diff --git a/src/libgit2/indexer.c b/src/libgit2/indexer.c
index 24e7a39bc..f1c7e437c 100644
--- a/src/libgit2/indexer.c
+++ b/src/libgit2/indexer.c
@@ -490,6 +490,8 @@ static int store_object(git_indexer *idx)
 	pentry = git__calloc(1, sizeof(struct git_pack_entry));
 	GIT_ERROR_CHECK_ALLOC(pentry);
 
+	memset(&oid, 0, sizeof(git_oid));
+
 	if (git_hash_final(oid.id, &idx->hash_ctx)) {
 		git__free(pentry);
 		goto on_error;
diff --git a/src/libgit2/object.c b/src/libgit2/object.c
index 75a22d0ac..ef382c5b1 100644
--- a/src/libgit2/object.c
+++ b/src/libgit2/object.c
@@ -700,6 +700,7 @@ static int id_from_fd(
 		goto done;
 	}
 
+	memset(out, 0, sizeof(git_oid));
 	error = git_hash_final(out->id, &ctx);
 
 #ifdef GIT_EXPERIMENTAL_SHA256
@@ -865,6 +866,8 @@ static int id_from_buffer(
 	vec[1].data = (void *)data;
 	vec[1].len = len;
 
+	memset(id, 0, sizeof(git_oid));
+
 #ifdef GIT_EXPERIMENTAL_SHA256
 	id->type = opts->oid_type;
 #endif
diff --git a/src/libgit2/odb.c b/src/libgit2/odb.c
index 4d740cf47..22ad10e79 100644
--- a/src/libgit2/odb.c
+++ b/src/libgit2/odb.c
@@ -1533,6 +1533,7 @@ int git_odb_stream_finalize_write(git_oid *out, git_odb_stream *stream)
 		return git_odb_stream__invalid_length(stream,
 			"stream_finalize_write()");
 
+	memset(out, 0, sizeof(git_oid));
 	git_hash_final(out->id, stream->hash_ctx);
 
 #ifdef GIT_EXPERIMENTAL_SHA256
diff --git a/src/libgit2/odb_loose.c b/src/libgit2/odb_loose.c
index dfdecd3c2..23246b462 100644
--- a/src/libgit2/odb_loose.c
+++ b/src/libgit2/odb_loose.c
@@ -739,6 +739,7 @@ GIT_INLINE(int) filename_to_oid(struct loose_backend *backend, git_oid *oid, con
 	if (v < 0)
 		return -1;
 
+	memset(oid, 0, sizeof(git_oid));
 	oid->id[0] = (unsigned char) v;
 
 	ptr += 3;
diff --git a/src/libgit2/oid.c b/src/libgit2/oid.c
index db549f6ab..7f55e3e4d 100644
--- a/src/libgit2/oid.c
+++ b/src/libgit2/oid.c
@@ -47,10 +47,11 @@ int git_oid_from_prefix(git_oid *out, const char *str, size_t len, git_oid_t typ
 	if (len > git_oid_hexsize(type))
 		return oid_error_invalid("too long");
 
+	memset(out, 0, sizeof(git_oid));
+
 #ifdef GIT_EXPERIMENTAL_SHA256
 	out->type = type;
 #endif
-	memset(out->id, 0, size);
 
 	for (p = 0; p < len; p++) {
 		v = git__fromhex(str[p]);
@@ -86,9 +87,12 @@ int git_oid_from_raw(git_oid *out, const unsigned char *raw, git_oid_t type)
 	if (!(size = git_oid_size(type)))
 		return oid_error_invalid("unknown type");
 
+	memset(out, 0, sizeof(git_oid));
+
 #ifdef GIT_EXPERIMENTAL_SHA256
 	out->type = type;
 #endif
+
 	memcpy(out->id, raw, size);
 	return 0;
 }
@@ -231,16 +235,8 @@ int git_oid_fromraw(git_oid *out, const unsigned char *raw)
 
 int git_oid_cpy(git_oid *out, const git_oid *src)
 {
-	size_t size;
-
-	if (!(size = git_oid_size(git_oid_type(src))))
-		return oid_error_invalid("unknown type");
-
-#ifdef GIT_EXPERIMENTAL_SHA256
-	out->type = src->type;
-#endif
-
-	return git_oid_raw_cpy(out->id, src->id, size);
+	memcpy(out, src, sizeof(git_oid));
+	return 0;
 }
 
 int git_oid_cmp(const git_oid *a, const git_oid *b)
@@ -291,19 +287,9 @@ int git_oid_streq(const git_oid *oid_a, const char *str)
 	return git_oid_strcmp(oid_a, str) == 0 ? 0 : -1;
 }
 
-int git_oid_is_zero(const git_oid *oid_a)
+int git_oid_is_zero(const git_oid *id)
 {
-	const unsigned char *a = oid_a->id;
-	size_t size = git_oid_size(git_oid_type(oid_a));
-
-#ifdef GIT_EXPERIMENTAL_SHA256
-	if (!oid_a->type)
-		return 1;
-	else if (!size)
-		return 0;
-#endif
-
-	return git_oid_raw_cmp(a, git_oid_zero, size) == 0 ? 1 : 0;
+	return memcmp(id->id, git_oid_zero, GIT_OID_MAX_SIZE) == 0 ? 1 : 0;
 }
 
