diff --git a/pkg/chartutil/load.go b/pkg/chartutil/load.go
index 95b835d5b..5cde10929 100644
--- a/pkg/chartutil/load.go
+++ b/pkg/chartutil/load.go
@@ -118,7 +118,7 @@ func loadArchiveFiles(in io.Reader) ([]*BufferedFile, error) {
 		n = path.Clean(n)
 		if n == "." {
 			// In this case, the original path was relative when it should have been absolute.
-			return nil, errors.New("chart illegally contains empty path")
+			return nil, fmt.Errorf("chart illegally contains content outside the base directory: %q", hd.Name)
 		}
 		if strings.HasPrefix(n, "..") {
 			return nil, errors.New("chart illegally references parent directory")
diff --git a/pkg/chartutil/load_test.go b/pkg/chartutil/load_test.go
index f139abf5c..8ef45e01f 100644
--- a/pkg/chartutil/load_test.go
+++ b/pkg/chartutil/load_test.go
@@ -102,9 +102,10 @@ func TestLoadArchive_InvalidArchive(t *testing.T) {
 		{"illegal-dots2.tgz", "/foo/../../malformed-helm-test", "chart illegally references parent directory"},
 		{"illegal-dots3.tgz", "/../../malformed-helm-test", "chart illegally references parent directory"},
 		{"illegal-dots4.tgz", "./../../malformed-helm-test", "chart illegally references parent directory"},
-		{"illegal-name.tgz", "./.", "chart illegally contains empty path"},
-		{"illegal-name2.tgz", "/./.", "chart illegally contains empty path"},
-		{"illegal-name3.tgz", "missing-leading-slash", "chart illegally contains empty path"},
+		{"illegal-name.tgz", "./.", "chart illegally contains content outside the base directory: \"./.\""},
+		{"illegal-name2.tgz", "/./.", "chart illegally contains content outside the base directory: \"/./.\""},
+		{"illegal-name3.tgz", "missing-leading-slash", "chart illegally contains content outside the base directory: \"missing-leading-slash\""},
+		{"illegal-name5.tgz", "content-outside-base-dir", "chart illegally contains content outside the base directory: \"content-outside-base-dir\""},
 		{"illegal-name4.tgz", "/missing-leading-slash", "chart metadata (Chart.yaml) missing"},
 		{"illegal-abspath.tgz", "//foo", "chart illegally contains absolute paths"},
 		{"illegal-abspath2.tgz", "///foo", "chart illegally contains absolute paths"},