diff --git a/importer/balanced/builder.go b/importer/balanced/builder.go
index 55b9ccb36..1f6b7e674 100644
--- a/importer/balanced/builder.go
+++ b/importer/balanced/builder.go
@@ -123,7 +123,7 @@ import (
 func Layout(db *h.DagBuilderHelper) (ipld.Node, error) {
 	if db.Done() {
 		// No data, return just an empty node.
-		root, err := db.NewLeafNode(nil)
+		root, err := db.NewLeafNode(nil, ft.TFile)
 		if err != nil {
 			return nil, err
 		}
@@ -137,7 +137,7 @@ func Layout(db *h.DagBuilderHelper) (ipld.Node, error) {
 	// (corner case), after that subsequent `root` nodes will
 	// always be internal nodes (with a depth > 0) that can
 	// be handled by the loop.
-	root, fileSize, err := db.NewLeafDataNode()
+	root, fileSize, err := db.NewLeafDataNode(ft.TFile)
 	if err != nil {
 		return nil, err
 	}
@@ -224,7 +224,7 @@ func fillNodeRec(db *h.DagBuilderHelper, node *h.FSNodeOverDag, depth int) (fill
 
 		if depth == 1 {
 			// Base case: add leaf node with data.
-			childNode, childFileSize, err = db.NewLeafDataNode()
+			childNode, childFileSize, err = db.NewLeafDataNode(ft.TFile)
 			if err != nil {
 				return nil, 0, err
 			}
diff --git a/importer/helpers/dagbuilder.go b/importer/helpers/dagbuilder.go
index 4c897fd48..90c928220 100644
--- a/importer/helpers/dagbuilder.go
+++ b/importer/helpers/dagbuilder.go
@@ -187,7 +187,7 @@ func (db *DagBuilderHelper) NewLeaf(data []byte) (*UnixfsNode, error) {
 
 // NewLeafNode is a variation from `NewLeaf` (see its description) that
 // returns an `ipld.Node` instead.
-func (db *DagBuilderHelper) NewLeafNode(data []byte) (ipld.Node, error) {
+func (db *DagBuilderHelper) NewLeafNode(data []byte, fsNodeType pb.Data_DataType) (ipld.Node, error) {
 	if len(data) > BlockSizeLimit {
 		return nil, ErrSizeLimitExceeded
 	}
@@ -205,7 +205,7 @@ func (db *DagBuilderHelper) NewLeafNode(data []byte) (ipld.Node, error) {
 	}
 
 	// Encapsulate the data in UnixFS node (instead of a raw node).
-	fsNodeOverDag := db.NewFSNodeOverDag(ft.TFile)
+	fsNodeOverDag := db.NewFSNodeOverDag(fsNodeType)
 	fsNodeOverDag.SetFileData(data)
 	node, err := fsNodeOverDag.Commit()
 	if err != nil {
@@ -274,7 +274,7 @@ func (db *DagBuilderHelper) GetNextDataNode() (*UnixfsNode, error) {
 // used to keep track of the DAG file size). The size of the data is
 // computed here because after that it will be hidden by `NewLeafNode`
 // inside a generic `ipld.Node` representation.
-func (db *DagBuilderHelper) NewLeafDataNode() (node ipld.Node, dataSize uint64, err error) {
+func (db *DagBuilderHelper) NewLeafDataNode(fsNodeType pb.Data_DataType) (node ipld.Node, dataSize uint64, err error) {
 	fileData, err := db.Next()
 	if err != nil {
 		return nil, 0, err
@@ -282,7 +282,7 @@ func (db *DagBuilderHelper) NewLeafDataNode() (node ipld.Node, dataSize uint64,
 	dataSize = uint64(len(fileData))
 
 	// Create a new leaf node containing the file chunk data.
-	node, err = db.NewLeafNode(fileData)
+	node, err = db.NewLeafNode(fileData, fsNodeType)
 	if err != nil {
 		return nil, 0, err
 	}