diff --git a/packages/vite/src/node/plugins/esbuild.ts b/packages/vite/src/node/plugins/esbuild.ts
index c85665f1aadffa..24323a6a0b7355 100644
--- a/packages/vite/src/node/plugins/esbuild.ts
+++ b/packages/vite/src/node/plugins/esbuild.ts
@@ -18,7 +18,6 @@ import {
   createFilter,
   ensureWatchedFile,
   generateCodeFrame,
-  toUpperCaseDriveLetter,
 } from '../utils'
 import type { ResolvedConfig, ViteDevServer } from '..'
 import type { Plugin } from '../plugin'
@@ -192,9 +191,6 @@ export async function transformWithEsbuild(
           ? JSON.parse(result.map)
           : { mappings: '' }
     }
-    if (Array.isArray(map.sources)) {
-      map.sources = map.sources.map((it) => toUpperCaseDriveLetter(it))
-    }
     return {
       ...result,
       map,
diff --git a/packages/vite/src/node/server/transformRequest.ts b/packages/vite/src/node/server/transformRequest.ts
index a75d78c0b6af5e..0caf823a74dd17 100644
--- a/packages/vite/src/node/server/transformRequest.ts
+++ b/packages/vite/src/node/server/transformRequest.ts
@@ -266,11 +266,25 @@ async function loadAndTransform(
     map = transformResult.map
   }
 
-  if (map && mod.file) {
+  if (map) {
     map = (typeof map === 'string' ? JSON.parse(map) : map) as SourceMap
-    if (map.mappings && !map.sourcesContent) {
+    if (mod.file && map.mappings && !map.sourcesContent) {
       await injectSourcesContent(map, mod.file, logger)
     }
+    // Rewrite sources to relative paths to give debuggers the chance
+    // to resolve and display them in a meaningful way (rather than
+    // with absolute paths).
+    if (Array.isArray(map.sources)) {
+      const file = map.file ?? mod.file
+      if (file && path.isAbsolute(file)) {
+        const sourceFolder = path.dirname(file)
+        map.sources = map.sources.map((source) =>
+          path.isAbsolute(source)
+            ? path.relative(sourceFolder, source)
+            : source,
+        )
+      }
+    }
   }
 
   const result =
diff --git a/packages/vite/src/node/utils.ts b/packages/vite/src/node/utils.ts
index 13ef1c8c91326e..738e323f8c8739 100644
--- a/packages/vite/src/node/utils.ts
+++ b/packages/vite/src/node/utils.ts
@@ -909,10 +909,6 @@ export function arraify<T>(target: T | T[]): T[] {
   return Array.isArray(target) ? target : [target]
 }
 
-export function toUpperCaseDriveLetter(pathName: string): string {
-  return pathName.replace(/^\w:/, (letter) => letter.toUpperCase())
-}
-
 // Taken from https://stackoverflow.com/a/36328890
 export const multilineCommentsRE = /\/\*[^*]*\*+(?:[^/*][^*]*\*+)*\//g
 export const singlelineCommentsRE = /\/\/.*/g
diff --git a/playground/js-sourcemap/__tests__/js-sourcemap.spec.ts b/playground/js-sourcemap/__tests__/js-sourcemap.spec.ts
index 5a6d37dd421ca5..692de4c8ed2c6e 100644
--- a/playground/js-sourcemap/__tests__/js-sourcemap.spec.ts
+++ b/playground/js-sourcemap/__tests__/js-sourcemap.spec.ts
@@ -24,7 +24,7 @@ if (!isBuild) {
       {
         "mappings": "AAAO,aAAM,MAAM;",
         "sources": [
-          "/root/bar.ts",
+          "bar.ts",
         ],
         "sourcesContent": [
           "export const bar = 'bar'