diff --git a/src/borg/archiver.py b/src/borg/archiver.py
index 7a5cedb20..1435dd827 100644
--- a/src/borg/archiver.py
+++ b/src/borg/archiver.py
@@ -1030,6 +1030,10 @@ def compare_link(item1, item2):
                 return 'changed link'
 
         def contents_changed(item1, item2):
+            if item1.get('deleted') != item2.get('deleted'):
+                # a deleleted/non-existing file is considered different to an existing file,
+                # even if the latter is empty.
+                return True
             if can_compare_chunk_ids:
                 return item1.chunks != item2.chunks
             else:
diff --git a/src/borg/testsuite/archiver.py b/src/borg/testsuite/archiver.py
index 52f38c357..54a63acd4 100644
--- a/src/borg/testsuite/archiver.py
+++ b/src/borg/testsuite/archiver.py
@@ -3410,6 +3410,7 @@ def test_basic_functionality(self):
 
         # Setup files for the second snapshot
         self.create_regular_file('file_added', size=2048)
+        self.create_regular_file('file_empty_added', size=0)
         os.unlink('input/file_removed')
         os.unlink('input/file_removed2')
         os.unlink('input/file_replaced')
@@ -3484,6 +3485,9 @@ def do_asserts(output, can_compare_ids):
             if are_hardlinks_supported():
                 assert 'added       2.05 kB input/hardlink_added' in output
 
+            # check if a diff between non-existent and empty new file is found
+            assert 'added           0 B input/file_empty_added' in output
+
             # The inode has two links and both of them are deleted. They should
             # appear as two deleted files.
             assert 'removed       256 B input/file_removed' in output