diff --git a/src/borg/archive.py b/src/borg/archive.py
index 6571b0cf63..dcc85deef1 100644
--- a/src/borg/archive.py
+++ b/src/borg/archive.py
@@ -711,6 +711,8 @@ def save(self, name=None, comment=None, timestamp=None, stats=None, additional_m
         stats = stats or self.stats
         metadata |= {"size": stats.osize, "nfiles": stats.nfiles}
         metadata |= additional_metadata or {}
+        if metadata.get("cwd") is None:
+            del metadata["cwd"]
         metadata = ArchiveItem(metadata)
         data = self.key.pack_metadata(metadata.as_dict())
         self.id = self.repo_objs.id_hash(data)
diff --git a/src/borg/testsuite/archiver/transfer_cmd_test.py b/src/borg/testsuite/archiver/transfer_cmd_test.py
index 7255b683bc..57f524de3c 100644
--- a/src/borg/testsuite/archiver/transfer_cmd_test.py
+++ b/src/borg/testsuite/archiver/transfer_cmd_test.py
@@ -363,6 +363,7 @@ def test_transfer_archive_metadata(archivers, request, monkeypatch):
     assert dest_archive["hostname"] == source_archive["hostname"]
     assert dest_archive["username"] == source_archive["username"]
     assert dest_archive["command_line"] == source_archive["command_line"]
+    assert dest_archive["cwd"] == source_archive["cwd"]
     assert dest_archive["duration"] == source_archive["duration"]
     assert dest_archive["start"] == source_archive["start"]
     assert dest_archive["end"] == source_archive["end"]
diff --git a/src/borg/upgrade.py b/src/borg/upgrade.py
index a7b3f00df1..2c562b4691 100644
--- a/src/borg/upgrade.py
+++ b/src/borg/upgrade.py
@@ -39,6 +39,7 @@ def upgrade_archive_metadata(self, *, metadata):
         ):
             if hasattr(metadata, attr):
                 new_metadata[attr] = getattr(metadata, attr)
+        new_metadata["cwd"] = getattr(metadata, "cwd", None)  # None signals save() to leave cwd unset
         rechunking = self.args.chunker_params is not None
         if rechunking:
             # if we are rechunking while transferring, we take the new chunker_params.
@@ -152,6 +153,8 @@ def upgrade_archive_metadata(self, *, metadata):
         for attr in ("hostname", "username", "comment", "chunker_params"):
             if hasattr(metadata, attr):
                 new_metadata[attr] = getattr(metadata, attr)
+        # if cwd is None, we want to drop it from metadata, so we set it to None here, and save() will drop it.
+        new_metadata["cwd"] = getattr(metadata, "cwd", None)
         rechunking = self.args.chunker_params is not None
         if rechunking:
             # if we are rechunking while transferring, we take the new chunker_params.