diff --git a/extensions/git/src/commands.ts b/extensions/git/src/commands.ts
index bb870c86bea..8137d344f0e 100644
--- a/extensions/git/src/commands.ts
+++ b/extensions/git/src/commands.ts
@@ -134,14 +134,7 @@ export class CommandCenter {
 				return resource.original.with({ scheme: 'git', query: 'HEAD' });
 
 			case Status.MODIFIED:
-				const uriString = resource.original.toString();
-				const [indexStatus] = this.model.indexGroup.resources.filter(r => r.original.toString() === uriString);
-
-				if (indexStatus) {
-					return resource.uri.with({ scheme: 'git' });
-				}
-
-				return resource.uri.with({ scheme: 'git', query: 'HEAD' });
+				return resource.uri.with({ scheme: 'git', query: '~' });
 		}
 	}
 
diff --git a/extensions/git/src/contentProvider.ts b/extensions/git/src/contentProvider.ts
index 2e6614936fc..f625c9c83fe 100644
--- a/extensions/git/src/contentProvider.ts
+++ b/extensions/git/src/contentProvider.ts
@@ -31,8 +31,17 @@ export class GitContentProvider {
 	}
 
 	async provideTextDocumentContent(uri: Uri): Promise<string> {
+		let ref = uri.query;
+
+		if (ref === '~') {
+			const fileUri = uri.with({ scheme: 'file', query: '' });
+			const uriString = fileUri.toString();
+			const [indexStatus] = this.model.indexGroup.resources.filter(r => r.original.toString() === uriString);
+			ref = indexStatus ? '' : 'HEAD';
+		}
+
 		try {
-			const result = await this.model.show(uri.query, uri);
+			const result = await this.model.show(ref, uri);
 			this.uris.add(uri);
 			return result;
 		} catch (err) {