diff --git a/independent-projects/bootstrap/app-model/src/main/java/io/quarkus/paths/PathTree.java b/independent-projects/bootstrap/app-model/src/main/java/io/quarkus/paths/PathTree.java
index c0c40b85a6837..649a87c2eefcb 100644
--- a/independent-projects/bootstrap/app-model/src/main/java/io/quarkus/paths/PathTree.java
+++ b/independent-projects/bootstrap/app-model/src/main/java/io/quarkus/paths/PathTree.java
@@ -47,7 +47,8 @@ static PathTree ofDirectoryOrArchive(Path p, PathFilter filter) {
         try {
             final BasicFileAttributes fileAttributes = Files.readAttributes(p, BasicFileAttributes.class);
             return fileAttributes.isDirectory() ? new DirectoryPathTree(p, filter)
-                    : ofArchive(p, filter);
+                    // invoke ArchivePathTree.forPath directly instead of ofArchive() to avoid an extra Files.exists invocation
+                    : ArchivePathTree.forPath(p, filter);
         } catch (IOException e) {
             throw new IllegalArgumentException(p + " does not exist", e);
         }
@@ -76,7 +77,6 @@ static PathTree ofArchive(Path archive, PathFilter filter) {
         if (!Files.exists(archive)) {
             throw new IllegalArgumentException(archive + " does not exist");
         }
-
         return ArchivePathTree.forPath(archive, filter);
     }