diff --git a/changelogs/fragments/ansible-test-fix-coverage-export.yml b/changelogs/fragments/ansible-test-fix-coverage-export.yml
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000000..6864e48deecbc2
--- /dev/null
+++ b/changelogs/fragments/ansible-test-fix-coverage-export.yml
@@ -0,0 +1,6 @@
+bugfixes:
+  - ansible-test - The ``--export`` option for ``ansible-test coverage`` is now limited to the ``combine`` command.
+                   It was previously available for reporting commands on which it had no effect.
+  - ansible-test - The ``ansible-test coverage combine`` option ``--export`` now exports relative paths.
+                   This avoids loss of coverage data when aggregating across systems with different absolute paths.
+                   Paths will be converted back to absolute when generating reports.
diff --git a/test/lib/ansible_test/_internal/cli.py b/test/lib/ansible_test/_internal/cli.py
index 474a30d34115de..9d41c1b694b030 100644
--- a/test/lib/ansible_test/_internal/cli.py
+++ b/test/lib/ansible_test/_internal/cli.py
@@ -505,6 +505,9 @@ def parse_args():
     coverage_combine.set_defaults(func=command_coverage_combine,
                                   config=CoverageConfig)
 
+    coverage_combine.add_argument('--export',
+                                  help='directory to export combined coverage files to')
+
     add_extra_coverage_options(coverage_combine)
 
     coverage_erase = coverage_subparsers.add_parser('erase',
@@ -760,9 +763,6 @@ def add_extra_coverage_options(parser):
                         action='store_true',
                         help='generate empty report of all python/powershell source files')
 
-    parser.add_argument('--export',
-                        help='directory to export combined coverage files to')
-
 
 def add_httptester_options(parser, argparse):
     """
diff --git a/test/lib/ansible_test/_internal/cover.py b/test/lib/ansible_test/_internal/cover.py
index ad413a44dfb83b..4d16e25e4bee5b 100644
--- a/test/lib/ansible_test/_internal/cover.py
+++ b/test/lib/ansible_test/_internal/cover.py
@@ -138,6 +138,9 @@ def _command_coverage_combine_python(args):
             if not filename:
                 continue
 
+            if args.export:
+                filename = os.path.relpath(filename)  # exported paths must be relative since absolute paths may differ between systems
+
             if group not in groups:
                 groups[group] = {}
 
@@ -313,6 +316,8 @@ def _sanitise_filename(filename, modules=None, collection_search_re=None, collec
         display.info('%s -> %s' % (filename, new_name), verbosity=3)
         filename = new_name
 
+    filename = os.path.abspath(filename)  # make sure path is absolute (will be relative if previously exported)
+
     return filename
 
 
@@ -510,6 +515,9 @@ def _default_stub_value(lines):
             if not filename:
                 continue
 
+            if args.export:
+                filename = os.path.relpath(filename)  # exported paths must be relative since absolute paths may differ between systems
+
             if isinstance(hit_info, dict) and not hit_info.get('Line'):
                 # Input data was previously aggregated and thus uses the standard ansible-test output format for PowerShell coverage.
                 # This format differs from the more verbose format of raw coverage data from the remote Windows hosts.