diff --git a/builtin/cat-file.c b/builtin/cat-file.c
index 884b6d5ad3..e85e2cfc1b 100644
--- a/builtin/cat-file.c
+++ b/builtin/cat-file.c
@@ -789,8 +789,11 @@ static void parse_cmd_contents(struct batch_options *opt,
 			     struct strbuf *output,
 			     struct expand_data *data)
 {
+	enum object_type *saved_typep = data->info.typep;
+	data->info.typep = &data->type;
 	opt->batch_mode = BATCH_MODE_CONTENTS;
 	batch_one_object(line, output, opt, data);
+	data->info.typep = saved_typep;
 }
 
 static void parse_cmd_info(struct batch_options *opt,
diff --git a/t/t1006-cat-file.sh b/t/t1006-cat-file.sh
index 0c1dc0fb40..72fc8acc61 100755
--- a/t/t1006-cat-file.sh
+++ b/t/t1006-cat-file.sh
@@ -1340,6 +1340,14 @@ test_expect_success 'batch-command flush without --buffer' '
 	test_grep "^fatal:.*flush is only for --buffer mode.*" err
 '
 
+test_expect_success 'batch-command contents auto-handles type' '
+	echo "HEAD" |
+		git cat-file --batch="%(objectname)" >expect &&
+	echo "contents HEAD" |
+		git cat-file --batch-command="%(objectname)" >actual &&
+	test_cmp expect actual
+'
+
 perl_script='
 use warnings;
 use strict;