diff --git a/swh/model/identifiers.py b/swh/model/identifiers.py
index 1317bd427079993d0245a6ed31764d560ffd010d..6351074abd64e9b229c18abb9cb94c3d1bd6b72d 100644
--- a/swh/model/identifiers.py
+++ b/swh/model/identifiers.py
@@ -269,11 +269,21 @@ def revision_identifier(revision):
     return hashutil.hash_git_data(b''.join(components), 'commit')
 
 
+def target_type_to_git(target_type):
+    """Convert a software heritage target type to a git object type"""
+    return {
+        'content': b'blob',
+        'directory': b'tree',
+        'revision': b'commit',
+        'release': b'tag',
+    }[target_type]
+
+
 def release_identifier(release):
     """Return the intrinsic identifier for a release."""
     components = [
-        b'object ', identifier_to_str(release['revision']).encode(), b'\n',
-        b'type commit\n',
+        b'object ', identifier_to_str(release['target']).encode(), b'\n',
+        b'type ', target_type_to_git(release['target_type']), b'\n',
         b'tag ', release['name'].encode('utf-8'), b'\n',
     ]
 
diff --git a/swh/model/tests/test_identifiers.py b/swh/model/tests/test_identifiers.py
index 4770fb4ff01b44519c125a1095bfaaa31ebd49d6..bd3e874f929b382e28c6c940c4fd50d5c2007fc2 100644
--- a/swh/model/tests/test_identifiers.py
+++ b/swh/model/tests/test_identifiers.py
@@ -291,7 +291,8 @@ class ReleaseIdentifier(unittest.TestCase):
 
         self.release = {
             'id': '2b10839e32c4c476e9d94492756bb1a3e1ec4aa8',
-            'revision': b't\x1b"R\xa5\xe1Ml`\xa9\x13\xc7z`\x99\xab\xe7:\x85J',
+            'target': b't\x1b"R\xa5\xe1Ml`\xa9\x13\xc7z`\x99\xab\xe7:\x85J',
+            'target_type': 'revision',
             'name': 'v2.6.14',
             'author': {
                 'name': b'Linus Torvalds',
@@ -314,7 +315,8 @@ wdLOnvj91G4wxYqrvThthbE=
 
         self.release_no_author = {
             'id': b'&y\x1a\x8b\xcf\x0em3\xf4:\xefv\x82\xbd\xb5U#mV\xde',
-            'revision': '9ee1c939d1cb936b1f98e8d81aeffab57bae46ab',
+            'target': '9ee1c939d1cb936b1f98e8d81aeffab57bae46ab',
+            'target_type': 'revision',
             'name': 'v2.6.12',
             'message': b'''\
 This is the final 2.6.12 release