diff --git a/packages/vite/src/node/plugins/html.ts b/packages/vite/src/node/plugins/html.ts
index d3488d5bb092c9..2f3e005a782423 100644
--- a/packages/vite/src/node/plugins/html.ts
+++ b/packages/vite/src/node/plugins/html.ts
@@ -168,6 +168,9 @@ const noInlineLinkRels = new Set([
   'apple-touch-icon',
   'apple-touch-startup-image',
   'manifest',
+  'modulepreload',
+  'preload',
+  'prefetch',
 ])
 
 export const isAsyncScriptMap: WeakMap<
@@ -622,6 +625,16 @@ export function buildHtmlPlugin(config: ResolvedConfig): Plugin {
             config.html?.additionalAssetSources,
           )
           for (const attr of assetAttributes) {
+            // If the node is a link, check if it can be inlined. If not, set `shouldInline`
+            // to `false` to force no inline. If `undefined`, it leaves to the default heuristics.
+            const isNoInlineLink =
+              node.nodeName === 'link' &&
+              attr.attributes.rel &&
+              parseRelAttr(attr.attributes.rel).some((v) =>
+                noInlineLinkRels.has(v),
+              )
+            const shouldInline = isNoInlineLink ? false : undefined
+
             if (attr.type === 'remove') {
               s.remove(attr.location.startOffset, attr.location.endOffset)
               continue
@@ -636,7 +649,7 @@ export function buildHtmlPlugin(config: ResolvedConfig): Plugin {
                         decodedUrl !== undefined &&
                         !isExcludedUrl(decodedUrl)
                       ) {
-                        const result = await processAssetUrl(url)
+                        const result = await processAssetUrl(url, shouldInline)
                         return result !== decodedUrl
                           ? encodeURIPath(result)
                           : url
@@ -675,15 +688,6 @@ export function buildHtmlPlugin(config: ResolvedConfig): Plugin {
                   })
                   js += importExpression
                 } else {
-                  // If the node is a link, check if it can be inlined. If not, set `shouldInline`
-                  // to `false` to force no inline. If `undefined`, it leaves to the default heuristics.
-                  const isNoInlineLink =
-                    node.nodeName === 'link' &&
-                    attr.attributes.rel &&
-                    parseRelAttr(attr.attributes.rel).some((v) =>
-                      noInlineLinkRels.has(v),
-                    )
-                  const shouldInline = isNoInlineLink ? false : undefined
                   assetUrlsPromises.push(
                     (async () => {
                       const processedUrl = await processAssetUrl(
diff --git a/playground/assets/__tests__/assets.spec.ts b/playground/assets/__tests__/assets.spec.ts
index 46e540d5c7a610..f568d4c3eeb5dd 100644
--- a/playground/assets/__tests__/assets.spec.ts
+++ b/playground/assets/__tests__/assets.spec.ts
@@ -314,6 +314,36 @@ describe('css url() references', () => {
     expect(await getBg('.css-url-quotes-base64-inline')).toMatch(match)
   })
 
+  test('no base64 inline for modulepreload links', async () => {
+    const el = await page.$(`link[rel="modulepreload"]`)
+    const href = await el.getAttribute('href')
+    expect(href).toMatch(
+      isBundled
+        ? /\/foo\/bar\/assets\/preload-module-[-\w]{8}\.js/
+        : 'preload-module.js',
+    )
+  })
+
+  test('no base64 inline for preload and prefetch links', async () => {
+    const preloadAssetMatch = isBundled
+      ? /\/foo\/bar\/assets\/preload-asset-[-\w]{8}\.png/
+      : '/foo/bar/nested/preload-asset.png'
+
+    const preloadEl = await page.$('link.preload-href')
+    expect(await preloadEl.getAttribute('href')).toMatch(preloadAssetMatch)
+
+    const prefetchEl = await page.$('link.prefetch-href')
+    expect(await prefetchEl.getAttribute('href')).toMatch(preloadAssetMatch)
+
+    // `imagesrcset` goes through the srcset branch, which has to honour the
+    // same no-inline decision as `href`
+    const imageSrcSetEl = await page.$('link.preload-imagesrcset')
+    const imageSrcSet = await imageSrcSetEl.getAttribute('imagesrcset')
+    imageSrcSet.split(', ').forEach((s) => {
+      expect(s).toMatch(preloadAssetMatch)
+    })
+  })
+
   test('no base64 inline for icon and manifest links', async () => {
     const iconEl = await page.$(`link.ico`)
     const href = await iconEl.getAttribute('href')
diff --git a/playground/assets/index.html b/playground/assets/index.html
index 6ba5233498bcd4..728c3687e5b554 100644
--- a/playground/assets/index.html
+++ b/playground/assets/index.html
@@ -4,6 +4,24 @@
   <meta charset="UTF-8" />
   <link class="ico" rel="icon" type="image/svg+xml" href="favicon.ico" />
   <link rel="manifest" href="manifest.json" />
+  <link rel="modulepreload" href="preload-module.js" />
+  <link
+    class="preload-href"
+    rel="preload"
+    as="image"
+    href="./nested/preload-asset.png"
+  />
+  <link
+    class="preload-imagesrcset"
+    rel="preload"
+    as="image"
+    imagesrcset="./nested/preload-asset.png 1x, ./nested/preload-asset.png 2x"
+  />
+  <link
+    class="prefetch-href"
+    rel="prefetch"
+    href="./nested/preload-asset.png"
+  />
   <meta
     class="meta-og-image"
     property="og:image"
diff --git a/playground/assets/nested/preload-asset.png b/playground/assets/nested/preload-asset.png
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000000..4388bfdca3d4d7
Binary files /dev/null and b/playground/assets/nested/preload-asset.png differ
diff --git a/playground/assets/preload-module.js b/playground/assets/preload-module.js
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000000..5d139fa7c2caeb
--- /dev/null
+++ b/playground/assets/preload-module.js
@@ -0,0 +1,2 @@
+// referenced via <link rel="modulepreload">, small enough to hit assetsInlineLimit
+export const preloadedModule = 'preloaded'