diff --git a/src/archive/sevenz.rs b/src/archive/sevenz.rs
index a45248e61..9d608a784 100644
--- a/src/archive/sevenz.rs
+++ b/src/archive/sevenz.rs
@@ -18,7 +18,8 @@ use crate::{
     info,
     list::{FileInArchive, ListFileType},
     utils::{
-        BytesFmt, FileVisibilityPolicy, PathFmt, cd_into_same_dir_as, ensure_parent_dir_exists, is_same_file_as_output,
+        BytesFmt, FileVisibilityPolicy, PathFmt, cd_into_same_dir_as, common_ancestor, ensure_parent_dir_exists,
+        has_duplicate_basenames, is_same_file_as_output,
     },
     warning,
 };
@@ -134,14 +135,35 @@ where
     let mut writer = sevenz_rust2::ArchiveWriter::new(writer)?;
     let output_handle = Handle::from_path(output_path);
 
+    // When multiple inputs share the same basename, archive entry names would collide.
+    // In that case, use the common ancestor of all paths and store entries relative to it,
+    // including enough parent path components to disambiguate.
+    let use_common_ancestor = files.len() > 1 && has_duplicate_basenames(files);
+    let common_ancestor = if use_common_ancestor {
+        Some(common_ancestor(files))
+    } else {
+        None
+    };
+
     for filename in files {
-        let previous_location = cd_into_same_dir_as(filename)?;
+        let previous_location = if let Some(ref ancestor) = common_ancestor {
+            let previous = env::current_dir()?;
+            env::set_current_dir(ancestor)?;
+            previous
+        } else {
+            cd_into_same_dir_as(filename)?
+        };
 
         // Unwrap safety:
         //   paths should be canonicalized by now, and the root directory rejected.
-        let filename = filename.file_name().unwrap();
+        // When using common ancestor, include enough parent path to avoid collisions.
+        let walker_root = if let Some(ref ancestor) = common_ancestor {
+            filename.strip_prefix(ancestor).unwrap().to_path_buf()
+        } else {
+            PathBuf::from(filename.file_name().unwrap())
+        };
 
-        for entry in file_visibility_policy.build_walker(filename) {
+        for entry in file_visibility_policy.build_walker(&walker_root) {
             let entry = entry?;
             let path = entry.path();
 
diff --git a/src/archive/tar.rs b/src/archive/tar.rs
index 843cd3cf7..128e496b8 100644
--- a/src/archive/tar.rs
+++ b/src/archive/tar.rs
@@ -144,14 +144,35 @@ where
     let output_handle = Handle::from_path(output_path);
     let mut seen_inode: HashMap<(u64, u64), PathBuf> = HashMap::new();
 
+    // When multiple inputs share the same basename, archive entry names would collide.
+    // In that case, use the common ancestor of all paths and store entries relative to it,
+    // including enough parent path components to disambiguate.
+    let use_common_ancestor = explicit_paths.len() > 1 && utils::has_duplicate_basenames(explicit_paths);
+    let common_ancestor = if use_common_ancestor {
+        Some(utils::common_ancestor(explicit_paths))
+    } else {
+        None
+    };
+
     for explicit_path in explicit_paths {
-        let previous_location = utils::cd_into_same_dir_as(explicit_path)?;
+        let previous_location = if let Some(ref ancestor) = common_ancestor {
+            let previous = env::current_dir()?;
+            env::set_current_dir(ancestor)?;
+            previous
+        } else {
+            utils::cd_into_same_dir_as(explicit_path)?
+        };
 
         // Unwrap expectation:
         //   paths should be canonicalized by now, and the root directory rejected.
-        let filename = explicit_path.file_name().unwrap();
+        // When using common ancestor, include enough parent path to avoid collisions.
+        let walker_root = if let Some(ref ancestor) = common_ancestor {
+            explicit_path.strip_prefix(ancestor).unwrap().as_os_str()
+        } else {
+            explicit_path.file_name().unwrap()
+        };
 
