diff --git a/app/core/gimplinklayer.c b/app/core/gimplinklayer.c
index f4fc7efa53..3791e38d52 100644
--- a/app/core/gimplinklayer.c
+++ b/app/core/gimplinklayer.c
@@ -841,12 +841,16 @@ gimp_link_layer_get_transform (GimpLinkLayer         *layer,
 {
   g_return_val_if_fail (GIMP_IS_LINK_LAYER (layer), FALSE);
 
-  *matrix        = layer->p->matrix;
-  *offset_x      = layer->p->offset_x;
-  *offset_y      = layer->p->offset_y;
-  *interpolation = layer->p->interpolation;
+  if (matrix)
+    *matrix = layer->p->matrix;
+  if (offset_x)
+    *offset_x = layer->p->offset_x;
+  if (offset_y)
+    *offset_y = layer->p->offset_y;
+  if (interpolation)
+    *interpolation = layer->p->interpolation;
 
-  return ! gimp_matrix3_is_identity (matrix);
+  return ! gimp_matrix3_is_identity (&layer->p->matrix);
 }
 
 gboolean
diff --git a/app/xcf/xcf-save.c b/app/xcf/xcf-save.c
index ded3e954c4..160f8c4e37 100644
--- a/app/xcf/xcf-save.c
+++ b/app/xcf/xcf-save.c
@@ -745,7 +745,8 @@ xcf_save_layer_props (XcfInfo    *info,
   else if (GIMP_IS_LINK_LAYER (layer))
     {
       xcf_check_error (xcf_save_prop (info, image, PROP_LINK_LAYER, error, layer), ;);
-      xcf_check_error (xcf_save_prop (info, image, PROP_TRANSFORM, error, layer), ;);
+      if (gimp_link_layer_get_transform (GIMP_LINK_LAYER (layer), NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL))
+        xcf_check_error (xcf_save_prop (info, image, PROP_TRANSFORM, error, layer), ;);
     }
 
   if (gimp_viewable_get_children (GIMP_VIEWABLE (layer)))