diff --git a/tiled/_tests/test_utils.py b/tiled/_tests/test_utils.py
index f31fe86b1..ab688d2b7 100644
--- a/tiled/_tests/test_utils.py
+++ b/tiled/_tests/test_utils.py
@@ -59,3 +59,13 @@ def test_ensure_specified_sql_driver():
         ensure_specified_sql_driver("sqlite:///test.db")
         == "sqlite+aiosqlite:///test.db"
     )
+    # Filepaths are implicitly SQLite databases.
+    # Relative path
+    assert ensure_specified_sql_driver("test.db") == "sqlite+aiosqlite:///test.db"
+    # Relative path anchored to .
+    assert ensure_specified_sql_driver("./test.db") == "sqlite+aiosqlite:///test.db"
+    # Absolute path
+    assert (
+        ensure_specified_sql_driver("/tmp/test.db")
+        == "sqlite+aiosqlite:////tmp/test.db"
+    )
diff --git a/tiled/catalog/adapter.py b/tiled/catalog/adapter.py
index 224e3b055..ee4c42ae5 100644
--- a/tiled/catalog/adapter.py
+++ b/tiled/catalog/adapter.py
@@ -64,7 +64,6 @@
 from ..server.schemas import Asset, DataSource, Management, Revision, Spec
 from ..structures.core import StructureFamily
 from ..utils import (
-    SCHEME_PATTERN,
     UNCHANGED,
     Conflicts,
     OneShotCachedMap,
@@ -1367,9 +1366,6 @@ def from_uri(
         stderr = process.stderr.decode()
         logging.info(f"Subprocess stdout: {stdout}")
         logging.error(f"Subprocess stderr: {stderr}")
-    if not SCHEME_PATTERN.match(uri):
-        # Interpret URI as filepath.
-        uri = f"sqlite+aiosqlite:///{uri}"
 
     parsed_url = make_url(uri)
     if (parsed_url.get_dialect().name == "sqlite") and (
diff --git a/tiled/commandline/_catalog.py b/tiled/commandline/_catalog.py
index 68e50dc70..2de6849b7 100644
--- a/tiled/commandline/_catalog.py
+++ b/tiled/commandline/_catalog.py
@@ -44,11 +44,8 @@ def init(
     from ..alembic_utils import UninitializedDatabase, check_database, stamp_head
     from ..catalog.alembic_constants import ALEMBIC_DIR, ALEMBIC_INI_TEMPLATE_PATH
     from ..catalog.core import ALL_REVISIONS, REQUIRED_REVISION, initialize_database
-    from ..utils import SCHEME_PATTERN, ensure_specified_sql_driver
+    from ..utils import ensure_specified_sql_driver
 
-    if not SCHEME_PATTERN.match(database):
-        # Interpret URI as filepath.
-        database = f"sqlite+aiosqlite:///{database}"
     database = ensure_specified_sql_driver(database)
 
     async def do_setup():
diff --git a/tiled/utils.py b/tiled/utils.py
index eefdc9529..e404b97f3 100644
--- a/tiled/utils.py
+++ b/tiled/utils.py
@@ -738,7 +738,11 @@ def ensure_specified_sql_driver(uri: str) -> str:
     'sqlite://...' -> 'sqlite+aiosqlite://...'
     'postgresql+asyncpg://...' -> 'postgresql+asynpg://...'
     'postgresql+my_custom_driver://...' -> 'postgresql+my_custom_driver://...'
+    '/path/to/file.db' -> 'sqlite+aiosqlite:////path/to/file.db'
     """
+    if not SCHEME_PATTERN.match(uri):
+        # Interpret URI as filepath.
+        uri = f"sqlite+aiosqlite:///{Path(uri)}"
     scheme, rest = uri.split(":", 1)
     new_scheme = SCHEME_TO_SCHEME_PLUS_DRIVER.get(scheme, scheme)
     return ":".join([new_scheme, rest])