-        let iter = file_visibility_policy.workaround_build_walker_or_broken_link_path(explicit_path, filename);
+        let iter = file_visibility_policy.workaround_build_walker_or_broken_link_path(explicit_path, walker_root);
 
         for entry in iter {
             let path = entry?;
diff --git a/src/archive/zip.rs b/src/archive/zip.rs
index eae9d327a..feb47186c 100644
--- a/src/archive/zip.rs
+++ b/src/archive/zip.rs
@@ -21,9 +21,9 @@ use crate::{
     info, info_accessible,
     list::{FileInArchive, ListFileType},
     utils::{
-        BytesFmt, FileType, FileVisibilityPolicy, PathFmt, canonicalize, cd_into_same_dir_as, create_symlink,
-        ensure_parent_dir_exists, get_invalid_utf8_paths, is_same_file_as_output, pretty_format_list_of_paths,
-        read_file_type, strip_cur_dir,
+        BytesFmt, FileType, FileVisibilityPolicy, PathFmt, canonicalize, cd_into_same_dir_as, common_ancestor,
+        create_symlink, ensure_parent_dir_exists, get_invalid_utf8_paths, has_duplicate_basenames,
+        is_same_file_as_output, pretty_format_list_of_paths, read_file_type, strip_cur_dir,
     },
     warning,
 };
@@ -180,14 +180,35 @@ where
         return Err(error.into());
     }
 
+    // When multiple inputs share the same basename, archive entry names would collide.
+    // In that case, use the common ancestor of all paths and store entries relative to it,
+    // including enough parent path components to disambiguate.
+    let use_common_ancestor = input_filenames.len() > 1 && has_duplicate_basenames(input_filenames);
+    let common_ancestor = if use_common_ancestor {
+        Some(common_ancestor(input_filenames))
+    } else {
+        None
+    };
+
     for explicit_path in input_filenames {
-        let previous_location = cd_into_same_dir_as(explicit_path)?;
+        let previous_location = if let Some(ref ancestor) = common_ancestor {
+            let previous = env::current_dir()?;
+            env::set_current_dir(ancestor)?;
+            previous
+        } else {
+            cd_into_same_dir_as(explicit_path)?
+        };
 
         // Unwrap safety:
         //   paths should be canonicalized by now, and the root directory rejected.
-        let filename = explicit_path.file_name().unwrap();
+        // When using common ancestor, include enough parent path to avoid collisions.
+        let walker_root = if let Some(ref ancestor) = common_ancestor {
+            explicit_path.strip_prefix(ancestor).unwrap().as_os_str()
+        } else {
+            explicit_path.file_name().unwrap()
+        };
 
-        let iter = file_visibility_policy.workaround_build_walker_or_broken_link_path(explicit_path, filename);
+        let iter = file_visibility_policy.workaround_build_walker_or_broken_link_path(explicit_path, walker_root);
 
         for entry in iter {
             let path = entry?;
diff --git a/src/utils/fs.rs b/src/utils/fs.rs
index b9df5e219..eefcef6f9 100644
--- a/src/utils/fs.rs
+++ b/src/utils/fs.rs
@@ -138,6 +138,56 @@ pub fn cd_into_same_dir_as(filename: &Path) -> Result<PathBuf> {
     Ok(previous_location)
 }
 
