diff --git a/Doc/library/shutil.rst b/Doc/library/shutil.rst
index 331acfce3afee3..a6fd06e0bdd0f6 100644
--- a/Doc/library/shutil.rst
+++ b/Doc/library/shutil.rst
@@ -589,7 +589,7 @@ Archiving operations
 High-level utilities to create and read compressed and archived files are also
 provided.  They rely on the :mod:`zipfile` and :mod:`tarfile` modules.
 
-.. function:: make_archive(base_name, format, [root_dir, [base_dir, [verbose, [dry_run, [owner, [group, [logger]]]]]]])
+.. function:: make_archive(base_name, format, root_dir=None, base_dir=None, verbose=0, dry_run=False, owner=None, group=None, logger=None)
 
    Create an archive file (such as zip or tar) and return its name.
 
@@ -601,18 +601,20 @@ provided.  They rely on the :mod:`zipfile` and :mod:`tarfile` modules.
    :mod:`zlib` module is available), "bztar" (if the :mod:`bz2` module is
    available), or "xztar" (if the :mod:`lzma` module is available).
 
-   *root_dir* is a directory that will be the root directory of the
-   archive, all paths in the archive will be relative to it; for example,
-   we typically chdir into *root_dir* before creating the archive.
+   If specified, *root_dir* is a directory that will be the root directory of the
+   archive, all paths in the archive will be relative to it; it is equivalent
+   to chdir into *root_dir* before creating the archive.
+   By default the current directory is used.
 
-   *base_dir* is the directory where we start archiving from;
+   If specified, *base_dir* is the directory where we start archiving from;
    i.e. *base_dir* will be the common prefix of all files and
    directories in the archive.  *base_dir* must be given relative
-   to *root_dir*.  See :ref:`shutil-archiving-example-with-basedir` for how to
+   to *root_dir*.
+   By default all entries in the *root_dir* directory or the current directory
+   are added without prefix.
+   See :ref:`shutil-archiving-example-with-basedir` for how to
    use *base_dir* and *root_dir* together.
 
-   *root_dir* and *base_dir* both default to the current directory.
-
    If *dry_run* is true, no archive is created, but the operations that would be
    executed are logged to *logger*.
 
@@ -642,6 +644,13 @@ provided.  They rely on the :mod:`zipfile` and :mod:`tarfile` modules.
       This function is now made thread-safe during creation of standard
       ``.zip`` and tar archives.
 
+   .. versionchanged:: 3.14
+      The ``'.'`` entry no longer added to tar arhives and the ``'./'`` prefix
+      no longer added to tar entries unless ``base_dir='.'`` is
+      explicitly specified.
+      The ``'.'`` entry is now added to zip arhives if ``base_dir='.'``
+      is explicitly specified.
+
 .. function:: get_archive_formats()
 
    Return a list of supported formats for archiving.
diff --git a/Lib/shutil.py b/Lib/shutil.py
index c9b4da34b1e19b..e151858538b419 100644
--- a/Lib/shutil.py
+++ b/Lib/shutil.py
@@ -1030,14 +1030,19 @@ def _set_uid_gid(tarinfo):
         return tarinfo
 
     if not dry_run:
-        tar = tarfile.open(archive_name, 'w|%s' % tar_compression)
-        arcname = base_dir
-        if root_dir is not None:
-            base_dir = os.path.join(root_dir, base_dir)
-        try:
-            tar.add(base_dir, arcname, filter=_set_uid_gid)
-        finally:
-            tar.close()
+        with tarfile.open(archive_name, 'w|%s' % tar_compression) as tar:
+            if base_dir is not None:
+                arcname = base_dir
+                if root_dir is not None:
+                    base_dir = os.path.join(root_dir, base_dir)
+                tar.add(base_dir, arcname, filter=_set_uid_gid)
+            elif root_dir is not None:
+                for name in os.listdir(root_dir):
+                    path = os.path.join(root_dir, name)
+                    tar.add(path, name, filter=_set_uid_gid)
+            else:
+                for name in os.listdir():
+                    tar.add(name, name, filter=_set_uid_gid)
 