 #ifndef GIT_DEPRECATE_HARD
diff --git a/src/libgit2/oid.h b/src/libgit2/oid.h
index cfcabce71..03c7bac53 100644
--- a/src/libgit2/oid.h
+++ b/src/libgit2/oid.h
@@ -221,19 +221,14 @@ GIT_INLINE(int) git_oid_raw_cpy(
  */
 GIT_INLINE(int) git_oid__cmp(const git_oid *a, const git_oid *b)
 {
-#ifdef GIT_EXPERIMENTAL_SHA256
-	if (a->type != b->type)
-		return a->type - b->type;
-
-	return git_oid_raw_cmp(a->id, b->id, git_oid_size(a->type));
-#else
-	return git_oid_raw_cmp(a->id, b->id, git_oid_size(GIT_OID_SHA1));
-#endif
+	return memcmp(a, b, sizeof(git_oid));
 }
 
 GIT_INLINE(void) git_oid__cpy_prefix(
 	git_oid *out, const git_oid *id, size_t len)
 {
+	memset(out, 0, sizeof(git_oid));
+
 #ifdef GIT_EXPERIMENTAL_SHA256
 	out->type = id->type;
 #endif
@@ -258,10 +253,12 @@ GIT_INLINE(bool) git_oid__is_hexstr(const char *str, git_oid_t type)
 
 GIT_INLINE(void) git_oid_clear(git_oid *out, git_oid_t type)
 {
-	memset(out->id, 0, git_oid_size(type));
+	memset(out, 0, sizeof(git_oid));
 
 #ifdef GIT_EXPERIMENTAL_SHA256
 	out->type = type;
+#else
+	GIT_UNUSED(type);
 #endif
 }
 
diff --git a/src/libgit2/pack-objects.c b/src/libgit2/pack-objects.c
index 0b975c7c1..52edd6e38 100644
--- a/src/libgit2/pack-objects.c
+++ b/src/libgit2/pack-objects.c
@@ -673,6 +673,8 @@ static int write_pack(git_packbuilder *pb,
 		pb->nr_remaining -= pb->nr_written;
 	} while (pb->nr_remaining && i < pb->nr_objects);
 
+	memset(&entry_oid, 0, sizeof(git_oid));
+
 	if ((error = git_hash_final(entry_oid.id, &pb->ctx)) < 0)
 		goto done;
 
diff --git a/src/libgit2/refdb_fs.c b/src/libgit2/refdb_fs.c
index 90092434b..1858a3407 100644
--- a/src/libgit2/refdb_fs.c
+++ b/src/libgit2/refdb_fs.c
@@ -1667,7 +1667,7 @@ static int maybe_append_head(refdb_fs_backend *backend, const git_reference *ref
 
 	/* if we can't resolve, we use {0}*40 as old id */
 	if (git_reference_name_to_id(&old_id, backend->repo, ref->name) < 0)
-		memset(&old_id, 0, sizeof(old_id));
+		git_oid_clear(&old_id, git_repository_oid_type(backend->repo));
 
 	if ((error = git_reference_lookup(&head, backend->repo, GIT_HEAD_REF)) < 0 ||
 	    (error = reflog_append(backend, head, &old_id, git_reference_target(ref), who, message)) < 0)
diff --git a/tests/libgit2/core/oid.c b/tests/libgit2/core/oid.c
index 3b20061cb..4afc126e8 100644
--- a/tests/libgit2/core/oid.c
+++ b/tests/libgit2/core/oid.c
@@ -9,6 +9,8 @@ const char *str_oid_sha1 = "ae90f12eea699729ed24555e40b9fd669da12a12";
 const char *str_oid_sha1_p = "ae90f12eea699729ed";
 const char *str_oid_sha1_m = "ae90f12eea699729ed24555e40b9fd669da12a12THIS IS EXTRA TEXT THAT SHOULD GET IGNORED";
 
+const char *str_zero_sha1 = "0000000000000000000000000000000000000000";
+
 #ifdef GIT_EXPERIMENTAL_SHA256
 static git_oid id_sha256;
 static git_oid idp_sha256;
@@ -211,3 +213,27 @@ void test_core_oid__type_lookup(void)
 	cl_assert_equal_s("unknown", git_oid_type_name(0));
 	cl_assert_equal_s("unknown", git_oid_type_name(42));
 }
+
+void test_core_oid__zero_suffixed(void)
+{
+	git_oid id, zero;
+
+	memset(&zero, 0x00, sizeof(git_oid));
+
+	memset(&id, 0xff, sizeof(git_oid));
+	cl_git_pass(git_oid_from_string(&id, str_zero_sha1, GIT_OID_SHA1));
+
+#ifdef GIT_EXPERIMENTAL_SHA256
+	cl_assert(id.type == GIT_OID_SHA1);
+#endif
+	cl_assert(memcmp(id.id, zero.id, GIT_OID_MAX_SIZE) == 0);
+
+
+	memset(&id, 0xff, sizeof(git_oid));
+	cl_git_pass(git_oid_from_raw(&id, zero.id, GIT_OID_SHA1));
+
+#ifdef GIT_EXPERIMENTAL_SHA256
+	cl_assert(id.type == GIT_OID_SHA1);
+#endif
+	cl_assert(memcmp(id.id, zero.id, GIT_OID_MAX_SIZE) == 0);
+}