diff --git a/packages/vite/src/plugins/public-dirs.ts b/packages/vite/src/plugins/public-dirs.ts
index 39e6b46b85..e2765510f5 100644
--- a/packages/vite/src/plugins/public-dirs.ts
+++ b/packages/vite/src/plugins/public-dirs.ts
@@ -1,77 +1,112 @@
 import { existsSync } from 'node:fs'
 import { useNitro } from '@nuxt/kit'
 import { createUnplugin } from 'unplugin'
+import type { UnpluginOptions } from 'unplugin'
 import { withLeadingSlash, withTrailingSlash } from 'ufo'
 import { dirname, relative } from 'pathe'
 import MagicString from 'magic-string'
+import { isCSSRequest } from 'vite'
 
 const PREFIX = 'virtual:public?'
 const CSS_URL_RE = /url\((\/[^)]+)\)/g
+const CSS_URL_SINGLE_RE = /url\(\/[^)]+\)/
 
-export const VitePublicDirsPlugin = createUnplugin((options: { sourcemap?: boolean }) => {
+interface VitePublicDirsPluginOptions {
+  dev?: boolean
+  sourcemap?: boolean
+  baseURL?: string
+}
+
+export const VitePublicDirsPlugin = createUnplugin((options: VitePublicDirsPluginOptions) => {
   const { resolveFromPublicAssets } = useResolveFromPublicAssets()
 
-  return {
-    name: 'nuxt:vite-public-dir-resolution',
+  const devTransformPlugin: UnpluginOptions = {
+    name: 'nuxt:vite-public-dir-resolution-dev',
     vite: {
-      load: {
-        enforce: 'pre',
-        handler (id) {
-          if (id.startsWith(PREFIX)) {
-            return `import { publicAssetsURL } from '#internal/nuxt/paths';export default publicAssetsURL(${JSON.stringify(decodeURIComponent(id.slice(PREFIX.length)))})`
-          }
-        },
-      },
-      resolveId: {
-        enforce: 'post',
-        handler (id) {
-          if (id === '/__skip_vite' || id[0] !== '/' || id.startsWith('/@fs')) { return }
-
-          if (resolveFromPublicAssets(id)) {
-            return PREFIX + encodeURIComponent(id)
-          }
-        },
-      },
-      renderChunk (code, chunk) {
-        if (!chunk.facadeModuleId?.includes('?inline&used')) { return }
+      transform (code, id) {
+        if (!isCSSRequest(id) || !CSS_URL_SINGLE_RE.test(code)) { return }
 
         const s = new MagicString(code)
-        const q = code.match(/(?<= = )['"`]/)?.[0] || '"'
         for (const [full, url] of code.matchAll(CSS_URL_RE)) {
           if (url && resolveFromPublicAssets(url)) {
-            s.replace(full, `url(${q} + publicAssetsURL(${q}${url}${q}) + ${q})`)
+            s.replace(full, `url(${options.baseURL}${url})`)
           }
         }
 
         if (s.hasChanged()) {
-          s.prepend(`import { publicAssetsURL } from '#internal/nuxt/paths';`)
           return {
             code: s.toString(),
             map: options.sourcemap ? s.generateMap({ hires: true }) : undefined,
           }
         }
       },
-      generateBundle (_outputOptions, bundle) {
-        for (const file in bundle) {
-          const chunk = bundle[file]!
-          if (!file.endsWith('.css') || chunk.type !== 'asset') { continue }
-
-          let css = chunk.source.toString()
-          let wasReplaced = false
-          for (const [full, url] of css.matchAll(CSS_URL_RE)) {
-            if (url && resolveFromPublicAssets(url)) {
-              const relativeURL = relative(withLeadingSlash(dirname(file)), url)
-              css = css.replace(full, `url(${relativeURL})`)
-              wasReplaced = true
-            }
-          }
-          if (wasReplaced) {
-            chunk.source = css
-          }
-        }
-      },
     },
   }
+
+  return [
+    ...(options.dev && options.baseURL && options.baseURL !== '/' ? [devTransformPlugin] : []),
+    {
+      name: 'nuxt:vite-public-dir-resolution',
+      vite: {
+        load: {
+          enforce: 'pre',
+          handler (id) {
+            if (id.startsWith(PREFIX)) {
+              return `import { publicAssetsURL } from '#internal/nuxt/paths';export default publicAssetsURL(${JSON.stringify(decodeURIComponent(id.slice(PREFIX.length)))})`
+            }
+          },
+        },
+        resolveId: {
+          enforce: 'post',
+          handler (id) {
+            if (id === '/__skip_vite' || id[0] !== '/' || id.startsWith('/@fs')) { return }
+
+            if (resolveFromPublicAssets(id)) {
+              return PREFIX + encodeURIComponent(id)
+            }
+          },
+        },
+        renderChunk (code, chunk) {
+          if (!chunk.facadeModuleId?.includes('?inline&used')) { return }
+
+          const s = new MagicString(code)
+          const q = code.match(/(?<= = )['"`]/)?.[0] || '"'
+          for (const [full, url] of code.matchAll(CSS_URL_RE)) {
+            if (url && resolveFromPublicAssets(url)) {
+              s.replace(full, `url(${q} + publicAssetsURL(${q}${url}${q}) + ${q})`)
+            }
+          }
+
+          if (s.hasChanged()) {
+            s.prepend(`import { publicAssetsURL } from '#internal/nuxt/paths';`)
+            return {
+              code: s.toString(),
+              map: options.sourcemap ? s.generateMap({ hires: true }) : undefined,
+            }
+          }
+        },
+        generateBundle (_outputOptions, bundle) {
+          for (const file in bundle) {
+            const chunk = bundle[file]!
+            if (!file.endsWith('.css') || chunk.type !== 'asset') { continue }
+
+            let css = chunk.source.toString()
+            let wasReplaced = false
+            for (const [full, url] of css.matchAll(CSS_URL_RE)) {
+              if (url && resolveFromPublicAssets(url)) {
+                const relativeURL = relative(withLeadingSlash(dirname(file)), url)
+                css = css.replace(full, `url(${relativeURL})`)
+                wasReplaced = true
+              }
+            }
+            if (wasReplaced) {
+              chunk.source = css
+            }
+          }
+        },
+      },
+    },
+  ]
 })
 
 export function useResolveFromPublicAssets () {
diff --git a/packages/vite/src/vite.ts b/packages/vite/src/vite.ts
index bace63f36f..5f9c2249db 100644
--- a/packages/vite/src/vite.ts
+++ b/packages/vite/src/vite.ts
@@ -100,7 +100,11 @@ export const bundle: NuxtBuilder['bundle'] = async (nuxt) => {
         },
         plugins: [
           // add resolver for files in public assets directories
-          VitePublicDirsPlugin.vite({ sourcemap: !!nuxt.options.sourcemap.server }),
+          VitePublicDirsPlugin.vite({
+            dev: nuxt.options.dev,
+            sourcemap: !!nuxt.options.sourcemap.server,
+            baseURL: nuxt.options.app.baseURL,
+          }),
           composableKeysPlugin.vite({
             sourcemap: !!nuxt.options.sourcemap.server || !!nuxt.options.sourcemap.client,
             rootDir: nuxt.options.rootDir,