diff --git a/org.eclipse.jgit.java7/src/org/eclipse/jgit/util/FS_POSIX_Java7.java b/org.eclipse.jgit.java7/src/org/eclipse/jgit/util/FS_POSIX_Java7.java
index e8307fc2b..0879e8021 100644
--- a/org.eclipse.jgit.java7/src/org/eclipse/jgit/util/FS_POSIX_Java7.java
+++ b/org.eclipse.jgit.java7/src/org/eclipse/jgit/util/FS_POSIX_Java7.java
@@ -156,4 +156,20 @@ public void createSymLink(File path, String target) throws IOException {
 	public Attributes getAttributes(File path) {
 		return FileUtil.getFileAttributesPosix(this, path);
 	}
+
+	/**
+	 * @since 3.3
+	 */
+	@Override
+	public File normalize(File file) {
+		return FileUtil.normalize(file);
+	}
+
+	/**
+	 * @since 3.3
+	 */
+	@Override
+	public String normalize(String name) {
+		return FileUtil.normalize(name);
+	}
 }
diff --git a/org.eclipse.jgit.java7/src/org/eclipse/jgit/util/FileUtil.java b/org.eclipse.jgit.java7/src/org/eclipse/jgit/util/FileUtil.java
index 78dc2c393..c958494d0 100644
--- a/org.eclipse.jgit.java7/src/org/eclipse/jgit/util/FileUtil.java
+++ b/org.eclipse.jgit.java7/src/org/eclipse/jgit/util/FileUtil.java
@@ -222,4 +222,24 @@ static Attributes getFileAttributesPosix(FS fs, File path) {
 		}
 	}
 
+	public static File normalize(File file) {
+		if (SystemReader.getInstance().isMacOS()) {
+			// TODO: Would it be faster to check with isNormalized first
+			// assuming normalized paths are much more common
+			String normalized = Normalizer.normalize(file.getPath(),
+					Normalizer.Form.NFC);
+			return new File(normalized);
+		}
+		return file;
+	}
+
+	public static String normalize(String name) {
+		if (SystemReader.getInstance().isMacOS()) {
+			if (name == null)
+				return null;
+			return Normalizer.normalize(name, Normalizer.Form.NFC);
+		}
+		return name;
+	}
+
 }
diff --git a/org.eclipse.jgit/src/org/eclipse/jgit/treewalk/FileTreeIterator.java b/org.eclipse.jgit/src/org/eclipse/jgit/treewalk/FileTreeIterator.java
index 8dc8276b3..8d2cb1d8c 100644
--- a/org.eclipse.jgit/src/org/eclipse/jgit/treewalk/FileTreeIterator.java
+++ b/org.eclipse.jgit/src/org/eclipse/jgit/treewalk/FileTreeIterator.java
@@ -163,8 +163,9 @@ static public class FileEntry extends Entry {
 		 * @param fs
 		 *            file system
 		 */
-		public FileEntry(final File f, FS fs) {
+		public FileEntry(File f, FS fs) {
 			this.fs = fs;
+			f = fs.normalize(f);
 			attributes = fs.getAttributes(f);
 			if (attributes.isSymbolicLink())
 				mode = FileMode.SYMLINK;
diff --git a/org.eclipse.jgit/src/org/eclipse/jgit/treewalk/WorkingTreeIterator.java b/org.eclipse.jgit/src/org/eclipse/jgit/treewalk/WorkingTreeIterator.java
index b57176b48..633865ed4 100644
--- a/org.eclipse.jgit/src/org/eclipse/jgit/treewalk/WorkingTreeIterator.java
+++ b/org.eclipse.jgit/src/org/eclipse/jgit/treewalk/WorkingTreeIterator.java
@@ -921,8 +921,8 @@ private boolean contentCheck(DirCacheEntry entry, ObjectReader reader)
 			return false;
 		} else {
 			if (mode == FileMode.SYMLINK.getBits())
-				return !new File(readContentAsString(current()))
-						.equals(new File(readContentAsString(entry)));
+				return !new File(readContentAsNormalizedString(current()))
+						.equals(new File((readContentAsNormalizedString(entry))));
 			// Content differs: that's a real change, perhaps
 			if (reader == null) // deprecated use, do no further checks
 				return true;
@@ -971,19 +971,19 @@ private boolean contentCheck(DirCacheEntry entry, ObjectReader reader)
 		}
 	}
 
-	private String readContentAsString(DirCacheEntry entry)
+	private String readContentAsNormalizedString(DirCacheEntry entry)
 			throws MissingObjectException, IOException {
 		ObjectLoader open = repository.open(entry.getObjectId());
 		byte[] cachedBytes = open.getCachedBytes();
-		return RawParseUtils.decode(cachedBytes);
+		return FS.detect().normalize(RawParseUtils.decode(cachedBytes));
 	}
 
-	private static String readContentAsString(Entry entry) throws IOException {
+	private static String readContentAsNormalizedString(Entry entry) throws IOException {
 		long length = entry.getLength();
 		byte[] content = new byte[(int) length];
 		InputStream is = entry.openInputStream();
 		IO.readFully(is, content, 0, (int) length);
-		return RawParseUtils.decode(content);
+		return FS.detect().normalize(RawParseUtils.decode(content));
 	}
 
 	private long computeLength(InputStream in) throws IOException {
diff --git a/org.eclipse.jgit/src/org/eclipse/jgit/util/FS.java b/org.eclipse.jgit/src/org/eclipse/jgit/util/FS.java
index 9e964fc36..dcece6289 100644
--- a/org.eclipse.jgit/src/org/eclipse/jgit/util/FS.java
+++ b/org.eclipse.jgit/src/org/eclipse/jgit/util/FS.java
@@ -780,4 +780,26 @@ public Attributes getAttributes(File path) {
 		return new Attributes(this, path, exists, isDirectory, canExecute,
 				isSymlink, isFile, createTime, lastModified, -1);
 	}
+
+	/**
+	 * Normalize the unicode path to composed form.
+	 *
+	 * @param file
+	 * @return NFC-format File
+	 * @since 3.3
+	 */
+	public File normalize(File file) {
+		return file;
+	}
+
+	/**
+	 * Normalize the unicode path to composed form.
+	 *
+	 * @param name
+	 * @return NFC-format string
+	 * @since 3.3
+	 */
+	public String normalize(String name) {
+		return name;
+	}
 }