     if root_dir is not None:
         archive_name = os.path.abspath(archive_name)
@@ -1068,11 +1073,13 @@ def _make_zipfile(base_name, base_dir, verbose=0, dry_run=0,
     if not dry_run:
         with zipfile.ZipFile(zip_filename, "w",
                              compression=zipfile.ZIP_DEFLATED) as zf:
-            arcname = os.path.normpath(base_dir)
-            if root_dir is not None:
-                base_dir = os.path.join(root_dir, base_dir)
-            base_dir = os.path.normpath(base_dir)
-            if arcname != os.curdir:
+            if base_dir is None:
+                base_dir = root_dir if root_dir is not None else os.curdir
+            else:
+                arcname = os.path.normpath(base_dir)
+                if root_dir is not None:
+                    base_dir = os.path.join(root_dir, base_dir)
+                base_dir = os.path.normpath(base_dir)
                 zf.write(base_dir, arcname)
                 if logger is not None:
                     logger.info("adding '%s'", base_dir)
@@ -1190,9 +1197,6 @@ def make_archive(base_name, format, root_dir=None, base_dir=None, verbose=0,
     for arg, val in format_info[1]:
         kwargs[arg] = val
 
-    if base_dir is None:
-        base_dir = os.curdir
-
     supports_root_dir = getattr(func, 'supports_root_dir', False)
     save_cwd = None
     if root_dir is not None:
diff --git a/Lib/test/test_shutil.py b/Lib/test/test_shutil.py
index 5b0aac67a0adeb..901853ac623000 100644
--- a/Lib/test/test_shutil.py
+++ b/Lib/test/test_shutil.py
@@ -1648,9 +1648,9 @@ def test_make_tarfile(self):
             self.assertTrue(tarfile.is_tarfile(archive))
             with tarfile.open(archive, 'r') as tf:
                 self.assertCountEqual(tf.getnames(),
-                        ['.', './dist', './dist/sub', './dist/sub2',
-                         './dist/file1', './dist/file2', './dist/sub/file3',
-                         './outer'])
+                        ['dist', 'dist/sub', 'dist/sub2',
+                         'dist/file1', 'dist/file2', 'dist/sub/file3',
+                         'outer'])
 
         # Test with base_dir.
         with os_helper.temp_cwd(), no_chdir:
@@ -1690,9 +1690,9 @@ def test_make_tarfile_without_rootdir(self):
             self.assertTrue(tarfile.is_tarfile(archive))
             with tarfile.open(archive, 'r:gz') as tf:
                 self.assertCountEqual(tf.getnames(),
-                        ['.', './dist', './dist/sub', './dist/sub2',
-                         './dist/file1', './dist/file2', './dist/sub/file3',
-                         './outer'])
+                        ['dist', 'dist/sub', 'dist/sub2',
+                         'dist/file1', 'dist/file2', 'dist/sub/file3',
+                         'outer'])
 
         # Test with base_dir.
         with os_helper.change_cwd(root_dir), no_chdir:
@@ -1850,7 +1850,7 @@ def test_make_zipfile_with_explicit_curdir(self):
             self.assertTrue(zipfile.is_zipfile(archive))
             with zipfile.ZipFile(archive) as zf:
                 self.assertCountEqual(zf.namelist(),
-                        ['dist/', 'dist/sub/', 'dist/sub2/',
+                        ['./', 'dist/', 'dist/sub/', 'dist/sub2/',
                          'dist/file1', 'dist/file2', 'dist/sub/file3',
                          'outer'])
 
diff --git a/Misc/NEWS.d/next/Library/2024-04-22-15-24-31.gh-issue-80145.eBM1s0.rst b/Misc/NEWS.d/next/Library/2024-04-22-15-24-31.gh-issue-80145.eBM1s0.rst
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000000..4ca2c3f10dcc71
--- /dev/null
+++ b/Misc/NEWS.d/next/Library/2024-04-22-15-24-31.gh-issue-80145.eBM1s0.rst
@@ -0,0 +1,4 @@
+:func:`shutil.make_archive` no longer adds the the ``'.'`` entry to tar
+arhives and the ``'./'`` prefix to tar entries unless ``base_dir='.'`` is
+explicitly specified. It now adds the ``'.'`` entry to zip arhives if
+``base_dir='.'`` is explicitly specified.