diff --git a/crates/uv-build/src/lib.rs b/crates/uv-build/src/lib.rs
index b7efc1ab9..5b4637abb 100644
--- a/crates/uv-build/src/lib.rs
+++ b/crates/uv-build/src/lib.rs
@@ -226,7 +226,7 @@ impl Pep517Backend {
             import sys
             sys.path = [{backend_path}] + sys.path
 
-            {import} 
+            {import}
         "#, backend_path = backend_path_encoded}
     }
 }
@@ -305,8 +305,11 @@ impl SourceBuild {
                 .map_err(|err| Error::Extraction(extracted.clone(), err))?;
 
             // Extract the top-level directory from the archive.
-            uv_extract::strip_component(&extracted)
-                .map_err(|err| Error::Extraction(extracted.clone(), err))?
+            match uv_extract::strip_component(&extracted) {
+                Ok(top_level) => top_level,
+                Err(uv_extract::Error::NonSingularArchive(_)) => extracted,
+                Err(err) => return Err(Error::Extraction(extracted.clone(), err)),
+            }
         };
         let source_tree = if let Some(subdir) = subdirectory {
             source_root.join(subdir)
@@ -614,7 +617,7 @@ impl SourceBuild {
         let script = formatdoc! {
             r#"{}
             print(backend.build_{}("{}", metadata_directory={}))
-            "#, pep517_backend.backend_import(), self.build_kind, escaped_wheel_dir, metadata_directory 
+            "#, pep517_backend.backend_import(), self.build_kind, escaped_wheel_dir, metadata_directory
         };
         let span = info_span!(
             "run_python_script",
diff --git a/crates/uv-distribution/src/source/mod.rs b/crates/uv-distribution/src/source/mod.rs
index f271655ce..3c924e656 100644
--- a/crates/uv-distribution/src/source/mod.rs
+++ b/crates/uv-distribution/src/source/mod.rs
@@ -787,7 +787,11 @@ impl<'a, T: BuildContext> SourceDistCachedBuilder<'a, T> {
         drop(span);
 
         // Extract the top-level directory.
-        let extracted = uv_extract::strip_component(temp_dir.path())?;
+        let extracted = match uv_extract::strip_component(temp_dir.path()) {
+            Ok(top_level) => top_level,
+            Err(uv_extract::Error::NonSingularArchive(_)) => temp_dir.into_path(),
+            Err(err) => return Err(err.into()),
+        };
 
         // Persist it to the cache.
         fs_err::tokio::create_dir_all(cache_path.parent().expect("Cache entry to have parent"))
diff --git a/crates/uv-extract/src/error.rs b/crates/uv-extract/src/error.rs
index 520d35133..4f9578560 100644
--- a/crates/uv-extract/src/error.rs
+++ b/crates/uv-extract/src/error.rs
@@ -13,7 +13,9 @@ pub enum Error {
     #[error("Unsupported archive type: {0}")]
     UnsupportedArchive(PathBuf),
     #[error(
-        "The top level of the archive must only contain a list directory, but it contains: {0:?}"
+        "The top-level of the archive must only contain a list directory, but it contains: {0:?}"
     )]
-    InvalidArchive(Vec<OsString>),
+    NonSingularArchive(Vec<OsString>),
+    #[error("The top-level of the archive must only contain a list directory, but it's empty")]
+    EmptyArchive,
 }
diff --git a/crates/uv-extract/src/sync.rs b/crates/uv-extract/src/sync.rs
index d0ab1746e..7c5addd8f 100644
--- a/crates/uv-extract/src/sync.rs
+++ b/crates/uv-extract/src/sync.rs
@@ -115,10 +115,14 @@ pub fn strip_component(source: impl AsRef<Path>) -> Result<PathBuf, Error> {
     // TODO(konstin): Verify the name of the directory.
     let top_level =
         fs_err::read_dir(source.as_ref())?.collect::<std::io::Result<Vec<fs_err::DirEntry>>>()?;
-    let [root] = top_level.as_slice() else {
-        return Err(Error::InvalidArchive(
-            top_level.into_iter().map(|e| e.file_name()).collect(),
-        ));
-    };
-    Ok(root.path())
+    match top_level.as_slice() {
+        [root] => Ok(root.path()),
+        [] => Err(Error::EmptyArchive),
+        _ => Err(Error::NonSingularArchive(
+            top_level
+                .into_iter()
+                .map(|entry| entry.file_name())
+                .collect(),
+        )),
+    }
 }