diff --git a/src/patch_parse.c b/src/patch_parse.c
index 2c16e6497..11e26936c 100644
--- a/src/patch_parse.c
+++ b/src/patch_parse.c
@@ -884,6 +884,10 @@ int git_patch_from_patchfile(
 	patch = git__calloc(1, sizeof(git_patch_parsed));
 	GITERR_CHECK_ALLOC(patch);
 
+	/* TODO: allow callers to specify prefix depth (eg, `-p2`) */
+	patch->base.diff_opts.new_prefix = "";
+	patch->base.diff_opts.old_prefix = "";
+
 	patch->base.delta = git__calloc(1, sizeof(git_diff_delta));
 	patch->base.delta->status = GIT_DELTA_MODIFIED;