diff --git a/extensions/git/src/fileSystemProvider.ts b/extensions/git/src/fileSystemProvider.ts
index 6e30118128d..8b8f9fc65af 100644
--- a/extensions/git/src/fileSystemProvider.ts
+++ b/extensions/git/src/fileSystemProvider.ts
@@ -144,6 +144,12 @@ export class GitFileSystemProvider implements FileSystemProvider {
 			const details = await repository.getObjectDetails(sanitizeRef(ref, path, repository), path);
 			return { type: FileType.File, size: details.size, mtime: this.mtime, ctime: 0 };
 		} catch {
+			// Empty tree
+			if (ref === await repository.getEmptyTree()) {
+				this.logger.warn(`[GitFileSystemProvider][stat] Empty tree - ${uri.toString()}`);
+				return { type: FileType.File, size: 0, mtime: this.mtime, ctime: 0 };
+			}
+
 			// File does not exist in git. This could be because the file is untracked or ignored
 			this.logger.warn(`[GitFileSystemProvider][stat] File not found - ${uri.toString()}`);
 			throw FileSystemError.FileNotFound();
@@ -194,6 +200,12 @@ export class GitFileSystemProvider implements FileSystemProvider {
 		try {
 			return await repository.buffer(sanitizeRef(ref, path, repository), path);
 		} catch {
+			// Empty tree
+			if (ref === await repository.getEmptyTree()) {
+				this.logger.warn(`[GitFileSystemProvider][readFile] Empty tree - ${uri.toString()}`);
+				return new Uint8Array(0);
+			}
+
 			// File does not exist in git. This could be because the file is untracked or ignored
 			this.logger.warn(`[GitFileSystemProvider][readFile] File not found - ${uri.toString()}`);
 			throw FileSystemError.FileNotFound();
diff --git a/extensions/git/src/timelineProvider.ts b/extensions/git/src/timelineProvider.ts
index f29264e4078..90d8d28c396 100644
--- a/extensions/git/src/timelineProvider.ts
+++ b/extensions/git/src/timelineProvider.ts
@@ -222,6 +222,7 @@ export class GitTimelineProvider implements TimelineProvider {
 
 		const openComparison = l10n.t('Open Comparison');
 
+		const emptyTree = await repo.getEmptyTree();
 		const unpublishedCommits = await repo.getUnpublishedCommits();
 		const remoteHoverCommands = await provideSourceControlHistoryItemHoverCommands(this.model, repo);
 
@@ -243,7 +244,8 @@ export class GitTimelineProvider implements TimelineProvider {
 
 			const message = emojify(c.message);
 
-			const item = new GitTimelineItem(c.hash, commits[index + 1]?.hash ?? `${c.hash}^`, message, date?.getTime() ?? 0, c.hash, 'git:file:commit');
+			const previousRef = commits[index + 1]?.hash ?? emptyTree;
+			const item = new GitTimelineItem(c.hash, previousRef, message, date?.getTime() ?? 0, c.hash, 'git:file:commit');
 			item.iconPath = new ThemeIcon('git-commit');
 			if (showAuthor) {
 				item.description = c.authorName;