diff --git a/integrations/api_branch_test.go b/integrations/api_branch_test.go
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..79adfaa4f72
--- /dev/null
+++ b/integrations/api_branch_test.go
@@ -0,0 +1,44 @@
+// Copyright 2017 The Gitea Authors. All rights reserved.
+// Use of this source code is governed by a MIT-style
+// license that can be found in the LICENSE file.
+
+package integrations
+
+import (
+	"net/http"
+	"testing"
+
+	api "code.gitea.io/sdk/gitea"
+
+	"github.com/stretchr/testify/assert"
+)
+
+func testAPIGetBranch(t *testing.T, branchName string, exists bool) {
+	prepareTestEnv(t)
+
+	session := loginUser(t, "user2")
+	req := NewRequestf(t, "GET", "/api/v1/repos/user2/repo1/branches/%s", branchName)
+	resp := session.MakeRequest(t, req)
+	if !exists {
+		assert.EqualValues(t, http.StatusNotFound, resp.HeaderCode)
+		return
+	}
+	assert.EqualValues(t, http.StatusOK, resp.HeaderCode)
+	var branch api.Branch
+	DecodeJSON(t, resp, &branch)
+	assert.EqualValues(t, branchName, branch.Name)
+}
+
+func TestAPIGetBranch(t *testing.T) {
+	for _, test := range []struct {
+		BranchName string
+		Exists     bool
+	}{
+		{"master", true},
+		{"master/doesnotexist", false},
+		{"feature/1", true},
+		{"feature/1/doesnotexist", false},
+	} {
+		testAPIGetBranch(t, test.BranchName, test.Exists)
+	}
+}
diff --git a/integrations/gitea-integration-meta/gitea-repositories/user2/repo1.git/refs/heads/feature/1 b/integrations/gitea-integration-meta/gitea-repositories/user2/repo1.git/refs/heads/feature/1
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..f98a263be62
--- /dev/null
+++ b/integrations/gitea-integration-meta/gitea-repositories/user2/repo1.git/refs/heads/feature/1
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+65f1bf27bc3bf70f64657658635e66094edbcb4d
diff --git a/routers/api/v1/api.go b/routers/api/v1/api.go
index 0e356b1f907..56bb3b0f3b4 100644
--- a/routers/api/v1/api.go
+++ b/routers/api/v1/api.go
@@ -364,7 +364,7 @@ func RegisterRoutes(m *macaron.Macaron) {
 					Post(bind(api.CreateForkOption{}), repo.CreateFork)
 				m.Group("/branches", func() {
 					m.Get("", repo.ListBranches)
-					m.Get("/:branchname", repo.GetBranch)
+					m.Get("/*", context.RepoRef(), repo.GetBranch)
 				})
 				m.Group("/keys", func() {
 					m.Combo("").Get(repo.ListDeployKeys).
diff --git a/routers/api/v1/repo/branch.go b/routers/api/v1/repo/branch.go
index 489fbe6b4e5..aed630f5588 100644
--- a/routers/api/v1/repo/branch.go
+++ b/routers/api/v1/repo/branch.go
@@ -15,7 +15,14 @@ import (
 // GetBranch get a branch of a repository
 // see https://github.com/gogits/go-gogs-client/wiki/Repositories#get-branch
 func GetBranch(ctx *context.APIContext) {
-	branch, err := ctx.Repo.Repository.GetBranch(ctx.Params(":branchname"))
+	if ctx.Repo.TreePath != "" {
+		// if TreePath != "", then URL contained extra slashes
+		// (i.e. "master/subbranch" instead of "master"), so branch does
+		// not exist
+		ctx.Status(404)
+		return
+	}
+	branch, err := ctx.Repo.Repository.GetBranch(ctx.Repo.BranchName)
 	if err != nil {
 		if models.IsErrBranchNotExist(err) {
 			ctx.Error(404, "GetBranch", err)