diff --git a/reference/store.go b/reference/store.go
index b01051bf58..b942c42ca2 100644
--- a/reference/store.go
+++ b/reference/store.go
@@ -149,6 +149,11 @@ func (store *store) addReference(ref reference.Named, id digest.Digest, force bo
 	oldID, exists := repository[refStr]
 
 	if exists {
+		if oldID == id {
+			// Nothing to do. The caller may have checked for this using store.Get in advance, but store.mu was unlocked in the meantime, so this can legitimately happen nevertheless.
+			return nil
+		}
+
 		// force only works for tags
 		if digested, isDigest := ref.(reference.Canonical); isDigest {
 			return errors.WithStack(conflictingTagError("Cannot overwrite digest " + digested.Digest().String()))
diff --git a/reference/store_test.go b/reference/store_test.go
index 1ce674cbfb..435409d358 100644
--- a/reference/store_test.go
+++ b/reference/store_test.go
@@ -163,6 +163,10 @@ func TestAddDeleteGet(t *testing.T) {
 	if err = store.AddTag(ref4, testImageID2, false); err != nil {
 		t.Fatalf("error adding to store: %v", err)
 	}
+	// Write the same values again; should silently succeed
+	if err = store.AddTag(ref4, testImageID2, false); err != nil {
+		t.Fatalf("error redundantly adding to store: %v", err)
+	}
 
 	ref5, err := reference.ParseNormalizedNamed("username/repo3@sha256:58153dfb11794fad694460162bf0cb0a4fa710cfa3f60979c177d920813e267c")
 	if err != nil {
@@ -171,6 +175,10 @@ func TestAddDeleteGet(t *testing.T) {
 	if err = store.AddDigest(ref5.(reference.Canonical), testImageID2, false); err != nil {
 		t.Fatalf("error adding to store: %v", err)
 	}
+	// Write the same values again; should silently succeed
+	if err = store.AddDigest(ref5.(reference.Canonical), testImageID2, false); err != nil {
+		t.Fatalf("error redundantly adding to store: %v", err)
+	}
 
 	// Attempt to overwrite with force == false
 	if err = store.AddTag(ref4, testImageID3, false); err == nil || !strings.HasPrefix(err.Error(), "Conflict:") {