diff --git a/cli/cmdlineparser.cpp b/cli/cmdlineparser.cpp
index 044a87df3..d9f55b370 100644
--- a/cli/cmdlineparser.cpp
+++ b/cli/cmdlineparser.cpp
@@ -576,6 +576,16 @@ bool CmdLineParser::parseFromArgs(int argc, const char* const argv[])
                     mSettings->plistOutput = "./";
                 else if (!endsWith(mSettings->plistOutput,'/'))
                     mSettings->plistOutput += '/';
+
+                const std::string plistOutput = Path::toNativeSeparators(mSettings->plistOutput);
+                if (!FileLister::isDirectory(plistOutput))
+                {
+                  std::string message("cppcheck: error: plist folder does not exist: \"");
+                  message += plistOutput;
+                  message += "\".";
+                  printMessage(message);
+                  return false;
+                }
             }
 
             // --project
diff --git a/cli/filelister.cpp b/cli/filelister.cpp
index e55d47f1e..1490e5e7f 100644
--- a/cli/filelister.cpp
+++ b/cli/filelister.cpp
@@ -64,7 +64,7 @@ static BOOL myFileExists(const std::string& path)
     if (fa != INVALID_FILE_ATTRIBUTES && !(fa & FILE_ATTRIBUTE_DIRECTORY))
         result = TRUE;
 #else
-    const BOOL result = PathFileExistsA(path.c_str());
+    const BOOL result = PathFileExistsA(path.c_str()) && !PathIsDirectoryA(path.c_str());
 #endif
     return result;
 }
diff --git a/lib/cppcheck.cpp b/lib/cppcheck.cpp
index e0af1a682..4604029c1 100644
--- a/lib/cppcheck.cpp
+++ b/lib/cppcheck.cpp
@@ -516,7 +516,8 @@ unsigned int CppCheck::checkFile(const std::string& filename, const std::string
                 filename2 = filename.substr(filename.rfind('/') + 1);
             else
                 filename2 = filename;
-            filename2 = mSettings.plistOutput + filename2.substr(0, filename2.find('.')) + ".plist";
+            std::size_t fileNameHash = std::hash<std::string>{}(filename);
+            filename2 = mSettings.plistOutput + filename2.substr(0, filename2.find('.')) + "_" + std::to_string(fileNameHash) + ".plist";
             plistFile.open(filename2);
             plistFile << ErrorLogger::plistHeader(version(), files);
         }
diff --git a/lib/path.h b/lib/path.h
index 588a30bef..af5319c49 100644
--- a/lib/path.h
+++ b/lib/path.h
@@ -173,6 +173,11 @@ public:
      */
     static std::string stripDirectoryPart(const std::string &file);
 
+    /**
+      * @brief Checks if a File exists
+      * @param path Path to be checked if it is a File
+      * @return true if given path is a File
+      */
     static bool fileExists(const std::string &file);
 };
 
diff --git a/test/testcmdlineparser.cpp b/test/testcmdlineparser.cpp
index 2aa276d33..c2c39f347 100644
--- a/test/testcmdlineparser.cpp
+++ b/test/testcmdlineparser.cpp
@@ -106,6 +106,8 @@ private:
         TEST_CASE(stdc99);
         TEST_CASE(stdcpp11);
         TEST_CASE(platform);
+        TEST_CASE(plistEmpty);
+        TEST_CASE(plistDoesNotExist);
         TEST_CASE(suppressionsOld); // TODO: Create and test real suppression file
         TEST_CASE(suppressions);
         TEST_CASE(suppressionsNoFile);
@@ -717,6 +719,22 @@ private:
         ASSERT(settings.platformType == Settings::Win64);
     }
 
+    void plistEmpty() {
+        REDIRECT;
+        const char * const argv[] = {"cppcheck", "--plist-output=", "file.cpp"};
+        settings.plistOutput = "";
+        ASSERT(defParser.parseFromArgs(3, argv));
+        ASSERT(settings.plistOutput == "./");
+    }
+
+    void plistDoesNotExist() {
+        REDIRECT;
+        const char * const argv[] = {"cppcheck", "--plist-output=./cppcheck_reports", "file.cpp"};
+        settings.plistOutput = "";
+        // Fails since folder pointed by --plist-output= does not exist
+        ASSERT_EQUALS(false, defParser.parseFromArgs(3, argv));
+    }
+
     void suppressionsOld() {
         // TODO: Fails because there is no suppr.txt file!
         REDIRECT;
diff --git a/test/testfilelister.cpp b/test/testfilelister.cpp
index afe69bdd7..94304c173 100644
--- a/test/testfilelister.cpp
+++ b/test/testfilelister.cpp
@@ -47,6 +47,7 @@ private:
 
         TEST_CASE(isDirectory);
         TEST_CASE(recursiveAddFiles);
+        TEST_CASE(fileExists);
     }
 
     void isDirectory() const {
@@ -79,6 +80,11 @@ private:
         // Make sure headers are not added..
         ASSERT(files.find("lib/tokenize.h") == files.end());
     }
+
+    void fileExists() const {
+        ASSERT_EQUALS(false, FileLister::fileExists("lib"));
+        ASSERT_EQUALS(true, FileLister::fileExists("readme.txt"));
+    }
 };
 
 REGISTER_TEST(TestFileLister)