diff --git a/cty/convert/conversion_object.go b/cty/convert/conversion_object.go
index e356489a..51958ef4 100644
--- a/cty/convert/conversion_object.go
+++ b/cty/convert/conversion_object.go
@@ -80,7 +80,9 @@ func conversionObjectToObject(in, out cty.Type, unsafe bool) conversion {
 				}
 			}
 
-			if val.Equals(cty.NullVal(val.Type())).True() {
+			if val.IsNull() {
+				// Strip optional attributes out of the embedded type for null
+				// values.
 				val = cty.NullVal(val.Type().WithoutOptionalAttributesDeep())
 			}