diff --git a/Project.toml b/Project.toml
index d9a6ce453..ab4e1c905 100644
--- a/Project.toml
+++ b/Project.toml
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 name = "Zygote"
 uuid = "e88e6eb3-aa80-5325-afca-941959d7151f"
-version = "0.6.71"
+version = "0.6.72"
 
 [deps]
 AbstractFFTs = "621f4979-c628-5d54-868e-fcf4e3e8185c"
diff --git a/src/compiler/chainrules.jl b/src/compiler/chainrules.jl
index 7b070f730..c89c6ae66 100644
--- a/src/compiler/chainrules.jl
+++ b/src/compiler/chainrules.jl
@@ -282,7 +282,8 @@ z2d(::Tuple{Vararg{Nothing}}, ::Tuple) = NoTangent()  # collapse all-zero case
 z2d(dx, ::Any) = dx
 z2d(dx::AbstractArray{<:Number}, primal::AbstractArray) = dx
 z2d(dx::AbstractArray{<:AbstractArray{<:Number}}, primal::AbstractArray) = dx
-z2d(dx::AbstractArray, primal::AbstractArray) = map(z2d, dx, primal)
+z2d(dx::AbstractArray, primal::AbstractArray) = isempty(dx) ? dx : map(Zygote.z2d, dx, primal)
+
 #=
 # As an optimisation, we can convert by `reinterpret` for bitstypes, e.g. arrays of tuples of numbers
 function z2d(dx::AbstractArray{S}, primal::AbstractArray{P}) where {S,P}
diff --git a/test/chainrules.jl b/test/chainrules.jl
index 3d5fcb035..c3809b992 100644
--- a/test/chainrules.jl
+++ b/test/chainrules.jl
@@ -419,6 +419,10 @@ end
     @test z2d_compiled.d === z2d_fallback.d
     @test z2d_compiled.c.a === z2d_fallback.c.a
     @test z2d_compiled.c.b === z2d_fallback.c.b
+
+    # empty dx => returns the dx
+    @test @inferred(Zygote.z2d(ones(1, 0), ones(16, 0))) === ones(1, 0)
+    @test @inferred(Zygote.z2d(Union{Nothing, Float64}[], ones(16, 0))) === Union{Nothing, Float64}[]
 end
 
 @testset "ChainRules translation" begin