diff --git a/sphinx/environment/__init__.py b/sphinx/environment/__init__.py
index 79fa6278549..9d4790f023d 100644
--- a/sphinx/environment/__init__.py
+++ b/sphinx/environment/__init__.py
@@ -29,7 +29,7 @@
 from sphinx.util.docutils import LoggingReporter
 from sphinx.util.i18n import CatalogRepository, docname_to_domain
 from sphinx.util.nodes import is_translatable
-from sphinx.util.osutil import _last_modified_time, _relative_path
+from sphinx.util.osutil import _last_modified_time, _relative_path, normalize_path
 
 if TYPE_CHECKING:
     from collections.abc import Callable, Iterable, Iterator, Mapping
@@ -438,7 +438,7 @@ def relfn2path(
         """
         file_name = Path(filename)
         if file_name.parts[:1] in {('/',), ('\\',)}:
-            abs_fn = self.srcdir.joinpath(*file_name.parts[1:]).resolve()
+            abs_fn = normalize_path(self.srcdir.joinpath(*file_name.parts[1:]))
         else:
             if not docname:
                 if self.docname:
@@ -447,7 +447,7 @@ def relfn2path(
                     msg = 'docname'
                     raise KeyError(msg)
             doc_dir = self.doc2path(docname, base=False).parent
-            abs_fn = self.srcdir.joinpath(doc_dir, file_name).resolve()
+            abs_fn = normalize_path(self.srcdir.joinpath(doc_dir, file_name))
 
         rel_fn = _relative_path(abs_fn, self.srcdir)
         return rel_fn.as_posix(), os.fspath(abs_fn)
diff --git a/sphinx/util/osutil.py b/sphinx/util/osutil.py
index 807db899af9..b1b4b679abb 100644
--- a/sphinx/util/osutil.py
+++ b/sphinx/util/osutil.py
@@ -43,6 +43,14 @@ def path_stabilize(filepath: str | os.PathLike[str], /) -> str:
     return unicodedata.normalize('NFC', new_path)
 
 
+def normalize_path(filepath: Path, /) -> Path:
+    """Normalize path by removing redundant separators and up-level references.
+
+    This *does not* resolve symbolic links.
+    """
+    return filepath.__class__(os.path.normpath(filepath))
+
+
 def relative_uri(base: str, to: str) -> str:
     """Return a relative URL from ``base`` to ``to``."""
     if to.startswith(SEP):
@@ -179,9 +187,9 @@ def _relative_path(path: Path, root: Path, /) -> Path:
     """
     # Path.relative_to() requires fully-resolved paths (no '..').
     if '..' in path.parts:
-        path = path.resolve()
+        path = normalize_path(path)
     if '..' in root.parts:
-        root = root.resolve()
+        root = normalize_path(root)
 
     if path.anchor != root.anchor or '..' in root.parts:
         # If the drives are different, no relative path exists.