diff --git a/lib/npa.js b/lib/npa.js
index d409b7f..50121b9 100644
--- a/lib/npa.js
+++ b/lib/npa.js
@@ -14,7 +14,7 @@ const { log } = require('proc-log')
 const hasSlashes = isWindows ? /\\|[/]/ : /[/]/
 const isURL = /^(?:git[+])?[a-z]+:/i
 const isGit = /^[^@]+@[^:.]+\.[^:]+:.+$/i
-const isFileType = /[.](?:tgz|tar.gz|tar)$/i
+const isFileType = /[.](?:tgz|tar\.gz|tar)$/i
 const isPortNumber = /:[0-9]+(\/|$)/i
 const isWindowsFile = /^(?:[.]|~[/]|[/\\]|[a-zA-Z]:)/
 const isPosixFile = /^(?:[.]|~[/]|[/]|[a-zA-Z]:)/
diff --git a/test/basic.js b/test/basic.js
index 6eb9737..1850664 100644
--- a/test/basic.js
+++ b/test/basic.js
@@ -823,3 +823,40 @@ t.test('error message', t => {
 
   t.end()
 })
+
+t.test('tarball regex should only match literal dots', t => {
+  // Valid tarball extensions - should match
+  t.has(normalizePaths(npa('/path/to/package.tar.gz')), {
+    type: 'file',
+    name: null,
+  }, '.tar.gz should match as file')
+
+  t.has(normalizePaths(npa('/path/to/package.tgz')), {
+    type: 'file',
+    name: null,
+  }, '.tgz should match as file')
+
+  t.has(normalizePaths(npa('/path/to/package.tar')), {
+    type: 'file',
+    name: null,
+  }, '.tar should match as file')
+
+  // Invalid patterns with non-dot characters - should NOT match as file
+  // These should be treated as directories, not files
+  t.has(normalizePaths(npa('/path/to/package.tarXgz')), {
+    type: 'directory',
+    name: null,
+  }, '.tarXgz should NOT match as file (X is not a dot)')
+
+  t.has(normalizePaths(npa('/path/to/package.tar_gz')), {
+    type: 'directory',
+    name: null,
+  }, '.tar_gz should NOT match as file (underscore is not a dot)')
+
+  t.has(normalizePaths(npa('./package.tar gz')), {
+    type: 'directory',
+    name: null,
+  }, '.tar gz should NOT match as file (space is not a dot)')
+
+  t.end()
+})