diff --git a/lib/mbtiles.js b/lib/mbtiles.js
index d667b1c..26761d8 100644
--- a/lib/mbtiles.js
+++ b/lib/mbtiles.js
@@ -35,6 +35,17 @@ function MBTiles(uri, callback) {
     if (typeof callback !== 'function') callback = noop;
     if (typeof uri === 'string') uri = url.parse(uri);
 
+    if (!uri.pathname) {
+        callback(new Error('Invalid URI ' + url.format(uri)));
+        return;
+    }
+
+    if (uri.hostname === '.') {
+        delete uri.hostname;
+        delete uri.host;
+        uri.pathname = '.' + uri.pathname;
+    }
+
     this.filename = uri.pathname;
     Step(function() {
         mbtiles._db = new sqlite3.cached.Database(mbtiles.filename, this);