diff --git a/src/main/java/org/janelia/saalfeldlab/n5/universe/metadata/MetadataUtils.java b/src/main/java/org/janelia/saalfeldlab/n5/universe/metadata/MetadataUtils.java
index e994d4b2..2b731a9c 100644
--- a/src/main/java/org/janelia/saalfeldlab/n5/universe/metadata/MetadataUtils.java
+++ b/src/main/java/org/janelia/saalfeldlab/n5/universe/metadata/MetadataUtils.java
@@ -1,5 +1,6 @@
 package org.janelia.saalfeldlab.n5.universe.metadata;
 
+import java.net.URI;
 import java.net.URISyntaxException;
 import java.nio.file.Path;
 import java.nio.file.Paths;
@@ -205,10 +206,10 @@ public static String normalizeGroupPath(final String path) {
 	public static String relativePath(final String parent, final String child) {
 
 		try {
-			final String purl = new N5URI("?" + parent).normalizeGroupPath();
-			final String curl = new N5URI("?" + child).normalizeGroupPath();
-			return new N5URI("?" + curl.replaceFirst("^"+purl, "")).normalizeGroupPath();
-		} catch (final URISyntaxException e) {}
+			return new URI(N5URI.normalizeGroupPath(parent)).relativize(
+					new URI(N5URI.normalizeGroupPath(child)))
+					.toASCIIString();
+		} catch (URISyntaxException e) {}
 		return child;
 	}