
+			}
 			return nil
 		}
 
diff --git a/internal/cmd/applycmd_test.go b/internal/cmd/applycmd_test.go
index c65be9c0497..bf06101192b 100644
--- a/internal/cmd/applycmd_test.go
+++ b/internal/cmd/applycmd_test.go
@@ -235,6 +235,27 @@ func TestIssue2132(t *testing.T) {
 	})
 }
 
+func TestIssue2597(t *testing.T) {
+	chezmoitest.WithTestFS(t, map[string]any{
+		"/home/user": map[string]any{
+			".local/share/chezmoi": map[string]any{
+				".chezmoiexternal.toml": chezmoitest.JoinLines(
+					`[".oh-my-zsh"]`,
+					`    type = "archive"`,
+					`    url = "https://github.com/ohmyzsh/ohmyzsh/archive/master.tar.gz"`,
+					`    exact = true`,
+					`    stripComponents = 1`,
+				),
+				".chezmoiignore": chezmoitest.JoinLines(
+					`.oh-my-zsh/cache`,
+				),
+			},
+		},
+	}, func(fileSystem vfs.FS) {
+		assert.NoError(t, newTestConfig(t, fileSystem).execute([]string{"apply"}))
+	})
+}
+
 func TestIssue3206(t *testing.T) {
 	chezmoitest.WithTestFS(t, map[string]any{
 		"/home/user": map[string]any{
diff --git a/internal/cmd/testdata/scripts/issue2597.txtar b/internal/cmd/testdata/scripts/issue2597.txtar
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..c89ba35c276
--- /dev/null
+++ b/internal/cmd/testdata/scripts/issue2597.txtar
@@ -0,0 +1,20 @@
+exec tar czf www/master.tar.gz master
+
+httpd www
+
+exec chezmoi apply
+exists $HOME/.oh-my-zsh/README.md
+! exists $HOME/.oh-my-zsh/cache/.gitkeep
+
+-- home/user/.local/share/chezmoi/.chezmoiexternal.toml.tmpl --
+[".oh-my-zsh"]
+    type = "archive"
+    url = "{{ env "HTTPD_URL" }}/master.tar.gz"
+    exact = true
+    stripComponents = 1
+-- home/user/.local/share/chezmoi/.chezmoiignore --
+.oh-my-zsh/cache
+-- master/README.md --
+# contents of README.md
+-- master/cache/.gitkeep --
+-- www/.keep --