diff --git a/IPython/nbformat/v3/tests/test_misc.py b/IPython/nbformat/v3/tests/test_misc.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..5805b06
--- /dev/null
+++ b/IPython/nbformat/v3/tests/test_misc.py
@@ -0,0 +1,31 @@
+from unittest import TestCase
+
+from IPython.utils.py3compat import unicode_type
+from .. import parse_filename
+
+
+class MiscTests(TestCase):
+
+    def check_filename(self, path, exp_fname, exp_bname, exp_format):
+        fname, bname, format = parse_filename(path)
+        self.assertEqual(fname, exp_fname)
+        self.assertEqual(bname, exp_bname)
+        self.assertEqual(format, exp_format)
+
+    def test_parse_filename(self):
+
+        # check format detection
+        self.check_filename("test.ipynb", "test.ipynb", "test", "json")
+        self.check_filename("test.json", "test.json", "test", "json")
+        self.check_filename("test.py", "test.py", "test", "py")
+
+        # check parsing an unknown format
+        self.check_filename("test.nb", "test.nb.ipynb", "test.nb", "json")
+
+        # check parsing a full file path
+        self.check_filename("/tmp/test.ipynb", "/tmp/test.ipynb", "/tmp/test",
+                            "json")
+
+        # check parsing a file name containing dots
+        self.check_filename("test.nb.ipynb", "test.nb.ipynb", "test.nb",
+                            "json")