diff --git a/include/openPMD/IO/AbstractIOHandlerImpl.hpp b/include/openPMD/IO/AbstractIOHandlerImpl.hpp
index d204b8bc90..e43dcbd6a2 100644
--- a/include/openPMD/IO/AbstractIOHandlerImpl.hpp
+++ b/include/openPMD/IO/AbstractIOHandlerImpl.hpp
@@ -238,6 +238,7 @@ class AbstractIOHandlerImpl
    *
    * The operation should overwrite existing file positions, even when the Writable was already marked written.
    * The path parameters.path may contain multiple levels (e.g. first/second/third/). This path should be relative (i.e. it should not start with a slash "/").
+   * The number of levels may be zero, i.e. parameters.path may be an empty string.
    * The Writables file position should correspond to the complete opened path (i.e. first/second/third/ should be assigned to the Writables file position).
    * The Writable should be marked written when the operation completes successfully.
    */
diff --git a/src/IO/HDF5/HDF5IOHandler.cpp b/src/IO/HDF5/HDF5IOHandler.cpp
index 8b5b38edd3..a7697a7ce7 100644
--- a/src/IO/HDF5/HDF5IOHandler.cpp
+++ b/src/IO/HDF5/HDF5IOHandler.cpp
@@ -518,19 +518,23 @@ HDF5IOHandlerImpl::openPath(
 
     /* Sanitize path */
     std::string path = parameters.path;
-    if( auxiliary::starts_with(path, '/') )
-        path = auxiliary::replace_first(path, "/", "");
-    if( !auxiliary::ends_with(path, '/') )
-        path += '/';
+    if( !path.empty() )
+    {
+        if( auxiliary::starts_with(path, '/') )
+            path = auxiliary::replace_first(path, "/", "");
+        if( !auxiliary::ends_with(path, '/') )
+            path += '/';
+        path_id = H5Gopen(node_id,
+                        path.c_str(),
+                        H5P_DEFAULT);
+        VERIFY(path_id >= 0, "[HDF5] Internal error: Failed to open HDF5 group during path opening");
 
-    path_id = H5Gopen(node_id,
-                      path.c_str(),
-                      H5P_DEFAULT);
-    VERIFY(path_id >= 0, "[HDF5] Internal error: Failed to open HDF5 group during path opening");
+        herr_t status;
+        status = H5Gclose(path_id);
+        VERIFY(status == 0, "[HDF5] Internal error: Failed to close HDF5 group during path opening");
+    }
 
     herr_t status;
-    status = H5Gclose(path_id);
-    VERIFY(status == 0, "[HDF5] Internal error: Failed to close HDF5 group during path opening");
     status = H5Gclose(node_id);
     VERIFY(status == 0, "[HDF5] Internal error: Failed to close HDF5 group during path opening");
 
diff --git a/test/SerialIOTest.cpp b/test/SerialIOTest.cpp
index be2bc42cd6..0078bdc845 100644
--- a/test/SerialIOTest.cpp
+++ b/test/SerialIOTest.cpp
@@ -3188,12 +3188,10 @@ stepBasedSingleIteration( std::string const & file )
 
 TEST_CASE( "stepBasedSingleIteration", "[serial][adios2]" )
 {
-    stepBasedSingleIteration("../samples/stepBasedSingleIteration.bp");
-    stepBasedSingleIteration("../samples/stepBasedSingleIteration.json");
-    // for( auto const & t : getFileExtensions() )
-    // {
-    //     stepBasedSingleIteration( "../samples/stepBasedSingleIteration." + t );
-    // }
+    for( auto const & t : getFileExtensions() )
+    {
+        stepBasedSingleIteration( "../samples/stepBasedSingleIteration." + t );
+    }
 }
 
 #if openPMD_HAVE_ADIOS2