diff --git a/cmd/notation/manifest.go b/cmd/notation/manifest.go
index 7e3da1c79..1c9e08f2c 100644
--- a/cmd/notation/manifest.go
+++ b/cmd/notation/manifest.go
@@ -115,7 +115,7 @@ func parseOCILayoutReference(raw string) (string, string, error) {
 	} else {
 		// find `tag`
 		idx := strings.LastIndex(raw, ":")
-		if idx == -1 || (idx == 1 && len(raw) > 2 && unicode.IsLetter(rune(raw[0])) && raw[2] == '\\') {
+		if idx == -1 || (idx == 1 && len(raw) > 2 && unicode.IsLetter(rune(raw[0])) && (raw[2] == '\\' || raw[2] == '/')) {
 			return "", "", notationerrors.ErrorOCILayoutMissingReference{Msg: fmt.Sprintf("%q: invalid reference: missing tag or digest. Expecting <file_path>:<tag> or <file_path>@<digest>", raw)}
 		} else {
 			path, ref = raw[:idx], raw[idx+1:]
diff --git a/cmd/notation/manifest_test.go b/cmd/notation/manifest_test.go
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..1c1398b5b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/cmd/notation/manifest_test.go
@@ -0,0 +1,89 @@
+// Copyright The Notary Project Authors.
+// Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+// you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+// You may obtain a copy of the License at
+//
+// http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+//
+// Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+// distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+// WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+// See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+// limitations under the License.
+
+package main
+
+import (
+	"errors"
+	"testing"
+
+	notationerrors "github.com/notaryproject/notation/v2/cmd/notation/internal/errors"
+)
+
+func TestParseOCILayoutReference(t *testing.T) {
+	tests := []struct {
+		name     string
+		raw      string
+		wantPath string
+		wantRef  string
+		wantErr  bool
+	}{
+		{
+			name:     "tag",
+			raw:      "layouts/foo:v1",
+			wantPath: "layouts/foo",
+			wantRef:  "v1",
+		},
+		{
+			name:     "digest",
+			raw:      "layouts/foo@" + zeroDigest,
+			wantPath: "layouts/foo",
+			wantRef:  zeroDigest,
+		},
+		{
+			name:     "windows path with backslashes and a tag",
+			raw:      `C:\layouts\foo:v1`,
+			wantPath: `C:\layouts\foo`,
+			wantRef:  "v1",
+		},
+		{
+			name:     "windows path with forward slashes and a tag",
+			raw:      "C:/layouts/foo:v1",
+			wantPath: "C:/layouts/foo",
+			wantRef:  "v1",
+		},
+		{
+			name:    "windows path with backslashes and no reference",
+			raw:     `C:\layouts\foo`,
+			wantErr: true,
+		},
+		{
+			name:    "windows path with forward slashes and no reference",
+			raw:     "C:/layouts/foo",
+			wantErr: true,
+		},
+		{
+			name:    "no reference",
+			raw:     "layouts/foo",
+			wantErr: true,
+		},
+	}
+	for _, tt := range tests {
+		t.Run(tt.name, func(t *testing.T) {
+			path, ref, err := parseOCILayoutReference(tt.raw)
+			if tt.wantErr {
+				var missingRef notationerrors.ErrorOCILayoutMissingReference
+				if !errors.As(err, &missingRef) {
+					t.Fatalf("parseOCILayoutReference(%q) = (%q, %q, %v), want ErrorOCILayoutMissingReference", tt.raw, path, ref, err)
+				}
+				return
+			}
+			if err != nil {
+				t.Fatalf("parseOCILayoutReference(%q) returned unexpected error: %v", tt.raw, err)
+			}
+			if path != tt.wantPath || ref != tt.wantRef {
+				t.Errorf("parseOCILayoutReference(%q) = (%q, %q), want (%q, %q)", tt.raw, path, ref, tt.wantPath, tt.wantRef)
+			}
+		})
+	}
+}