diff --git a/Doc/library/shutil.rst b/Doc/library/shutil.rst
index 3a4631e7c657fe..bf44ef2756d708 100644
--- a/Doc/library/shutil.rst
+++ b/Doc/library/shutil.rst
@@ -619,8 +619,8 @@ provided.  They rely on the :mod:`zipfile` and :mod:`tarfile` modules.
 
    Create an archive file (such as zip or tar) and return its name.
 
-   *base_name* is the name of the file to create, including the path, minus
-   any format-specific extension.
+   *base_name* is the :term:`path-like object` specifying the name of the file
+   to create, including the path, minus any format-specific extension.
 
    *format* is the archive format: one of
    "zip" (if the :mod:`zlib` module is available), "tar", "gztar" (if the
@@ -628,13 +628,14 @@ provided.  They rely on the :mod:`zipfile` and :mod:`tarfile` modules.
    available), "xztar" (if the :mod:`lzma` module is available), or "zstdtar"
    (if the :mod:`compression.zstd` module is available).
 
-   *root_dir* is a directory that will be the root directory of the
-   archive, all paths in the archive will be relative to it; for example,
-   we typically chdir into *root_dir* before creating the archive.
+   *root_dir* is the :term:`path-like object` specifying a directory that will
+   be the root directory of the archive, all paths in the archive will be
+   relative to it; for example, we typically chdir into *root_dir* before
+   creating the archive.
 
-   *base_dir* is the directory where we start archiving from;
-   i.e. *base_dir* will be the common prefix of all files and
-   directories in the archive.  *base_dir* must be given relative
+   *base_dir* is the :term:`path-like object` specifying a directory where we
+   start archiving from; i.e. *base_dir* will be the common prefix of all files
+   and directories in the archive.  *base_dir* must be given relative
    to *root_dir*.  See :ref:`shutil-archiving-example-with-basedir` for how to
    use *base_dir* and *root_dir* together.
 
@@ -669,6 +670,9 @@ provided.  They rely on the :mod:`zipfile` and :mod:`tarfile` modules.
       This function is now made thread-safe during creation of standard
       ``.zip`` and tar archives.
 
+   .. versionchanged:: 3.15
+      Accepts a :term:`path-like object` for *base_name*.
+
 .. function:: get_archive_formats()
 
    Return a list of supported formats for archiving.
@@ -814,10 +818,10 @@ Archiving example
 In this example, we create a gzip'ed tar-file archive containing all files
 found in the :file:`.ssh` directory of the user::
 
+    >>> from pathlib import Path
     >>> from shutil import make_archive
-    >>> import os
-    >>> archive_name = os.path.expanduser(os.path.join('~', 'myarchive'))
-    >>> root_dir = os.path.expanduser(os.path.join('~', '.ssh'))
+    >>> archive_name = Path.home() / 'myarchive'
+    >>> root_dir = Path.home() / '.ssh'
     >>> make_archive(archive_name, 'gztar', root_dir)
     '/Users/tarek/myarchive.tar.gz'
 
@@ -858,9 +862,9 @@ we show how to use :func:`make_archive`, but this time with the usage of
 In the final archive, :file:`please_add.txt` should be included, but
 :file:`do_not_add.txt` should not.  Therefore we use the following::
 
+    >>> from pathlib import Path
     >>> from shutil import make_archive
-    >>> import os
-    >>> archive_name = os.path.expanduser(os.path.join('~', 'myarchive'))
+    >>> archive_name = Path.home() / 'myarchive'
     >>> make_archive(
     ...     archive_name,
     ...     'tar',
diff --git a/Lib/shutil.py b/Lib/shutil.py
index 8d8fe145567822..8279ea4bdf0a94 100644
--- a/Lib/shutil.py
+++ b/Lib/shutil.py
@@ -1212,6 +1212,8 @@ def make_archive(base_name, format, root_dir=None, base_dir=None, verbose=0,
     for arg, val in format_info[1]:
         kwargs[arg] = val
 
+    base_name = os.fspath(base_name)
+
     if base_dir is None:
         base_dir = os.curdir
 
@@ -1223,8 +1225,6 @@ def make_archive(base_name, format, root_dir=None, base_dir=None, verbose=0,
             raise NotADirectoryError(errno.ENOTDIR, 'Not a directory', root_dir)
 
         if supports_root_dir:
-            # Support path-like base_name here for backwards-compatibility.
-            base_name = os.fspath(base_name)
             kwargs['root_dir'] = root_dir
         else:
             save_cwd = os.getcwd()
diff --git a/Lib/test/test_shutil.py b/Lib/test/test_shutil.py
index ebb6cf88336249..0dd912b16d4263 100644
--- a/Lib/test/test_shutil.py
+++ b/Lib/test/test_shutil.py
@@ -2042,6 +2042,24 @@ def test_make_zipfile_in_curdir(self):
             self.assertEqual(make_archive('test', 'zip'), 'test.zip')
             self.assertTrue(os.path.isfile('test.zip'))
 
+    @support.requires_zlib()
+    def test_make_archive_accepts_pathlike(self):
+        tmpdir = self.mkdtemp()
+        with os_helper.change_cwd(tmpdir), no_chdir:
+            # Test path-like base_name without root_dir and base_dir
+            base_name = FakePath(os.path.join(tmpdir, 'archive'))
+            res = make_archive(base_name, 'zip')
+            self.assertEqual(res, os.path.join(tmpdir, 'archive.zip'))
+            self.assertTrue(os.path.isfile(res))
+
+            # Test with path-like base_name, root_dir, and base_dir
+            root_dir, base_dir = self._create_files()
+            base_name = FakePath(os.path.join(tmpdir, 'archive2'))
+            res = make_archive(
+                base_name, 'zip', FakePath(root_dir), FakePath(base_dir))
+            self.assertEqual(res, os.path.join(tmpdir, 'archive2.zip'))
+            self.assertTrue(os.path.isfile(res))
+
     def test_register_archive_format(self):
 
         self.assertRaises(TypeError, register_archive_format, 'xxx', 1)
diff --git a/Misc/NEWS.d/next/Library/2026-01-10-22-58-30.gh-issue-85809.0eW4wt.rst b/Misc/NEWS.d/next/Library/2026-01-10-22-58-30.gh-issue-85809.0eW4wt.rst
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000000..69b3ca86887710
--- /dev/null
+++ b/Misc/NEWS.d/next/Library/2026-01-10-22-58-30.gh-issue-85809.0eW4wt.rst
@@ -0,0 +1,2 @@
+Added ``pathlib.Path`` support for :func:`shutil.make_archive` with updated
+documentation and lightweight tests.