+/// Check if any of the given paths share the same basename (file_name).
+///
+/// Returns `true` if there are duplicate basenames among the paths.
+/// Used to detect when archive entry names would collide.
+pub fn has_duplicate_basenames(paths: &[PathBuf]) -> bool {
+    use std::{collections::HashSet, ffi::OsStr};
+
+    let basenames: Vec<&OsStr> = paths.iter().filter_map(|p| p.file_name()).collect();
+
+    let mut seen = HashSet::new();
+    for name in &basenames {
+        if !seen.insert(name) {
+            return true;
+        }
+    }
+    false
+}
+
+/// Compute the longest common ancestor directory shared by all given paths.
+///
+/// All paths should be absolute (canonicalized). Returns the longest path
+/// prefix that is a common ancestor of all input paths.
+///
+/// For example:
+/// - `/a/b/Scripts` and `/c/d/Scripts` → `/`
+/// - `/home/user/a/Scripts` and `/home/user/b/Scripts` → `/home/user`
+pub fn common_ancestor(paths: &[PathBuf]) -> PathBuf {
+    use std::path::Component;
+
+    if paths.is_empty() {
+        return PathBuf::new();
+    }
+
+    let components: Vec<Vec<Component>> = paths.iter().map(|p| p.components().collect()).collect();
+
+    let min_len = components.iter().map(|c| c.len()).min().unwrap_or(0);
+
+    let mut common = PathBuf::new();
+    for i in 0..min_len {
+        let component = components[0][i];
+        if components.iter().all(|c| c[i] == component) {
+            common.push(component.as_os_str());
+        } else {
+            break;
+        }
+    }
+
+    common
+}
+
 /// Check if a path refers to the same file as the output handle.
 pub fn is_same_file_as_output(path: &Path, output_handle: &Handle) -> bool {
     if matches!(Handle::from_path(path), Ok(x) if &x == output_handle) {
diff --git a/tests/integration.rs b/tests/integration.rs
index 4c30533b7..900b16dd3 100644
--- a/tests/integration.rs
+++ b/tests/integration.rs
@@ -1569,3 +1569,87 @@ fn decompress_concatenated_lz4_frames() {
         encoder.finish().unwrap()
     });
 }
+
+/// Test that compressing multiple directories with the same basename works correctly.
+/// This is the fix for issue #978: when two input directories share the same name
+/// (e.g., `/a/parent1/Scripts` and `/a/parent2/Scripts`), ouch should include enough
+/// parent path to disambiguate them in the archive, rather than collapsing both into
+/// a single "Scripts" entry.
+#[test]
+fn compress_dirs_with_same_basename_tar() {
+    let (_tempdir, dir) = testdir().unwrap();
+
+    // Create two directories with the same basename but different parents
+    let dir_a = dir.join("parent1").join("Scripts");
+    let dir_b = dir.join("parent2").join("Scripts");
+    fs::create_dir_all(&dir_a).unwrap();
+    fs::create_dir_all(&dir_b).unwrap();
+
+    // Create distinct files in each
+    fs::write(dir_a.join("a.txt"), "content from A").unwrap();
+    fs::write(dir_b.join("b.txt"), "content from B").unwrap();
+
+    let archive = dir.join("archive.tar");
+    ouch!("-A", "c", &dir_a, &dir_b, &archive);
+
+    let after = dir.join("after");
+    ouch!("-A", "d", &archive, "-d", &after);
+
+    // Both directories should be present with their parent disambiguators
+    assert!(
+        after.join("parent1").join("Scripts").join("a.txt").exists(),
+        "parent1/Scripts/a.txt missing from archive"
+    );
+    assert!(
+        after.join("parent2").join("Scripts").join("b.txt").exists(),
+        "parent2/Scripts/b.txt missing from archive"
+    );
+
+    // Verify file contents
+    assert_eq!(
+        "content from A",
+        fs::read_to_string(after.join("parent1").join("Scripts").join("a.txt")).unwrap()
+    );
+    assert_eq!(
+        "content from B",
+        fs::read_to_string(after.join("parent2").join("Scripts").join("b.txt")).unwrap()
+    );
+}
+
+/// Same as above but for zip format
+#[test]
+fn compress_dirs_with_same_basename_zip() {
+    let (_tempdir, dir) = testdir().unwrap();
+
+    let dir_a = dir.join("parent1").join("Scripts");
+    let dir_b = dir.join("parent2").join("Scripts");
+    fs::create_dir_all(&dir_a).unwrap();
+    fs::create_dir_all(&dir_b).unwrap();
+
+    fs::write(dir_a.join("a.txt"), "content from A").unwrap();
+    fs::write(dir_b.join("b.txt"), "content from B").unwrap();
+
+    let archive = dir.join("archive.zip");
+    ouch!("-A", "c", &dir_a, &dir_b, &archive);
+
+    let after = dir.join("after");
+    ouch!("-A", "d", &archive, "-d", &after);
+
+    assert!(
+        after.join("parent1").join("Scripts").join("a.txt").exists(),
+        "parent1/Scripts/a.txt missing from zip archive"
+    );
+    assert!(
+        after.join("parent2").join("Scripts").join("b.txt").exists(),
+        "parent2/Scripts/b.txt missing from zip archive"
+    );
+
+    assert_eq!(
+        "content from A",
+        fs::read_to_string(after.join("parent1").join("Scripts").join("a.txt")).unwrap()
+    );
+    assert_eq!(
+        "content from B",
+        fs::read_to_string(after.join("parent2").join("Scripts").join("b.txt")).unwrap()
+    );
+}