diff --git a/org.eclipse.jgit/src/org/eclipse/jgit/internal/storage/reftree/RefTree.java b/org.eclipse.jgit/src/org/eclipse/jgit/internal/storage/reftree/RefTree.java
index 66c0be676..43eec5185 100644
--- a/org.eclipse.jgit/src/org/eclipse/jgit/internal/storage/reftree/RefTree.java
+++ b/org.eclipse.jgit/src/org/eclipse/jgit/internal/storage/reftree/RefTree.java
@@ -100,15 +100,15 @@ import org.eclipse.jgit.util.RawParseUtils;
  * blob storing the name of the target reference.
  * <p>
  * Annotated tags also store the peeled object using a {@code GITLINK} entry
- * with the suffix <code>"^{}"</code>, for example {@code "tags/v1.0"} stores
- * the annotated tag object, while <code>"tags/v1.0^{}"</code> stores the commit
- * the tag annotates.
+ * with the suffix <code>" ^"</code> (space carrot), for example
+ * {@code "tags/v1.0"} stores the annotated tag object, while
+ * <code>"tags/v1.0 ^"</code> stores the commit the tag annotates.
  * <p>
  * {@code HEAD} is a special case and stored as {@code "..HEAD"}.
  */
 public class RefTree {
 	/** Suffix applied to GITLINK to indicate its the peeled value of a tag. */
-	public static final String PEELED_SUFFIX = "^{}"; //$NON-NLS-1$
+	public static final String PEELED_SUFFIX = " ^"; //$NON-NLS-1$
 	static final String ROOT_DOTDOT = ".."; //$NON-NLS-1$
 
 	/**
diff --git a/org.eclipse.jgit/src/org/eclipse/jgit/internal/storage/reftree/Scanner.java b/org.eclipse.jgit/src/org/eclipse/jgit/internal/storage/reftree/Scanner.java
index b3aeed0df..d383abf31 100644
--- a/org.eclipse.jgit/src/org/eclipse/jgit/internal/storage/reftree/Scanner.java
+++ b/org.eclipse.jgit/src/org/eclipse/jgit/internal/storage/reftree/Scanner.java
@@ -230,7 +230,7 @@ class Scanner {
 	private static boolean curElementHasPeelSuffix(AbstractTreeIterator itr) {
 		int n = itr.getEntryPathLength();
 		byte[] c = itr.getEntryPathBuffer();
-		return n > 3 && c[n - 3] == '^' && c[n - 2] == '{' && c[n - 1] == '}';
+		return n > 2 && c[n - 2] == ' ' && c[n - 1] == '^';
 	}
 
 	private static void peel(RefList.Builder<Ref> all, CanonicalTreeParser p) {
@@ -272,7 +272,7 @@ class Scanner {
 		byte[] buf = p.getEntryPathBuffer();
 		int len = p.getEntryPathLength();
 		if (peel) {
-			len -= 3;
+			len -= 2;
 		}
 		int ptr = 0;
 		if (RawParseUtils.match(buf, ptr, REFS_DOT_DOT) > 0) {